Robert Emmet Odlum
Robert Emmet Odlum | |
|---|---|
 Robert Emmet Odlum | |
| Born | August 31, 1851 Ogdensburg, New York,U.S. |
| Died | May 19, 1885(aged 33) New York City,New York,U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupations | |
Robert Emmet Odlum(August 31, 1851 – May 19, 1885)[1]was an Americanswimminginstructor. Odlum was the first person to jump off theBrooklyn Bridge,and was killed doing so.[2][3][4][5]
Early life
[edit]Robert Emmet Odlum was born inOgdensburg,New York, on August 31, 1851, the son of Catherine and Richard Odlum.[1][6][7]He was named after theIrish nationalistRobert Emmet.Odlum was one of seven children, only four of whom survived childhood. Odlum's elder brother David served under the name "Charles Rogers" in the8th Missouri Volunteer Infantryof theUnion Armyin theAmerican Civil War,and disappeared after theBattle of Shiloh;it was never known whether he had been killed, captured or had deserted.[6]He was the brother of women's rights activistCharlotte Smith.
Odlum was an expert swimmer as a child.[1]After the death of Richard Odlum in the mid-1850s, the Odlums traveled toNew Orleans,then toNew York City,Boston,Detroit,Cleveland,andMontreal,Canada.They eventually settled inSt. Louis.In 1860 they traveled toCuba,returning to New Orleans fromHavanaon March 21, 1861, the same dayLouisianaratified theConfederate Constitution.In search of David Odlum, who had joined the Union Army, they traveled northward toCairo,Illinois andPaducah,Kentucky, moving toMemphis,Tennessee in 1862. The Odlums, who had Southern sympathies but a family member in the Union Army, were trapped for much of the war in the hostile environment of Memphis, a staunchly Confederate city occupied by Union forces. On April 4, 1864, the Odlums' house in Memphis was torn down by Union troops to clear an artillery firing path. In 1865 the family moved toMobile,Alabama.[6]
Career
[edit]
In 1869 and 1870 Odlum was a tea merchant inPhiladelphia;he was also listed as a railroad conductor in the1870 United States Census.He later moved to St. Louis, where he sometimes worked for his sister Charlotte Smith'sInland Monthlymagazine.[6]Odlum lived and worked inChicago,Illinoisin the 1870s. About 1878 he relocated toWashington, D.C.,where he established a swimming school called the Natatorium. Odlum became known to Washingtonians by the title of "Professor". Among Odlum's pupils at the school were Fannie Hayes, the daughter of formerPresidentRutherford B. Hayes,the sons of Presidents Hayes andJames A. Garfield,the sons ofJames G. BlaineandGeneralWilliam Tecumseh Sherman,and one of Sherman's daughters. In 1880, on the Wednesday before thePotomac Riverrowingrace betweenNed HanlanandCharles E. Courtney,Odlum swam the entire course.[1]
Odlum improved the Natatorium in the winter of 1880-1881. The Natatorium's opening for the season in April 1881 was attended byLucretia Rudolph Garfield,the wife of President Garfield, and other prominent Washingtonians. Odlum also added agymnasiumto the Natatorium.[1]
Despite his success, in spring 1881 Odlum began to grow restless in his position. According to the biography later written by Odlum's mother, on July 13, 1881, he "challenged any man in the United States to swim him for from $250 to $500 a side", but no one would take up the bet. Odlum frequently exhibited his skill as a swimmer anddiverfor passengers on Potomac excursion steamers. On July 4, 1881, Odlum jumped 90 feet (27 m) from the wooden bridge atOccoquan Falls.[1]
In June 1882, Odlum and aquatic adventurerPaul Boytonperformed for an excursion party traveling from Washington toMarshall Hall, Maryland.At the Marshall Hall wharf, Odlum jumped 110 feet (34 m) from the top of a ladder on the deck of the steamer into the water. He was uninjured even though he entered the water at a slight angle.[1]
Fort Monroe
[edit]After the Natatorium failed financially and was closed, Odlum was employed as professor of swimming andlifeguardat the Hygeia Hotel atFort MonroeinHampton, Virginia.On August 10, 1882, Odlum swam 18 miles (29 km) fromOld Point ComforttoOcean Viewand back, swimming against the tide inHampton Roadsfor the last half-hour. While employed at the Hygeia Hotel, Odlum saved the life of "Sky" Colfax, the sixteen-year-old son of formerVice PresidentSchuyler Colfax,as well as two other swimmers. Odlum, who had previously contractedmalariaat Lower Cedar Point, contracted it again while at the Hygeia Hotel.[1][8]
Odlum was a friend ofMatthew Webb,who died in 1883 in an attempt to swim through theWhirlpool RapidsbelowNiagara Falls.[1]
Death
[edit]
On May 19, 1885, Odlum became the first person to jump into theEast Riverfrom the Brooklyn Bridge that connectsManhattan, New York CityandBrooklyn.His motivations for doing so included the desire to demonstrate that people did not die simply from falling through the air, thus encouraging people to be willing to jump from a burning building into a net.[1]Odlum also desired fame and the chance to help himself and his mother financially.[9]
On the morning of May 19, Odlum entertained a party of acquaintances at Paul Boyton's "Ship", includingboxerPaddy Ryan,wrestlerWilliam Muldoon,and actorHenry E. Dixey.[10]Paul Boyton later claimed to have learned that Odlum had visited the Church of theRedemptorist Fathersthat morning and had gone toconfessionand receivedcommunion.[1][9]The police had been alerted to Odlum's plans. Odlum sent two friends, James Haggart and a Mr. Cluss, onto the bridge in a cab so that Haggart could decoy the police by pretending to be the jumper. A tugboat containing spectators for the jump sailed to within a hundred yards of the bridge, with a rescue swimmer hired by Odlum on board.[10]
Odlum jumped from the Brooklyn Bridge at 5:35 p.m.[2]A strong wind was blowing when Odlum jumped and seemed to turn him slightly in the air. As a result, he struck the water at an angle, hitting the water with his feet and right hip. The rescue swimmer failed to act, but Boyton swam to Odlum in the water. Odlum was lifted into a boat and brought to the tug's galley, where Ryan and Muldoon assisted in resuscitation efforts. Odlum briefly regained consciousness, asking, "Is it all over?...Did I make a good jump?"Arterial bloodbegan dripping from Odlum's mouth, causing him to ask, "Am I spitting blood?" Robertson, a friend of Odlum fromBoston,reassured him that the fluid was only brandy. Without speaking further, Odlum began tohemorrhage internally.He died at 6:18 p.m., before the ambulance summoned by Muldoon and Jere Dunn could arrive. An undertaker's wagon carried Odlum's body to the rooms of William H. Kennedy, theCoroner of New York City.[2][6][10]
Theautopsyrevealed that Odlum'sspleen,liverandkidneyswere ruptured. A deposit oftuberculosiswas found at the base of his leftlung.Odlum's first, third and fifthribswere broken. The cause of death was determined to beconcussion.[1]
Odlum's funeral took place in Washington, D.C. Among the tributes was a floral representation of the Brooklyn Bridge, sent by Odlum's comrades from theWashington Light Infantry.[11]TheRoman Catholicburial service was performed by Father Ahern ofSt. Matthew's,whose homily paid tribute to Odlum's life-saving efforts. Odlum was buried atMount Olivet Cemetery.[1][12]
Aftermath
[edit]Odlum's sister, Charlotte Smith, visited New York on May 28 and spoke to Coroner Kennedy, who denied responsibility for removing Odlum'sheartand liver.[13][14]Odlum's mother, Catherine Odlum, blamed Paul Boyton for her son's death. Boyton wrote Mrs. Odlum a letter disclaiming responsibility, which he also published inThe New York Timesand other periodicals.[1][9]Mrs. Odlum subsequently traveled to New York City to see Boyton. According to her account, Boyton sent two men to see her who claimed to be a lawyer and a judge, and who warned her not to say anything against Boyton to avoid prosecution forslander.Catherine Odlum claimed that Boyton hid or destroyed letters and telegrams from himself to Robert Odlum urging him to travel to New York and make the Brooklyn Bridge jump. She wrote a biography of her son,The Life and Adventures of Prof. Robert Emmet Odlum, Containing an Account of his Splendid Natatorium at the National Capital...,published in 1885.[1]
On July 23, 1886,Steve Brodiesupposedly became the first man to survive a jump off the Brooklyn Bridge, although it would later be alleged that Brodie faked the jump by having a friend throw a dummy from the bridge. The first confirmed survivor of a Brooklyn Bridge leap wasLarry Donovan,who jumped the month after Brodie claimed to have done so.[15]
Personal life
[edit]Robert Emmet Odlum never married. He lived with his mother and sister for much of his adult life.[6]
References
[edit]- ^abcdefghijklmnoOdlum, Catherine (1885).The Life and Adventures of Prof. Robert Emmet Odlum, Containing an Account of his Splendid Natatorium at the National Capital.Gray and Clarkson.
- ^abc"Odlum's Leap to Death".The New York Times.May 20, 1885.RetrievedJuly 3,2011.
- ^Soden, Garrett (2005).Defying Gravity: Land Divers, Roller Coasters, Gravity Bums, and the Human Obsession With Falling.New York: W. W. Norton & Company. p. 79.ISBN0-393-32656-X.
- ^Prentzas, G. S. (2009).The Brooklyn Bridge.Infobase Publishing. p. 90.ISBN978-1-60413-073-7.
- ^Haw, Richard (2005).The Brooklyn Bridge: a cultural history.Rutgers University Press. p. 146.ISBN978-0-8135-3587-6.
- ^abcdefStanley, Autumn (2009).Raising More Hell and Fewer Dahlias: The Public Life of Charlotte Smith, 1840-1917.Bethlehem:Lehigh University Press.ISBN978-0-934223-99-7.
- ^According to an article published in the OgdensburgJournalin 1885, there was some question about Robert Odlum's paternity. See Stanley, pp. 34, 116, 202.
- ^A letter from Paul Boyton to Robert Odlum dated May 26, 1884, is addressed to the Natatorium, suggesting that it may have reopened at some point. See Odlum, p. 187, and Stanley, p. 125.
- ^abc"Odlum's Fatal Leap".The New York Times.June 7, 1885.RetrievedJuly 3,2011.
- ^abcNew York Herald,quoted inThe Life and Adventures of Prof. Robert Emmet Odlum...1885,pp. 160-167
- ^Odlum, pp. 169, 175, 207. Stanley makes no reference to Odlum's membership in this organization.
- ^Kelly, John (February 25, 2020)."The final chapter: Bob Odlum's anguished mother fights back".The Washington Post.RetrievedJanuary 17,2022.
- ^"Robert Odlum's Sister".The New York Times.May 29, 1885.RetrievedJuly 3,2011.
- ^"The Public" I ": A VERY BAD IDEA"thepublici.blogspot(Retrieved on July 1, 2011)
- ^Soden, pp. 79-82.
External links
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