A Proposed Killing Machine Attraction

An 1891 article about a proposed attraction for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, conceived by M. Garron, with two halftone illustrations of a cylindrical chamber of steel, tapering in its lower part to a sharp-pointed cone, within which are other conical sections concentric with the outer one. The upper part of this chamber is to be provided with accommodations for comfortably seating about fifteen people; and the novelty of the project consists in the proposition to raise this cylindro-conical passenger car to the top of the tall tower, 1,000 feet or more in height, from which altitude it is to be allowed to fall freely into a funnel-shaped reservoir of water upon the surface directly beneath it.