Anyone who ever saw Herbert Emerson ("Spud") Manning, 25, make a parachute jump would have predicted violent death for him. His specialty at fairs and air meets was the delayed opening. From a plane three miles high he would plummet down, trailing flour like a comet's tail, until within 1,000 ft. of the ground, then jerk his 'chute open. His most famed jump occurred a year ago in California when he fell 16,000 ft., jerked his ripcord at 500 ft., landed in an orange tree. An English jumper beat that record for altitude (he dropped 17,250 ft.) but pulled his ripcord...
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