Rudolph C. Kurchhoff born in 1884 is on the left and Herman William Kurchhoff born in 1887 is in the center, the person on the right is unknown. Herman is my maternal great grandfather. Best we can figure the boys were photographed here around 1903 in Buffalo, New York. The bikes play a foreshadowing role in their lives because less than half a dozen years later the brothers were starting to earn close to $1000 a week by risking their lives simultaneously riding motorcycles in a steel cage known as the “Globe of Death”.

The cage took two years to engineer, build, and perfect at a cost of $4000.

When they started riding in the cage they both rode “Indian Camel Back” motorcycles from what appears to a 1907 model. This photo of my great grandfather Herman is from a later date, as his “Reading Standard” motorcycle is most likely a 1908 model.

With a little more than 2 horsepower, the brothers sped around the interior of their cage at the crazy speed of nearly 60 mph.

Not only were they flying dangerously fast, often touching elbows as they passed each other, but they were also blindfolded!

Their big break came when they were invited to perform their death-defying feat for the very first time at the Hippodrome in New York City, which at the time was the largest theater in the world. They performed this act a full 10 years before Harry Houdini would take the exact same stage in the Hippodrome to make an elephant disappear.

Following the New York City performances, they went on to perform their act across the region.

Only a few fragments of press clippings still exist that tell of their story, but it’s interesting for me to know that about 110 years ago I had family that was daredevils and doing the Evel Knievel thing.