Lizzie Davene

Lizzie Davene was an American circus performer who performed with her family, the Davene Troupe.

In 1881 the Davene Troupe was performing with the Barnum & Bailey Circus, with Lizzie featured in a catapult act. Twice each day she lay down atop the spring-based catapult and was launched in the air, doing flips in the air as she traveled about 75 feet into a net. During a May 3, 1881 engagement in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the timing of her mid-air flips was off and she landed in the net head-first. According to The Billboard, when she called out for help she said "I cannot move hand or foot."