Performing death-defying stunts aboard his Harley-Davidson in the 1930s and 1940s, Jimmy ‘Daredevil’ Washburn was the Evel Knievel of his day. Descriptions of his feats appear in dozens of period newspapers, including the San Jose News and Santa Clara’s The Sportsman. Writers in those publications used a touch of purple prose to describe Jimmy and his hair-raising daredevilry – including riding while blindfolded and jumping over his wife, Vi. Here’s an example from a front-page story in the March 3, 1941, edition of The Sportsman. “To Jimmy Washburn, going motorcycle riding is not the breezy pleasurable sensation which comes to the average motorcyclist. You see, Jimmy specializes in riding his high-powered velocipede through plate glass windows, burning walls and into brick walls!”