DRAMATIC STORY FROM NIAGARA.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 72, 23 March 1912, Page 17

DRAMATIC STORY FROM NIAGARA.

■ -a BACB TO DEATH IN TBS RAPIDS. PATHOS OF A __A£T KISSOne of the most poignant of the many tragedies which have occurred at the Niagara Falls, occurred on Sunday, February 4, when a married couple and a youth were driven to their death in the rapids on tbe top of float islands of ice. Thousands of people have been attracted to Niagara Flails to look at the huge bridge, about 300 yards wide and 500 yards long, formed of great hummocks of ice, which has been cemented together by .tbe Intensely weather lust at tin- foot of tbe great cataract, and afforded .a dry passage across the stream from the American to the Canadian side. Hundreds of people crossed toe bridge j on Sunday morning, but about noon there were onrly about a do-rev people on It. Suddenly Willam Lablond, a riverman, who was on the bridge, beard a. grinding, crashing noise, and warned bis companions to seek safety ln the direction of tbe Canadian shore. Mr and Mrs El-ridge Stanton, of Toronto, who had ventured on the great bridge ot cf ice, became confused, and i-usbed off first towards tbe American share and then to the Canadian, only to retrace their steps until Mrs Stanton fell exhauster", crying that she could not move another step. Her husband tried ,to drag her over tbe Ice to safety, and, despairing in the attempt, shouted for help. Meanwhile everybody else had reached the shore except Bnrrell Heacock, aged eighteen, of Cleveland, Ohio, and a companion, who were only a few yards from the aide. When be beard tbe despairing cry, Heacock turned and ran back to help Mr Stanton. But tbe ice was groaning and swaying, and threatening to break into pieces every second, and Heacock's companion pressed on and caught a rope thrown him from the shore Just In tbe nick of time. Just then tbe icedam, groaning under tha tremendous pressure of tbe water heaped against it by a, south-west gale, broke loose from its anchorage at the foot of the Horsesloe Falls and went whirling down tbe stream towards the rapids, two miles belov-, carrying Us human burdens with it. -vfter travelling a few hundred feet the tot. when passing tbe "Mainmast" landing, separated into two halves. Heacock, whose gallantry had brought him to th.;. pass, was on one piece, which was driven to the front, and the man and woman on the other, which was following closely behind. As the floe broke In two Heacoc. turned to bin fellow-voyagers to eternity aud waved his band ln farewell. GEIM FIGHT AGAINBT DEATH. News that tbe Ice bridge bad eollaiwci" with people on It. spread with lightning rapidity to either shore, and great crowd. -rocked t» the st,el bridges spanning tb. riTer to catch a glimpse of tbe doomed trio. Tbe entire police for-* and fire brigade were called out, and many of them -u_i_cto the bridges with long ropes, which ihey lowered, in the nope that the men on the ice could catch them as they passed undei and be drawn into safety 200 ft above. """sell Jcc floe was about 200 ft in diameter, and afforded sufficient support, but It was renllsed that once tbey reached the Whirlpool Rapids, just Selow the two steel bridges, they would be smashed to atoms, and the occupants buried In the swirling and ley waters. When Heacock saw the dangling rnpea he.coolly threw oft his overcoat and yo-eo" himself on tbe tossing floe. Directly in his course there hung one rope, and a second moved towards him. He canght that held by an Ontario police man and about twenty railroad men caught It, and Jumped free of the ice- The sag of the rope at that great drop of 200 ft let him into the chilly water up to Ills waist, and before he conld clear it he was frightfully battered by three successlv. lumps of Ice. Heacock first tried to pnll himself np band over band, but soon gave up the at tiuipt, and clung limply to the rope. The men above pulled steadily. .Teh feet, twenty, thirty—up he came, snd the great crowd on tbe bridges cheered. Many v.eto crying. It seemed hopeless. Grimly the boy hung on, trying always to get big legs wound above the ropfc. Then bis hands began to slip, lie sought to get h.id of the rope with his teeth, but failed Finally, Just as he was about 60ft clear of the water, his head fell back. He was utterly spent, be lost his grip, and fell into the stteam among tbe pounding fragments Of let. Heacocr-'s fate was witnessed by the other man, but be appeared calm as he ln turn prepared to make a fight against death. As the couple swung under the first bridge Mr Stanton grasped a rope and tried to put It about bis wife's waist; but the force of the current was too much, and the rope parted. Mr Stanton waved the torn *nd of the rope ln despair to the anguished spectators above. A rope hanging from the second bridge, 300 ft from the first, was all that .eparjted the pair from death. He grasped the rope, and fumbled in an agony of effort, as he tried to wind it around bis wife's waist a second time; but his hands were apparently numbed by tbe cold, and failing in his attempt to save his companion, b_ released his hold on tbe rope and let it go. Then knowing that nothing short of a miracle could save them he raised his wife to her feet, kissed ber, and clasped ber it) his arms. Tbe woman made as if to cross herself, and then sank to her knees. The man knelt belde her, bis arms clasped close about ber. So they went to their death. The ice held intact until it struck a great wave. Then It was shivered into fragments, and the gallant man and the woman at big side disappeared from view. Niagara seldom gives np its Oead.