SURVIVOR OF NIAGARA.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 288, 5 December 1925, Page 9

SURVIVOR OF NIAGARA.

STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE. WHY HE DID HIS TRICK. Visitors to Niagara are always toH ! of the wonderful performance of a man' who went over the falle in a barrel and lived to tell the tale. His name waa "Bobbie"' Leach. An Aucklander (Mr.! P. E. Snttie) recalled this adventure to-day, when-speaking of a visit he paid to the Niagara Falls on October 13. Leach, he said, was still very much alive. He heard the narrative of Leach' 3 adventures, as everyone else heard it, and supplied the sequel from his own experiences, i "While journeying across the Rockies by train I went into the smoking com-' partment," relates Mr. Suttie. "Another man was also smoking there, and we talked together for a while. "Pre«entlv he introduced himself to mc as Bobbie Leach. He was a short thick-set man, with a strong spark of adventure. "Why did you do such a bad thing?"; I asked him. ' • "I thought it might be a way to make money quickly and honestly," returned Leach, with the greatest frankness. Leach was travelling with his wife and daughter to Australia. He passed through Auckland 'by the Niagara on November 9, when the names of Mr. and Mrs. "R. , Leach and Miss P. Leach appeared in , the liner's passenger list. I • To bear out Leach's adventurous . nature, it is said of him that on one , occasion he weat up 12,000 ft by balloon . and dived from It In a parachute; and that lie had quite a number of experiences in negotiating Jhe Niagara rapids and the whirlpool. He was introduced to a number of Aucklanders during his ] brief call here as -the survivor of the < barrel adrenture, which he accomplished j 1 in forty minutes. . .... 1 ]