OVER NIAGARA FALLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 194, 18 August 1930, Page 19

OVER NIAGARA FALLS.

TO TEST PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE FEAT THAT ENDS IN DEATH. BARREL FLOATS SEVEN HOURS.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) VANCOUVER,-July 19. -Imbued deeply-with the problems of philosophy, on which he had written a book, "The Mystery of Human Existence," George Stathakis, a waiter, made a dramatic trip over the world-famous Niagara Falls, which cost him his life. Determined to experience ■„ the emotions of a man on the Verge "of death, he locked himself into a specially constructed barrel, in which he had placed several mattresses. To these, to prevent being tossed around in his shelter, he strapped himself strongly. His idea: was that after a friend had pushed the barrel into the water, where it would plunge \m ore than. 100 ft over the falls, the barrel would float to ■ the shore ; somewhere, and he would, unlock it 'and. emerge. J "But the barrel, after making the great leap, was caught in a whirlpool far from the shore and tossed round and' round. For seven hours it floated, while the friend of the trapped inan.: secured the .aid'of a boat and a number of men. When the barrel was secured and towed "to- shore Stathakis was found dead.

—Doctors stated that the. plunge over the falls had been'successful, but that, unable to extricate himself from the barrel, he had been suffocated, death ensuing less than an hour before he was taken from his death barrel.