Over Niagara By Barrel, Rope

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30769, 5 June 1965, Page 12

Over Niagara By Barrel, Rope

[Specially written for ‘'The

Press” by

DAVID ENGLAND)

IVOT so long back a New York negro, Nathan Boya, aged 30, plunged over the 162 ft Horseshoe Falls at

Niagara, in a large

rubber ball. He survived with little more than bruises. Luck was with him; most fool-hardy stunters w’ho try this trick are pulp when they are picked up.

But the Canadian police were not sympathetic. They charged Nathan under the Niagara Parks Act which forbids such adventures. Nor were the Customs any more considerate. They seized the sphere when it was washed ashore on the grounds that it was a “foreign vessel” in Dominion waters. Nathan’s craft was a steelframed ball covered first with six-ply rubber, then by a coating of sheet steel and then by another coating of rubber. He said that just before going over the falls the hatch of the sphere had warped and he had difficulty in keeping it shut. But he had no sense of falling in the great rush of water. The craft cost him £1785, but as a Toronto theatre offered him a contract to appear and tell his story he managed to cover his expenses plus fine. That’s about all he achieved, for he was soon forgotten. For more than a century, Niagara has been a magnet for dare-devils like Nathan Boya, who are only able to get a thrill by deliberately courting death. But few who have risked life and limb above or in the mad waters have enjoyed fame and fortune thereafter. On the contrary, most of them died penniless and unhonoured, and in far from thrilling circumstances. Blondin—perhaps the only one who enjoyed world prestige—cooked an omelete on his tight-rope and enjoyed it in mid-air in mid-stream. He eventually passed on quietly in his bed in unromantic Ealing. Nathan Boya is the latest member of the barrel parade. William Leach, a boastful little Englishman, was the first man to join it. His first words on coming round from oblivion were, “No more Niagara for me.”

The remark was not at all surprising, since he had two broken knee-caps and a fractured jaw and spent 23 weeks in hospital. Yet he met his end by slipping on an orange skin in New Zealand. Millions have stared at the Falls during the three centuries they have been known to white men. And many

viewing them feel a strong and almost over-powering fascination, a sense of standing on the brink of eternity. With some, the effect is hypnotic, even terrifying, and few feel flippant enough to repeat Oscar Wilde’s typical but undeservedly famous remark. “It would be much more interesting if the falls ran backwards.”

Perhaps this hypnotic power is the reason for stunters risking their lives over and in Niagara. People still stare at them because of the majesty of the boiling waters, and the one to start the whole thing was that otherwise eminently sensible man. Jean Francois Gravelot. the son of one of the heroes of Napoleon's armies, otherwise. Blondin. He owed his fame and fortune to the idea of crossing the waters on a tight-rope. The stunt was new then, and aroused feverish interest. A crowd of 100.000 gathered to see the attempt. Exactly that number were weak with anxiety for the safety of the walker.

An unspecified number of gentlemen almost bit through the handles of their canes, pretty young ladies in shaols

tore their handkerchiefs to shreds, and everbody present, except one. swore the attempt would be fatal. Odd man out was Blondin, and he was right.

A wire rope 1100 ft long and 160 ft above the rapids, was stretched across the gulf. Blondin put his foot on it with the abandon of a cakewalker. and calmly stepped to the other side. Not satisfied with that, he uncorked a series of theatric variations that left the crowd limp. He pranced, he ran, he turned somersaults, he walked backwards. sat down, lay down, walked with baskets on his feet, walked with stilts, and hobbled over with shackles confining his hands and feet.

Marksman's Target

Next year, he returned with the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), and performed a series of stunts any monkey would have been pleased to emulate. He held his hat out at arm’s length to allow a local sharpshooter to put a bullet through it. The marksman stood on the deck of the steamer “Maid of the Mist’’ which took viewers to the falls. Blondin then lowered

Graham Land. But since then Argentina and Chile—the two South American nations nearest to the Antarctic have tried to establish rights there. Argentina issued a stamp in 1961, actually inscribed "Antartica Argentina,” for the tenth anniversary of the San Martin base in the Antarctic. Back in 1951 the same country produced a stamp to back up her Antarctic claims in the form of a map. Unfortunately the neighbouring country of Chile had four years previously, in 1947, issued two stamps on which a map showed exactly the same territory as “Antarctica Chilena." Only rarely have there been any signs of the conflict developing outside the stampalbum. But all three countries continue to operate bases in the Antarctic fully equipped with postmasters and stamps. Though the situation may seem farcical, there is a reason for this profusion of apparently unnecessary

a mug on a string to the deck and pulled it up full of drink. He walked across with a wheelbarrow, then went back for his griddle, and cooked his omelette. Next Blondin asked for! volunteers for a pick-a-back ride to the other side. There were no takers, and gamblers betted against any couple getting across. Blondin, not to be defeated, humped up his manager, Harry Colcord, of Chicago, on his shoulders and set off. Halfway over Colcord funked it, not surprisingly, as too much slack in the rope had exhausted the master, and he ordered the terrified passenger down. Colcord, trembling in every limb, did so, and grasped Blondin’s waist while he rested.

On they went, and made land, but Colcord broke out into a cold sweat every time he thought of the trip. Naturally enough Blondin had imitators, but the only kudos and cash they got out of it were the plaudits of the sensation-mongers and the yield from passing the hat round. One woman, an Italian named Signora Spelterinia,

stamps. In international law it is not enough to discover a new land to assume ownership; the place must be occupied and administered. Since the climate is hardly likely to attract many permanent settlers, the provision of weather stations and scientific bases, and the appointment of magistrates and postmasters, is held to constitute an administration.

This is why some famous explorers have found themselves elevated to the official status of postmasters before setting off on their expeditions.

It has been suggested that the whole of Antarctica should be placed under international control. Until that happens, however, it seems that the rival nations will continue to assert their claims by means of a “stamp war." The first “shot” in that war, illustrated here, was a series of Falkland Island stamps overprinted for Graham Land in 1944.

h’did the trick. The first time . i she put on a very proper and ! lady-like performance, the next she borrowed one of I Blondin's old stunts, using I baskets. Some of the gaping crowd, drawn by the unique spectacle of a woman trying to break her neck, almost broke their own by clambering to dizzy heights on bridge girders. The time came when the crowds began to get bored, and so new ideas had to be thought up. Charles Calverley called himself the “world champion.” and shoved a wheelbarrow across; one named Jenkins crossed by a special kind of velocipede or rudimentary bicycle; and another stunter, McDonnell, hung upside-down by his legs in the middle of the rope. Saved By Firemen Finally, early this century, a go-one-better from lowa announced he had decided to cross hanging on by his teeth. He used a special kind of fastener and sailed off at high speed with the Stars and Stripes and Union Jack in his hands. The crazy loon got safely to the middle—but he had not allowed for the sag of the rope. There he stuck, unable to proceed any further, for he could not work uphill, and it seemed he must plunge to certain death. The fire brigade was sent for. with the stunter’s jaws aching all the time as much as if he had been hit by a heavy-weight. Luckily the brigade's efforts to draw him back succeeded. Using the wooden bridge close by the fire escape ladders, the rescuers were able to get at him in the nick of time. The first person to negotiate the falls in a barrel was a woman, a school teacher named Anna Taylor, and she stepped into a special stellboitnd barrel on October 4. 1901. She had courage if not commonsense, and certainly Providence was on her side. The only ballast in the barrel consisted of a blacksmith’s anvil, which by all the laws of physics should have torn the bottom out of it—but it didn’t.

Over the Horseshoe Falls Anna went Thousands prayed for her saftey as the barrel twdsted and bounded towards the brink, then vanished amid foam. She was pulled out later, battered and bleeding, shocked and covered with bruises, but indubitably alive. Other adventurers were not so lucky, among them an Englishman. He wouldn't listen to Leach, and only his arm and bits of his barrel were found after he went over the Horseshoe Falls in 1930. He was advised to try his empty barrel over first, but he refused to take anv precautions. He even forgot ballast until the last minute, when he also stuck in an anvil’ Another victim of the river was Roliert Flack, of Syracuse, who tried to race Charles Percy through the rapids, using speciallyconstructed boats. Percv had succeeded earlier and he got through again. But Flack's craft capsized and he was smashed beyond recognition Padded Suit Some stunters have prefered to go over the top minus barrel but padded up Amazingly, some got away with it. The first was Steve Brodie, who jumped from Brooklyn Bridge, New York, came through, and then announced he was going over Niagara.

He wore a ponderous rubber suit bound by steel bands, and thickly padded. Brodie stepped into the water above the falls, calmly paddled to the centre and moments later was whirled over the foaming summit. The waiting crowds thought he was finished, and he almost was. He was picked up battered and unconscious below the falls. He lived to recount the tale as landlord of a Bowery bar. Jean Laussler. another lucky one, escaped with scratches. He had more sense and ingenuity than a lot of the stunters and used their experiences. Laussier chose a huge rubber ball, inside which pressure was normal, and arranged inflation by using compartments. He took up his position fastened tightly in harness, and carried enough oxygen for 48 hours. He did not need it, for 50 minutes after he was set free above the falls he was hauled out unhurt. Battered To Death The saddest tragedy was ‘J eat , h of Ca Ptain Matthew Webb, the first man to swim the English Channel. Webb was only 35, in the prime of life, when he stepped into Niagara clad only in trunks, on July 2. 1883. Magnificent and powerful swimmer though he was the rapids proved too much for him. At first he progressed strongly, but once he was within the real grip of the seething waters he was thrown about like a cork. Webb was hurled high into the air, and then sucked dow n °. u^, sight from the horrorstnken thousands watching. Four days later his body was recovered, battered and mangled.

Crossword Solution Following l t the tolutlon to the crossword punle printed on another page:—Across: I, Spineless: 8, Gala: 9. Irregularj 11. Homily; 13, clash: 15. Flu* 18. Usher; 17, Grime: IK Extra; 19, Anon: 20. Shard IL Carton: 2S. Parakeets K Road; 27. Gladstone. Down K Purr; 3, Needle; 4. Louts; Hj. Shah: 8. Cap in hand: 7 sap Brand; 10, Rogue: 12. Af®care: 13. Cut-throat: 14 it* 17. Galop; 19, Arrest. K. Hoard; 23. Nall; 24. Stun I