RESCUE IN RAPIDS

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 209, 1 June 1931, Page 9

RESCUE IN RAPIDS

Neat-Tragedy at Niagara PLIGHT OF RIVERMAN His Barrel Sprang a Leak FATHER SAVED BY SON By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright. (Rec. May 31, 5.5 p.m.) New York, May 80. William Hillj a veteran riverman, and his son William, Junr., to-day provided a spectacular sight for thousands of cheering onlookers lining both sides of the swirling Niagara River at the falls. The elder Hill entered a barrel, which was placed in the river below ttie falls, and attempted to ride the rapids in it. After negotiating portion of the river, the barrel was caught in a whirlpool and crashecf on the rocks. It then started to leak. It circled endlessly, sinking lower and lower in the water. The barrel was fast filling when attempts by firemen to cast Hill a rope failed. An aeroplane sought to place a rope near the barrel, and also failed. Then the son tied a. rope around his body and struggled through the whirling waters until he grasped the barrel, holding his father as thousands cheered. He attached the rope to the barrel, which was slowly dragged to the Canadian shore, the father inside and the son holding on grimly. Hill, Senr., said he believed that another hour would have meant death. Eight gallons of water already were in the barrel. Hill, battered and bruised, expressed his regret at being unable to reach his objective—Queenstown dock below the whirlpool—as he had done twice before, once in 1919 and last year in a barrel in three hours.