OVER NIAGARA IN A BARREL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3297, 16 August 1911, Page 8

OVER NIAGARA IN A BARREL.

THREE HOURS IN A WHIRLPOOL.

Aftey. being whirled i'or three hours in a' siteel' barrel amid the whirlpool rapids below Niagara Ralls, Mr Robert Leach was taken out almost suffocated. He lies half-conscious at an hotel near the Falls, his nerve broken by his terrifying experience. Mt Leach 'had been long preparing to shoot the rapids in a barrel specially canstr'uebed. It was a 6tout affair of thin steel, warranted to withstand tremendous buffeting. The interior was padded so that its inmate should not be Harmed. The last day of the international Niagara carnival, when 300,000 people were watching feats performed at the Falls, was chosen for the test. Houdin, the wire-walker, attempted to slide across the gorge on a tight wire. Within 100 ft of the Canadian shore he was marooned for 30 minutes. The wire was not taut enough, and he slipped into a depression, from which he was unable to ascend. Finally he was reached with a rope and hauled ashore. Then Mr Leach entered his barrel, flduph was closed, and consigned to the rapids. " “It was immediately caught by a giant wave, which hurled it 20ft in the air. It fell in the current and was swept around the maelstrom for three hours.

Again and again Mr Leach’s assistants. terrified: at the length of time the barrel was in t]ie water, vainly attemptol to reach it, but this was imposible. At last a lucky side current started the barrel down the river toward the shore, where it was caught. ;Mr Leach was draggled through the manhole,* limp and unconscious, and it was generally believed that he was dead, but after a while he revived, and was carried rip the steep bank. Several times the. barrel stood on ond in the middle of the whirlpool. Mr Leach’s recovery after his 'experience is considered remarkable.