A FEARFUL STRUGGLE FOR LIFE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6296, 21 January 1882, Page 7

A FEARFUL STRUGGLE FOR LIFE.

Nkws comes from Alice Falls (.4 usable Chasm), Montreal, of a very exciting affair in that section. These falls, well-known to the tourists, are some forty feet in height. Recently Peter Gumblaw, a young man who had been courting a lady, member of a fa.Tiily residing at Keesville, was slighted by the girl. After a quarrel she repudiated him, and at length requested him to leave the house. Gumblaw completely broke down, and told her she would never have to tell him that again. He left the house and weDt toward the river, and a little boy named Crevier followed him to the river bank. The two sat down on the rocks, and Gumblaw took off his hat, coat, and boots, and gave them to the boy, telling him to give them to old Joe, the master of the house, and say that Gumblaw would never Deed them again. He sat on the rocks talking to the boy for some time, until the proprietor of the house was observed coming down toward him. He rose at once, ran down into the water, but evidently went further than he had intended, or changed his mind a3 to suicide. But he was now in the grasp of the current, from which there was no escape. He shrieked for help and struggled as only a strong, desperate man can. Now he would gain a foothold for a moment among the rocks, and would make a leap for shallow water only to be borne, screaming with terror, a few feet further towards the falls. He was nearing shore with every effort, and the friends on the watch shouted encouragingly to him. Meantime ladders and ropes were quickly brought to the spot. There was a good deal of deep water between the drowning man and safety, and his friends were hopeful of getting a rope to him. He made effort after eflort to reach a point near enoueh for this. At length he stumbled and went down to his armpits. The next instant the current had triumphed, and, with a terrible cry, he disappeared over the falls into the flood of foaming water below. The ladder and ropes now were of some service, and by means of them a rescuing party got down to the edge and dragged what they believed to be Gumblaw's dead body from the water. Medical assistance was sent for to Keesville, and the doctor found Gumblaw's left thigh, three ribs and an arm broken. He was alive at last accounts, but not expected to recover.