TOPICS.

Colonist, Volume L, Issue 12159, 6 February 1908, Page 4

TOPICS.

A DIVER'S PERIL. At Niagara Falls the other day a scene was enacted which makes one's blood tingle, writes the Canadian correspondent of the ''Dunedin Times." A diver named Godfrey Tibert on the morning of the sth went into the forebay of the great power works to carry out a job under water. He was caught by the force of the current running through tbe headgate oi penstock of So. 3, and carried against tbe mouth of the pipe. The rope prevented bim from going down, but when the mcc above tried to pull him out it was found that tbe rope was fouled by an eye-bar, and the diver could not be raised. It was impossible to shut down the gate, as it would have cut him in two. The men on the line stood a t their posts, strain-

ing every nerve to lift their imperilled mate. ' yet ■ fearingTeaoh minute that tne life-line would'fpart or be worn![through where it was foul of the*: ironwork and Tibert be dashed,; down 150 ft to be torn to shreds by the turbine wheel. The pump tenders worked like machines, .sending an uninterrupted supply of life-sustaining air down through the hose to Tibert. Every possible scheme was brought into play to release the fouled rope, but it was half an hour before a practicable way was found. When the rope was at last free, and the men pulled it in, they did not know whether it was a living man or a corpse they were dragging from the depths of the cold rushing water. Tibert was alive, however, as much to his own surprise as anyone's. He was terribly injured, but will recover.