DARING DEATH IN NIAGARA’S VORTEX.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17854, 24 May 1926, Page 13

DARING DEATH IN NIAGARA’S VORTEX.

HEROIC ATTEMPTS TO CONQUER TERRIFIC FALLS. Since time immemorial, Niagara Falls has acted as a. magnet for those persons who arc so uniquely constituted as to want to do the apparently impossible feats of physical daring, even when they know that failure means death. Numerous men have attempted to swim the “ terrific rapids,” and none have succeeded. Numerous ones have striven to conquer them in a specially constructed barrel, and Some have been successful, but, on the whole, Mother Nature has been the ruler. Long before the white men went to America the Indians who dwelt in that vicinity worshipped the Great Spirit of the Falls, their worship culminating annually in the sacrifice of the fairest maiden of the tribe to the Great Spirit of Niagara, laden with fruits and flowers. As far back as 1827 Niagara was recognised as an ideal place where great crowds might be assembled by thrilling incidents. About the first feature ’’spf this character was the sending of the pirate-ship Michigan over the Falls on the afternoon of September 8, 1827. This vessel was at the time one of the largest of her class, but had been condemned by her owners as no longer' ' fit to sail the Lakes. - Dressed as a pirate she was laden with wild and tame animals and, with a crew in effigy, was towed to the foot of Navy Island and set adrift. She was caught by the current and hurled through the Upper Rapids, and over the Horseshoe Falls. It was never recorded that any of the animals were recaptured to be sent to the museums in New York, Montreal and London as was the intention. Just why the inhuman idea of sending animals on this inevitable slaughter is not known or understood. It was unquestionablly a brutal thing to do; but, nevertheless, special trains carried large crowds to see the extensively advertised sight, and the hotels were crowded to overflowing with the curious. DARE-DEVIL’S LEAP SUCCEEDS. Among the crowd drawn to the Falls by this incident was one Saiti Patch, a daredevil, who had gained notoriety • at Pawtucket Falls and other Eastern points as a high juniper. He returned a short while afterwards to the Falls, and erected a platform at the water's edge of the debris slope, just north of the Biddle Stairs, and from the platform leaped into the river, the height of the jump being ninety feet. It was a risk that many would not have taken, although it was ’ not as dangerous as many others which were later attempted. Patch survived, but subsequently lost his life in a leap from the Genesee Falls at Rochester. The fittle sight-seeing boat, The ’ Maid of the Mist, had an exciting ex- ■ perience on June 6, 1831, and it. also concerned one Joel Robinson and his two associates, MTntvre and Jones. ’ The boat was mortgaged and libelled L to such an extent that the waters of : the Niagara were too warm for her and Robinson agreed to deliver her at a Canadian lake port. On the atfernoon of the day mentioned, to the sur--1 prise of all who saw the boat, instead of heading over her usual course up the river, her bow was directed right 1 into the Rapids, with the waves of which she was soon bdttling. It was the first trip of its kind ever made, but 1 under a full head of steam she ipade •’ the trip in safety. The stack. was. 5 swept away in the seething and 2 her sides were badly ba.ttered. Robin-

son died a natural death two . years later. RAPIDS LURE CAPTAIN WEBB. The next person whom Niagara seduced with her wiles was a famous character, Captain Mathew Webb, of England, who was the first to swim the English channel, and a few words regarding this man and his previous feats are apropos. It is not known how many men had attempted to conquer the Channel -before Webb finally accomplished the feat on August 25, 1875, but there were a great many. When the news reached the world that Webb had been successful and, after only one previous attempt, the populace could scarcely believe it. But Webb swam from Dover to Calais in twenty-one hours and forty-five minutes. It was hailed as the master achievement of sporting history, for/ because of the numerous failures, people were convinced that the swirh' could not be made. But success in this venture cost him his life. He became over-confident, and determined to swim the Yankee rapids. Webb came to this-country early in the summer of 1883 and, although he could make no practise swim, he studied the course of the water and the vortex. He finally, concluded that he. would take the same route as did “The : Maid of the Mist,” over a half a century before. No craft but this had ever survived the perils of that terrible channel, and no human being, saving those of her crew had passed alive through the rapids. Captain Webb left Buffalo in the - morning accompanied bv his business manager, a Mr Kyle of Boston. At four o’clock in the afternoon, Webb was rowed to the centre of the river, near the old landing place of “The Maid of the Mist," about a third of a mile above the Suspension Bridge. He was entirely naked, except for a band around his body to protect his stomach. The crowd was smalt, there being not more than 500 persons on the bank. Many believed that he would back out, and scarcely any had faith that he would accomplish the feat. GOES BOLDLY TO DEATH.. When he sprang boldly' into the current and headed down stream, ,cheer after cheer rent the air. The captain buoyed himself skilfully and gracefully upon the surface, and maintained perfect control of his movements. While he was shooting the rapids, the spectacle was thrilling. Such an exhibition of natatorial prowess had never before been seen. In thirteen minutes . the mile and a quarter between the start ing point and the whirlpool had been , passed, but when entering the vortex, Webb was observed to throw one of 1 his ariyis up. It was evidently a signal of distress, for .a moment later he was lost in the whirlpool. His body was never recovered. Owing to the curves and the ledges of. rock at this point, the water * is dashed upward forty or fifty feet-, after which it seethes and whirls as if lashed bv a thousand demons. The power is seemingly as resistless as that of the current. Another hero of the whirlpool rapids was Carlisle D. Graham, a Philadelphia cooper, who, despite Webb’s death, travelled to Niagara determined to show the world that he had confidence ! enough to go through the rapids and ■ L live, as well as being ready to risk his life in a barrel of his own construction. * Graham made his trip on the afternoon of Sunday, July 11, 1886, going as ' far as Lewiston, the trip occupying about thirty-five minutes. Graham rode in a barrel, weighted at the bot- , tom, the height of which was such that he could almost stand up straight /„ jt. and the ton was of a larger

diameter than the bottom. The inside was padded. A friend rolled the barrel from a ; boat, and immediately the object began whirling around like a wheel. It would disappear only to reappear,- some times minutes later far down the stream. Finally at Lewiston, thirty-five minutes after it ' had been put in- the water, it was rescued, and Graham had suffered no ill effects from his perilous journey. OTHERS RIDE IN BARRELS. On Thursday, August 10, of the same year, he made a second trip, going as far as the whirlpool. On June 15, of the following 'year, 1887, he made a third trip, ,and on August 25.1889 the fourth, and using a barrel somewhat smaller, and again landing in Lewiston. Graham will be remembered as never disappointing a gathering. His nerve never failed him. Copying somewhat the Idea which Graham had developed so .'successfully George Ilaslett and William Potts, of Buffalo made a trip through the Rapids m’-a barrel.-said to be of their own construction, on Sunday. August 8, 1886. a' month after Graham originally perforrped' ljis.'feat, The barrel they used resembled an -ordinary-- one in shape. - but. of course, was strongly reinforced. They were successful. l - Two weeks after Hasiett and Pot r ts : made their trip there appeared at Niagara a Boston policeman, named W. J. Kendall. The date, was August 22, 18.86. Unannounced. Kendall went , through the rapids to tire whirlpool, protected only by. a cork life preserver. All previous- trips or stunts- to take place there had been widely-advertised but Kendall slipped through with only a few spectators—--just those who happened to be on the cliffs or bridges at the time. For this reason some have felt that the trip was never made, but men of known integrity witnessed tne performance, and

There have been a few daredevils who have attempted the trip in barrels since that time, but, as none have been able to swim the rapids or to survive the Falls, the popularity of the feat has diminished until now it is extinct.