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Show CARRIED OYER NIAGARA. A Dare-Devil Artist's Ride on the Back of Blondin How It Feels to be Perched on a man's Back Far Above the Boiling Waters. Harry Colcord, artist, now of Chicago, ran away from home and went to sea. Before he got through with his adventures adven-tures he rode across Niagara falls three times on the back of Blondin on a tightrope. tight-rope. He said he would not do it again, but that he did not suffer from fear. One can readiiy believe him. In his deep gray eyes there is a suggestion of self-control, self-control, and in his slight, lithe figure, of strength and reserve physical force which j his gentle voice and his easy, courteous manner fails entirely to conceal. He is an artist as artists go, and paints tolerable pictures. To a representative of the Chicago News he said : "In the year 1858 I joined Blondin in Boston. He was of the Francona troupe, including Martinetti and the famous Bavels. I was their scenic artist and painted scenes with a white-wash brush. We disbanded in Cincinnati, and there it occurred to Blondin to cross Niagara on i a tight rope, and I went to the falls with him. We. had no end of trouble getting the necessary permits to extend the ropes. Blondin only spoke a little English ; that was one difficulty, but finally we sue-1 ceeded in getting them from Porter, who owned the American side, and the rest was easy. Blondin wanted to carry the ! rope from Terraphin tower and across to Davis' hotel, which would have led over to Horseshoe Falls, through the mist and spray of the great cataract. They objected, because Blondin Blon-din was sure to fall, they said. The spray would keep the rope damp, and I, who had engaged to go on his back, was very glad of it. Finally we stretched the rope from White's pleasure ground across to the Clifton house. Not far away from the place there is now a suspension bridge. There was 2,000 feet of the rope. It was of manila, three inches in diameter, diame-ter, made in a New York rope -walk, in two pieces. Blondin joined them with a long splice which, when the rope was extended, was in the centre of the span. It took us nearly five months to stretch the rope and get the guy lines in place. "It was 250 feet above water at its lowest low-est point, whfch was fifty feet below the highest in other words there was a grade of fifty feet in each 1,000 feet. There were 75,000 feet of guy line altogether. Each of them was weighted with a ten-pound sand-bag to drop them out of the way of his balance pole, and in putting them up Blondin crossed a score of times. At last we were ready to make the first ascension ascen-sion ; that was what we called it. Before I went over he made several public ascensions. as-censions. It was advertised through the papers that I was to ride on his back, and I was the subject of all kinds of attacks and criticisms. I was ready to back out, but Blondin taunted me, and I got into that corner of pride and vaingloriousness which nothing escapes from. Meantime Blondin had coached me as to what I should do. I was to put my weight on his shoulders by my arms and clasp his body about with my legs. But I could not put my weight on his legs ; that would encumber" his movementt. I had to keep all the weight on his shoulders. In July, 1860, we went across. I took my place on Blondin's back ; and he began the descent from the Canadian side on the rope. By reason of the fact I had to bear my weight on his shoulders and had to use my arms, and with main strength, to support myself, frequent rests were necessary. I told Blondin when I wanted to rest, and then I dropped down on the rope on one foot and waited till my arms were relieved, when I would spring up again, using only my arms to lift and hold myself in place. There was a great crowd there. I did not see them - at first. I do not remember what I thought. From my place on Bloridin's back I could look out to the other shore and see below me the stunted pines thrusting their sharp points up from the edge of the foaming water, ready to split us if we fell. I remember, too, that I was anxious to get over, and I recall, too, that the great rope before us made swings from side to side. We afterwards after-wards knew that the . rope swung forty feet at the centre, and I felt the necessity of preserving my self possession, and I did it. 'There was a forty-foot length between the guy on one side and those of the other that it was impbssible to make steady. It was the middle span. Below us 250 feet roared the river, and over it we swung from side to side. Still moving on steadily, however, Blondin never trembled. When he had gone about, ten feet on the middle span somebody on the American side pulled the outer guy line. We afterwards found out that it was done intentionally and the rope stopped in its swing. Blondin stopped and his pole went from side to side in the vain effort to enable him to secure his balance. At one time it was up and down on the right side, and I recall now with wonder that I was only curious to know whether he would succeed in getting control of himself him-self or not I didn't feel any fear. Failing Fail-ing in getting his balance, he started to run across the horrible span, and we safely reached the point where the guy rope came from the American - shore. Then to steady himself Blondin put his foot on the guy rope and tried to stop, but the guy line broke and with a dash of speed he ran swiftly twenty-five feet further fur-ther to the rope. There he recovered his balance and whispered: 'Descendez-vous.' 'Descendez-vous.' The perspiration stood out on his neck and shoulders in great beads and we balanced ourselves on the swaying rope. Presently he said 'Allous,' and I raised myself to his shoulders and we went on in safety and without accident toward the shore.. "It was not until we landed that I appreciated ap-preciated what had been done. Then it occurred to me that the man who pulled the guy line was one of those who bet-that bet-that the feat could never be accomplished, and my indignation mastered -any reactionary reac-tionary feeling of fear. You see, many thousand dollars were bet upon the.abil-ity the.abil-ity of Blondin to carry a man over, and human cupidity stops , at no sacrifice. Then there were the congratulations and praises of pluck and the rest of it, so that in my foolish boyish elation I forgot everything else. I do remember, as we approached the shore, the wonderful tableau tab-leau of 100,000 people as they stood gazing gaz-ing at us. Thousands of them turned their faces away, or, half turning, cast glances over their shoulders at us. I remember re-member their white faces, their strained positions of anxiety women who stared, white and motionless, and men who wept, and, as we drew near the bank the crowd surged towards us, and Blondin j stopped, fearing they would push each I other over the precipice. Then the crowd was Btill again, and with a quick run we ' came to the shore and sprang to the! ground. I remember: one man seizing me in his arms and lifting me high up in the air, saying, 'Thank God, this thing is over!' From the other side there was a cheer and then we were thrown into a carriage and drawn to the International hotel by the people. "I crossed again, twice, the last time under the patronage of the Prince of Wales. He congratulated us personally, and gave us each a purse of $100. N. P. Willis was present, and wrote a wonderful wonder-ful sketch of the affair. Tom Hyer, the prize fighter, was there also, and he grabbed me up and shook me. and looked at me through the tears that fell so rapidly rap-idly as to almost blind him, and said, 'O, you little cuss!' 'Cuss' was not the word to use, however." "What was vour weight then, Mr. Colcord?" Col-cord?" "One hundred and thirty pounds." "And Blondin's?" "One hundred and thirty-five." ' ' Would you do it again ?" "Not for all the wealth in the world." |