OCR Text |
Show PIECES OF BARREL FOUND BUT HIS BODY IS MISSING Article Written For Standard-Examiner Standard-Examiner Shows Adventurer Adventur-er Believed He Was Safe. NIAGARA FA ELS. N. Y., July 12. I Rl verm en were patrolling the Niagara gorge below the fnllj today In the hope of reeoering the body s)f harles G. Stephens, of Bristol. England, who lost his life yesterday In an attempt to duplicate the feats of Mrs. Annie) Kdson Taylor and Bobby Leach byj going over the cataract In a barrel. Bobby lycach, whose experiences gave his opinion some weight, declared de-clared Stephens' cask was too light in all parts for the lfs-foot drop at' the falls He warned Stephens before tho start that he was doomed to failure, fail-ure, but the Englishman was confi- m'V; Wth: made by July 25. the anniversary of my last trip. I'll duplicate it." NIAGARA FALLS. N. Y.. July 12. ' Charles O. Stephens, of Bristol, England, Eng-land, was killed Sunday when lie went over tho liorseshoe (falls In a barrel i j ne GUI m wnien no mane ine mp, though built of stout Russian oak staves and bound with steel hoop.-;, was smashed like an egg-shell. Piece of the barrel were picked up near the I bank on the Canadian side, but j Stephens' body has not been recovered. recov-ered. River men say that It may not come to the surfuco for a week or ten days. Stephens was 58 years old and has a wife and eleven children in Bristol, where he was a barber. He i-erved three years In France with the British army. Pew know that Stephens was to I make the trip. Early sightseers aw the barrel bobbing up and down, but none knew that It carried a man about to defy the cataract. BARREL GOES o Kit. As tho barrel drew near the brink of the falls It seemed to stand on end. hesitate a second or two and then slid gracefUy over the slope, h-ad foremost and at a slight angle. Field glasses trained on the boiling waters at tho base of the cataract revealed re-vealed no sign of the cask. When an hour had passed, old river men began to shake their heads dubiously. Stephens is the third to attempt the barrel trip over the falls. Mrs. Annie ifidson Taylor went over In October, 1901. in an oak barrel, and Bobble Leach made the trip In July, 1911, in a steel barrol. Both arc still living. BODY MISSING. It was shortly after noon, four hours after Stephens began his trip, when a tiack object appeared near tho base Of tho falls. "There It is," a watcher cried. As the object came to n st the watchers knew that Stephens' attempt had ended end-ed In tragedy, for the floating object waj a Bectlon of tho barrel. At in 3" o'. lo. u List invht practically practic-ally all of the barrel hadeveen picked up. but there still was no sign of the victim. Before he began his trip Stephens left with Mayor Harry i Stephens' f Niagara Palls, Ontario, a vest cov-i ered with medal., he said he had won In Kngland for p. rf.T.ni' ; net of bravery. Among these dee.:-, be said , w;i shaving a man in a cage of lions (Editor's Note Stephens had been retained to write hi- experiences In I going over the foils ir tbe Vewspap i interpriso association, which furnishes fur-nishes features t ihis paper, nig contract cannot be carried out Bui licre Is the Btorj he wrote jusi before ue set out in ids parrel.) NIAGARA FALLS If I thought there was a chanco 1 would bo killed,1 I wouldn't attempt to shoot Niagara Falls In a barrel. But there isn't a chan. e. 1 will bo as .safe In ihe Thundering Waters,' as the Indians call tho falls, as I WOUld be al home In Bristol. Eng. 1 don t expat I to be as seasick as I w'os COmtng from England on ihe "How do you got that way?" American Amer-ican friends asked me when they hoard I was going to take the big tumble. It's a little bard to say but 1 11 try STARTED s BARBER. I was born in Bristol In 1862. andi because. 1 was a delicate child I was' put to learn the. barber business, Then! I went to work In the -o.il pits In South v. eh Wh n i v. ss 1 1, rears Old 1 was deep in the pit one day with a fellow workman when a coal ar broke Iookc and dashed down tho long Incline toward us. There seemed to be no chanco for! (Continued on Page Two.) j PIECES BF BARREL FOUND BUT H 8GDY ISMISSINCl (Condhned iom Pngo Ode.) our salvation. We could see the car rushing with Increasing velocity." Twenty feet from us It jumped the track and wo (yore unhurt, afy companion com-panion iMia driven crazy with fright mid 1 hs.c to Say thut I who at work in the pit ihc next day. That settled me. if there was anything any-thing that could frighten me it would1 I have bee:i that aUvonture. When I I saw an udvet tisemeni asking for a I man of nerve to taki pardohute Jumps I mud" bob! to i v-ply and ihn ! unci u.t) a icmpter Ot LI ELI) Jl MP m t Sell. I hue kis(u lions, pji m head in la lion's rnojth and tickled nlm until he smiled Then to.., I have nhaved men In a Hon s den 1 held a world's record for parachute Jumping for bo mo years. Vou might think I have what you Americana call the swelled head,'' but really 1 haven I. Some of the , things I havo dour ai em difficult but they weren't to a man who just doesn't . seem to have been born with Hie j power to become frightened. J have live gold medals and soven silver ones for act of peril and I have three 01 dinar;. war decorations to show for i,ij two and a half years service In France 1 have hud this barrel Idea for a long time and It la going to bS a sort of pastime to niM. l am anxious to go 'vcr a,,d as souii as 1 have hired the crow to take care of mo when 1 go In and to fish me out at in.- whirlpool. whirl-pool. i'ii be ready. wants WfE MONEY There's no secret about the reason for my plunge, l want th money I havo a barge shop iii Bristol and a good business, b it l don't like barber-lng. barber-lng. When I huvo completed the Nla-! gara feat I can go back to English; music halls and lecture and nhOM m A barrel. Wish me luck, folks wish me luck! It s a good trick If you do it and I ill pit n.y money on myself to come I out topside up! rn |