Show NIAGARA THE v vera PERILOUS feath niagara the world over aa the u of the it 1 beata known drilea orrin tho cosmopolitan in nil antom v live prompting who so ahna been risked and often met death a desire either for or or t was taft lato sam gratcl who traveled to t n unusual feat H in fame and fortune worked in a enill jw fall rhode and med to battle with hie comp in ash jumping ol 01 down from a budae into and not with bought greater hiate and P lt the roof of tho miu near 9 nm here that sam patch developed and ability an earl venture falling began emente about the country fron high in S a found himself ono of 1 ll 11 JL I 1 laa a to niagara falls to witness the sending over the cataract of the con defined ang michigan cruelly loaded with terror stricken wild animal sam latch was inspired to profit by the exi that prevailed and according 3 ne built a wooden tower ninety feet j nigh at the waters edge at tho foot of the biddle stairway on goat island arom a platform on top of this etric ture he leaped safely into the waters of the lower niagara river his career closed soon afterward however with a i leap in rochester which cost him his hac thirty years after monsieur bion din a frenchman appeared at niagara with his business agent harry colcord and announced his intention of crossing alie gorge on a tight rope stretched from goat island to the canadian bank he walked across and back on several once earring his business agent on his back in 1860 one signer farino walked across on a slack wire carried a man on his back and washed handkerchiefs in water which ho had drawn up from the river iu july and august 1803 harry leslie styled the american blondin crossed the gorges on a cable over the rapids in august 1873 signer ballent stretched a cable from prospect park to a point on the canadian side and mado his first crossing on august 25 1873 ballast embellished his per firmance for mance by dropping from the cable to the river by means of a rubber rope and one day while fastening his bal ance pole preparatory to this leap he lost it in the river but managed with difficulty to reach land again on saturday afternoon july 8 1876 signorina maria spelt erina crossed the niagara gorge on a two and one fourth inch rope stretched over the rapids be low the railway suspension bridge alio is the only woman who has the credit of such a performance her crossing with baskets on her feet was startling and she also walked with ankles and wrists manacled mana cled in those days niagara was far more popular with southerners than it is today and the southern society that gathered there set mhd pace for all pleasures and encouraged cou raged the performance of these hair raising feats among those who had helped signer ballani erect his cable in 1873 was a painter named steve beere who lived in drummondville Drum ontario one day secured bellenis pole and fearless ly ran out on the cable the jealousy of ballani waa arous to such a pitch that lie was caught in the act of trying to cut the cable one strand had already been severed and a couple of strokes would have sent feero to instant death this incident closed bal lenia career at niagara beere however was destined to make his mark for a few years later he crossed alie gorge on a cable only quarters of an inch in diameter a mere thread compared with the rope that blondin and others had used Then too its surface was hard and slippery three days after this feat beere was found dead on the river bank under the canadian end of the cable and it has boon supposed that herried he tried to walk the cable at night with his boots on while intoxicated not discouraged by deerea fate samuel dixon of toronto made two trips across the same narrow path of steel clifford M calverly jamea E hardy and J F jenkins have also crossings of the gorge to their credit man to perform the feat while jendy is said to have been alie youngest kins crossed on a velocipede mant his balance polo being carried under his feet in captain webb the english swimmer tried to ecim down over tho fulls nud was dashed to death in 1801 captain joel Kobi naon went over tho falls in alie maid of the mist and came out alive carlisle D araham ft philadelphia cooper went over ahu fells five times in a barrel the first double trip through the rapid was made by Gcorge hazlett anil william pott of buffalo in 1886 in the year W J kandall a boston policeman swam through the to the whirlpool protected ovay by life preserver in the fall of miss sadie alien in company with george hazlett made a barrel trip through tats cupida vanoi people were killed going over atlie fall or hooting tho rapids in 1001 mrs taylor went over the talk in a barrel and banoo out alive |