The Sun.
London, England, 1869-09-10 00:00:00

ACROSS NIAGARA ON A BICYCLE.

Phis feat was announced by Professor Jenkins to be
accomplished on the 25th of August, and accomplished
it was, in the presence of a vast crowd. A thousand
feet of good two-inch rope was stretched across the stream
below Suspension Bridge, and where Blondin crossed
with a man on his back. The _New York Times
says :—" The machine used by Professor Jenkins
is rot in any sense a velocipede. It is, however,
a bicycle, and turned upside down would resemble in
some degree a modern velocipede. The wheels, three
inches wide, are made heavy and of wood, without tires,
but in their places are grooves an inch and three-
quarters deep. The front wheel is 3ft. 2in., and the hind
wheel 2ft. 10in. in diameter. The connecting rods are
iron, so also the balance-pole, which is Bft. long and tipped
with 10-pound balls, and weighs 28113. The whole thing,
with the man thrown in, weighs 2031 b. The propelling
power is a pinion cog-wheel, made of brass, about Pin. in
diameter, which is made to gear to cogs which surround
the front wheel at the bottom of the groove. At
2.30 p.m. the professor made his appearance at the
small house on the Canada side with the pieces of
his machine, and at once proceeded to put them
together, a task of no small labour. With the aid of
his men he first placed the fore wheel on the rope
just at the edge of the precipice, and while one balanced
it, another placed on the standard from the undo' side,
thus bringing two strong bars of iron on either side of
the rope. All the joints were securely fastened with bolts.
Tho braces or connecting rods extending from the stan
dard to the rear shaft in the form of the letter 0 made
the connection complete and very strong. The professor
then got outside the rope, arranged the pinion wheel and
fastened the balance-pole across the 0 part of the braces.
This done, the seat, a strip of leather, was secured to
the rear axle by means of straps. This arrangement,
which it was seen at once would throw the entire weight
of the machine and the rider under the rope, was a source
of disappointment, if not of relief, to many of the specta-
tors, who, not consulting the inventive genius of the
Canadian Blondin, rather expected to see him mounted
on a Greenwood velocipede, which, of course, would
give a good chance for ground and lofty tumbling.
All being in readiness, the bicycle was fastened
by a rope to the bank, and Jenkins prepared to
start. He wore white tights, black velvet knee breeches,
shoulder straps, and cross-belts of the same materials,
and on his head was placed a crown-shaped hat, and all
were profusely bedecked with tinsel and beads. His feet
were covered with buff moccasins. He took his position
astride the rope, and proceeded to arrange the leather
strap or seat, which, as it was allowed to touch the rope,
seemed more for the purpose of protecting the velvet pants
from damage by attrition than to sit upon. In fact, he
did not sit, but stood up with his feet about 18 inches
apart, resting on the balance pole. In a moment he grasped
the handles of the pinion wheel, and turned them, moving
slowly from the bank, the crowd preserving a death-like
stillness. After passing out a few yards a halt was made,
and the photographers were allowed to take his picture.
He then returned and waited five or ten minutes, and
resumed his seat. Three pistol-shots were then fired from
the Canadian side, and it was a ' go.' The machine moved
slowly forward, the rope swaying gently from side to side
until he had passed about 50ft., when another oppor.
tunity was given the artist, after which he crawled
along at a snail's pace to the middle of the abyss, where
he raised and waived his hat, and received a faint cheer
in response. From the centre to the American shore it
was evidently hard work to propel the bicycle, but at last
the edge of the cliff was reached, and then the welkin did
ring with the applause of the people. The time occupied
in passing over the rope was just eleven minutes."

Every one who has occasion to visit the British
Museum reading-room will regret to hear of the death of
Mr. Thomas Watts, the keeper of the printed book de-
partment. His marked and unvarying courtesy, as well
to the young and inexperienced readers as to those who
more regularly frequented the place, will be long remem-
bered. Mr. Watts died on Thursday afternoon at his resi-
dence in the Museum.

Mr. Kekewieh, M.P. for South Devon, on Wednes-
day afternoon, at the Newton Abbot Town-hall, addressed a
large Inoeting of agriculturists on the subject of middle class
education. Mr. C. J. Wade, J.P., presided. The bon. mem-
ber entered Lis protest against secular apart from religious
instruction, and expressed his fit in conviction that no system
of education can be of real value unless founded on what is
called in our examinations "Faith."

At a meeting held on Wednesday at Zion Chapel,
Bothnal-green, for the purpose of promoting the emi-
gration of the working classes, a statement was made
by the President of the Venezuela Emigration Society that
the Emigration Commissioners had demanded exces-
sive fees. It was alleged that in reference to the
departure of Mrs. Pattison's pioneer party for Venezuela
Captain Foster demanded a fee of £2 10s. for each person.
As this sum, in addition to the cost of the paseage, would
have amounted to a considerable sum, Mrs. Pattison was
compelled to proceed to Hamburg, and charter a vessel under
a foreign flat: to take the emigrants to their destination, on
the River Caura, in Venezutda.

•
TUE NEWPORT POISONING CASE. —Mr. W. 11,
Brewer, coroner, has again resumed the inquiry at the
Queen's hotel, Newport, touching the death of Emily
Amelia Collier, who was supposed to have been poisoned
by Charles Gritt, a boy in the employ of her father, who
is an oil merchant in Dock-street-, Newport. The coroner
said since they last met he had received a letter from
Dr. Taylor, in which Ile says :—" Taking the medical
circumstances as they come out in the evidence with the
facts observed by Mr. J. Brewer after he WaS called in,
and the state of the viscera as I saw them, it is highly
probable that the child died, not from poison administered
to her, but from latent disease of the brain. had pest•
mortem examination been made at the time of death, and
the brain inspected, it is most probable that the cause of
death would have been discovered." Mr. James Bone,
master of the industrial schools at Caerleon, belonging to
the Newport Union, gave the prisoner, Charles Gritt, an
excellent character, and stated that there was no poisoned
wheat about the school, and no poison the prisoner could
have had access to in the ordinary course. The inquiry
.wlts adJournod to; a luck.