The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-07-09
The Rope walker as Niagara.
Mr.. Willis, in the Home Journal, thus de-
scribes M. Blondin's passage over the Niagara
river in the character Of an Indian chief:

Mr.. Wills, In the Home journal, thus de-
scribes NJ. Blondin's passage over the Niagara
river, in the character Of an Indian chief
"After being dressed in his fiesh-colored
tights, wampum apron, bead necklace and
moccasins, he came out with his particularly
uncombed sandy hair uncovered as vet by its
crown of feathers) to look n little into the ar
rangements for his performance For fifteen
or twenty minutes the little Tecumseh was
hopping about, trying the cords which held
the ropes TO the stanchoDs, cooking the pistol
which was to be fired to announce his return
giving directions for the music, binding the
ligatures of his balance pole, and answering
very merrily all the jokes and questions of the
lookers-on. In his motions back and forward
he took no regular step; he simply bounded.
Like a childs soap bubble, the difficulty SEEM
ed to be to get to the ground-to keep from
floating away. During all this time, Of course
l had the desired opportunity for the study of
his face. 1t was one which nineteen persons
out of twenty, on seeing 1t in a crowd, would
pass over as wholly uninteresting-the twen-
tieth and more observant man giving him a
good look; as one of the most coolIy deter
mined and honestly spunky little fellows he
had ever seen. The topof his skull OF course
is very high with his bump of firmness. His
cheek bones are prominent, his nose straight
and with thin expanded nostrils, his lips thin
and firm. his cheeks hollow and pale and he
wears sandy moustache and Imperial Ia
Louis Napoleon. Though anything but a
beauty, he is a man it is impossible not to take
a fancy TO.
lsctlIIuk ~ Ills lOT d minute OF Two,
after all was arranged, his re-appearancs was
announced by grand utmost lana from the
band, and forward came Teeumseh, with a
high crown of many-colored feathers on his
head not with a slow pace, as would be ex-
pected from an Indian chief, but dancing a
Jig all the way to the precipice. 1t was curl
Gus, however, to see that the smile on his lin,
and his other signs of merriment for the
many, were altogether mechanical and artid-
cial, while the closely pressed eyelid tn rough
which his keen blue eye was hardly visible,
showed the inner minds utter absorption and
concentration in the work he had to do. The
rope was drawn from shore to shore, eight
hundred feet across and two hundred ard
fifty feet high over the Niagara rapids-a
rerllous bridge for human feet to walk /
took hold of his arm he stood trying the
rope for moment with the ball of his foot
1t was like bunch of iron wire, wholly un-
impressible. And away he went-his moe
casined feet hugging the two sides of the sway
ing cable, his balance-pole playing up and
down, and his little figure gradually diminish
ing as he walked steadily on and reached the
middle of the chasm, where he proceeded to
stand upon one leg and hold the other out at
right angles. The spectators of course, were
ali breathlessly silent; though I found it
much more breathless to think of afterward
than to see it done.
He did it with such apparent ease and GER
tainty that it was like seeing a bird fly or 8
spider walk the ceiling-not to be wondered
at for that kind of creature. am inclined to
think it would be more startling (better ena-
ping one tO Imagine nlnSelf In the perform
er's place,) ii he were to do it in common
| clothes. Looking scarcely larger than but
terfiy as he reached the opposite shore Blon-
| din remained fifteen or twenty minutes out
| of sight, and then the pistol was fired to an
| nounce his return. He came quietly on to the
| centre, where he stopped to lie down at full
| length on the rope, and execute various pos
| lures and gymnastics; and, between this and
| his reaching our shore again, he made several
pretended trips, as if losing balance-the
| screams of the affrighted ladies, at this, very
| comically varying the tune which was being
| endeavored by the band AS he came up the
| slant OF the rope again, I saw that his lips
| were tightly drawn together and his features
| were rigidly Set with the men al exertion, and
| 1T was an expression of face that would be
worth painting as type of determined will.
| Through all the anxiety of spectators sus-
| pense l could not help admiring the little
man exceedingly, and L was the first to give
| him a hand as he stepped on the cliff. 1t was
| cold clammy grip that he gave me in re-
| turn, and his fingers felt icy and wet Every
| body who could reach him gave him a shake
| of the hand on his way to the shanty, and the
| enthusiasm for him seemed universal. And
| so ended tine show of a human life put fear
| fully in peril! Dir. Blondin, was afterwards
| told, has wife and several children and re-
| sides at Niagara, having adopted it as his the
| atre of performance. His professional prof IS
amount to ten thousand dollars year."