Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-11-16
IN NIAGARA CANYON.

HOHsuo CUWpOGN.
IN NIAGARA CANYON.
An Exciting Adventure which Befel Three
Schoolboys-A Good Place for Timid People
To Avoid.
The canyon of the Niagara river is al
! most as terrific sight as the falls them
selves, and the three gentlemen who re-
Gently undertook to sound the depth of
the water below the falls, found the task
OF climbing up the steep walls of the
canyon difficult and dangerous. The
printed account OF their adventure has
called forth the following letter from a
New York Ecening Post correspondent:
The letter to the Syracuse Standard
concerning the canyon Of the Niagara
| calls to mind an incident that happened
near the same place three years ago,
| when I was a teacher at De Veaux Co..
lege. The members of the engineering
party, spoken Of in the Standard could
| not have been familiar with the CANYON,
or they would have found a way of as
cent sooner. About q mile, by the road,
below De Veaux College, in wild, roman
tic gorge, is q rather deep cave known as
the Devils Hole. Here, by means Of
stairway and q path, the descent
from the top of the bank to the
Niagara river is comparatively easy and
safe. This place used to be visited by
the tourist, but as the hackman got no
extra fee for carrying persons thither the
| place now is scarcely known. Halfway
between the Devils Hole and the Whirl-
pool at De Veaux there is place called
the Ladders, where by means Of 1ickety
ladder and the roots Of trees good
climber can get from top to bottom with
out much difficulty. BY remembering
these three places the Devils Hole, the
Ladders and the Whirlpool--as the only
| means Of communication between the
neither and the upper regions in this
| canyon, the incident which I have to
tell will be better understood.
Saturday is a half holiday at De Veaux,
and unless a boy has greatly misbehaved
he can go off bounds on that day. It is
generally enjoyed in excursions to the
falls and the romantic spots around the
river. One Saturday that autumn I was
master of the day, and when the report
| of absent ones was banded me at the sup
per table noticed the names of three of
the smaller boys, Kelley, Park and Very
They were new boys, all three of them,
! and sat at my table, I asked the boys
near me whether they knew anything
| about them or not. It was thought they
had gone down the road toward the De-
Wis Hole. Supper was over and yet
they did not appear. The boys marched
into evening school, and three Of the
larger boys were just starting to hunt
the missing ones when two of them
came in, Park and Very. Hark's cloth
es were torn and muddy. Vety had a
horrible-looking face, bru ed black and
blue, and very bloody. They were so
tired and frightened that neither Of them
could say word. ''Where is Kelley2
Where is Kelley?" This only made
them the more excited. 1t was
only by degrees that we found out that
they had been down to the river near the
Devils Hole to play and to hunt fossils,
and that, at the suggestion of Kelly, they
had undertaken to return by the river
along the rocks to the Whirlpool Stairs
They got along we'll at first. Then it
grew darker. After number of serious
falls down the rocks, and eager crawling
up again, they came up the Ladders.
They did not know whittier this would
lead them; but 60 rejoiced were they to
get a little higher that they clutched the
rotten rounds up, up, up, and then the
roots of the trees, still higher and higher,
not daring to look back, and with hearts
full of Joy they at last recognized the
woods and the level lands. They could
not rejoice in their own escape without
thinking of poor Kelley. Then they lived
over again all they had gone through the
two or three hours before. Without Kel-
ley they feared to go back to De Veau1,
but the dark night and their bruises hur-
ried them along.
"But where is Kclley?"
II don't know" they both cried.
"He went down."
Then came sobbing period.
Into the water?"
II don't know. We could not see
him."
"Was it very steepS D1d'he go into
the river?'
"Yes-I don't know"
This was all we could learn about poor
Kelley. The larger boys then started
with lantern and horn, and were to 90
along the top of the bank blowing the
horn and swinging the lantern to give
the boy some encouragement in case he
should see, or the roaring river should
allow him to hear the horn. The night
was too black to attempt a descent al
either Of the three places mentioned.
| Park and Very washed off the dirt and
blood, and after supper they looked bet
ter and felt better, but were not disposed
to talk as much as they usually
were. There was not much study in
school that night. There was no dispo-
sition to talk or 'cut up Kelley'z
empty seat made every boy think of him.
Some of the small boys who sat near
Kelley had to be sent out, they were so
restless. In the dormitories the masters
were asked: "Do you think he is dead?''
IT'S he drowned?' slave they found
him!" II can't go 70 sleep IN
Kelley's dormitory," the small boys
were crying. At ten o'clock the three
large boys returned, but without a clew.
At eleven o'clock the clouds broke, the
moon came up, and it was almost day
light. TheiPresident, who had returned
from Buffalo, gave orders to have the up
per school turned out to scour the rocks,
! the boys in the lowest dormltories to re-
main in bed. The hunting party was
divided into three squads, each under