National Republican., 1883-07-31
TALES ABOUT "rnE FALLs.o

Some OF the Mysteries OF Niagnra-Its
Grimes and Tragedies, Accidents, IScscues,
and Escnpcs-Anecdotcs OF Folly and
Courngc-Iow a Murderer Crossed the
River.
NIAGARA FALLS, July 27.-Unless Capt
Wobb's body should be found there can never
be an end to conjecture as to how he met his
death. 1t is only certain that he died just as
he anticipated his struggle would begin.
Days have elapsed and yet no trace of his
body is reported What became Of it aud Of
bodies similarly swallowed by the "angriest
bit Of water in the world?" He thought
there was channel ninety feet doep until he
reached "Scyla and what do you call
tho other one" But il eye witnesses
are to be believed that is very far from
true. l have lately seen atlidavits by
those who saw the falls run dry" for no urs
in March 81, 1Sl5 A wind had driven an
unusually large volume of water from tho
lake down the river Then 1t had changed
suddenly and diminished tho downward cur
rent. At the same time an ice.dam Obstructed
the flow. So it happened that man and his
daughter were able to walk dry-shod nearly
| one-thrd across the lip over which the waters
! plunge. The point of the reminiscence IS
this-the channel was far from clear. 1t was
| full of enormous and Jagged rocks, such hor-
rid needles of projecting flint, that the re-
porter shuddered to think he had sailed over
| them in the Maid of the Mist. If the gallant
swimmer was dashed against such cruel OBJ
| stacles to the resistlesS current his speedy
death could be understood, and it would not
longer 10 mystery what becomes of tho
bodies which the waters often do not give up.
"Thc falls " have been written p"-and
down-every year since blushing brides and
"blarsted" Britishers have frequcnted them,
| Your own correspondent mas very lately given
u sympathetic notice of the taking ways of
the aboi iginal hackmcn and seductive shop
| girls. And any quantity OF figures and gcol-
| ogy can be had-by those VINO want them
| on demand. But the emotional histories of
"the falls the crimes and tragedies acct
! dents, rescuos, aud escapes along its banks,
| have, | believe, never been done justice to,
| Simple suicides are, of course, too numerous to
| find place in oven q partial glance at such
events of contemporaneOus human interest.
Some suicides are exceptional. OF course u
| suicide who leaps into the rapids means busi-
ness. He does not expect to be rescued and
have things smoOthed out because he soaked
his clothes. And yet it is very strange TO read
| the yoraciOus chronicle of tho man who
quietly, deliberately, and strongly swan to
the giddy verge. And when brave rescuer
would have saved him, this man who sought
death as others shun 1t actually swan further
away. There is u theory that capable swim
mCrs cannot drown SO long as they have
the power to swim any more than an
| ordinary man can stop breathing or digesting.
But swimming toward death is the very next
thing toward not SWIMMING from 1t. Equal
dcliberatiOn was SHOWN by one woman sui
eide. She calmly tested the current with her
parasOl before gathering her skirts for the
plunge. Still another is peculiar from the
TACT that il is one of the somewhat rare cases
| in which two persons have been known to dic
| deliberately together, and which some doc
tors think go far to disprove the doctrine
that all who take their own lives are insane
One suicide might become insane suddenly
and without warning but that two should
be simultaneously SO silly is more imprOba-
BILE than that they sanoly meant to die. This
couple were middle aged, of social position
and sufficient means. They were also both
married, though not to each other. There
had been II little scandal, and their bodies
were found near together below the falls.
That is all that is known. Perhaps they
were insane. At all events, it is II somewhat
ghastly fashion of elopement which they
sought to set.
There were daring men before Capt Webb,
and Of course they found their way to Mag.
ara. One jumped from the bridge, 1872 feet
to the swiriing current. For fifty feet he fell
like u plummet. Then he turned over twice
At last he struck the water with an awfu
slap--What the boys call belly whopper,'
After reading an account of Il fatal accident
one of the numerous Mrs. Partingtons asked
if the man died. So l say plainly this man
died, probably before he reached the wator
And yet perhaps that idea too, has gone t.
meet the exploded legend of William Tell
But such little accidents only stimulate the
reckless. Another jumper soon appeared, II,
soon another swimmer may. lie wore u har.
ness over his shoulders. TO it was attached
a wire running loosely over cylinder on the
bridge. That kept his feet straight toward,
Davy Jones's locker, and he survived the
leap, to his considerable personal profit
From bridge to tho water he went in ioul
seconds-the only timo on record. Another
fOolhardy feat was performed by some of the
reckless men who decorate almost inacces
ible landscapes with possibly truthful
but most certainly inapropos pufls of agu,
pills, liverpads, and SUCH A log once lodged
forty rods above Goat island. For four years
it lay there, seemingly as beyond human
reach as the north star. 1t touched thepridt
of certain shameless and professional adver
tisers who were famous for their vandalism
that such a chance should be wasted. Sc
when the rapids were thinly frozen over they
made their cautious way to the log, and soor
there was a gorgeous sign fixed, 2 feet by A
q hideous eyesore, unacceptable, on the very
fore front of one Of the worlds grandes
spots, i. O.: