Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1883-08-08
Tales About the calls -


and down-every year since blushine
brides and "blarsted" Britishors have fire.
quented them. But the emotional hstor
les of "the falls" the crimes and TRACE
dies, accidents, rescues and ESCAPES alor o
its banks have, believe, never been dont
justice to Simple suicides are, of course
too numerous to find a place in even q
partial glance at such events of contempo-
raneous human interest. But some sui.
cides are exceptional OF course, sui.
eide who leaps into the rapids means
business. He does not expect to be res
cued and have things smoohcd out
because he soaked his clothes And yet il
is very strange to read the veracious
chronicle of the man who quietly, deibcr
ate)y and strongly swan to the giddy
verge. And when briv We rescuer would
have saved him, this man who sought
death as others shun it, actually swan
farther away. There is a theory that cap
| able swimmers can not drown so long as
| they have the power to swim, any more
| than an ordinary man can stop breathing
or digestng. But to swim toward death
is the very next thing toward not swim.
ming from it. Equal deliberation was
shown by one woman suicide. She calmly
tested the current with her parasol before
gathering her skirts for the plunge. Still
another is peculiar from the fact that it is
one of the somewhat rare cases in which
two persons have been known to die
deliberately together, and which some
doctors 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 improbable than that they
sanely meant to die. This couple were
middle aged, of social position and sul1i
cient means. They were also both mar
ried, though not to each other There had
been Il 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 somewhat
ghastly fashion of elopemcnt which they
sought to set.
There were daring men before Capt.
Webb, and of course they found their way
to Niagala. One jumped from the bridge,
1872 feet, to the swirling current. For so
feet he fell like plummet. Then he
turned over twice. At last he struck the
water with an awful slap-what the boys
call "belly -whopper.' After reading
an account of fatal accident one of the
numerous Mrs. Partingtons asked if the
man died. So say plainly this man died,
probably before he reached the water.
And yet perhaps that idea, too, has gone
to meet the exploded legend of William
Tell. But such little accidents only stim-
ulate the reckless. Another jumper soon
appeared, as soon another swimmer may.
He wore harness over his shoulders. To
it was attached wire running loosely
over a 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 the water he went in four seconds-the
only time on record. Another foolhardy
feat was performed by some of the reck
less men who decorate almost inaccessible
landscapes with possibly truthful but most
certainly inapropos puff5 of ague pills.
liver pads and such. A log once lodged
40 rods above Goat island. For four years
it lay there, seemingly as beyond human
reach as the north star. 1t touched the
pride of certain shameless and professional
advertisers, who were famous for their
vandalism, that such chance should be
wasted. So when the rapids were thnly
frozen over they made their cautious way
to the log, and soon there was gorgeous
sign fixed, II feet by 4, hideous eyesore,
inescapable, on the very fore front of one
of the worlds grandest spots, t.e.
Go east via Lake Wipnipiscogee r. r.
Their deed almost met its deserts. They
treated the log too roughly. A hole was
made through the ice, and the current
soon did the rest. 1t was even betting
that they would not get ashore. But they
did This was not fatal accident.
OF accidents some very strange ones
are recorded. One lady stopped for cup
of water, lost her balance, and was out of
reach and over the falls almost before her
amazed husband knew what happened.
Another lady stopped to pluck flower on
the brink of Table Rock. She was taken
up dead from the rocks below.
In 1875 an acciden, equally sad and
went behind the falls, into the Cave of the
Winds, without guide, The lady actually
sought to bathe in a pool which even the
guides never visited. Her lover lost his
life in trying to save hers Perhaps the
most dramatic accident was the following:
A playful young man caught up charm
ing child who was watching the tumblng
waves. Now, Lizzie, am going TO
throw you into the water" and swung
her back and forth. She screamed, strug
gled, and slipped from his hands. He
gazpd after her, realized what he had
done, and eaped. Rescue was hopeless.
Perhaps he did not deserve death, and at
least censure may die with him.
OF escapes. there are one or two narrow
almost beyond belief and which involve
stories of skill and bravery we'll worth ,
telling Not many years ago painter
was at work on Second Sisters Island,
when he fell into the water, He was old
and weak, and while his position was not
very dangerous at first, he soon foated
down and toward midstream, when, Just
as he seemed lowering on the brink, and
exactly 40 feet from it, if contemporary
records are to be believed, he caught on
rock. How long would his muscles |
endure the strainp And who would res.
cue him, and howp The or wd was help
less until guide appeared with coil of
rope. One end he left in trusty hands and
with tho other he plunged into the boiling
tide. When he reached the poor painter
the old man still held in his hand the putty
knife with which he had been working. |
He shifted the knife to his pocket, tied the
painter to the rope, and they reached the |
shore safely. In another case boatman
was crossing the river above the falls
when a fog suddenly came up. He lost
his bearing and knew he was drifting to
death. His cries alarmed the village, and
bells were rung for him to row toward
them. Then an oar broke. His only hope
then lay in paltry little anchor. and a
rope, which was, moreover,
much worn. He examined every foot,
nay, every inch, of it; he tugged at the
knots at each end. Time and space were
precious, but he could not afford to make
a mistake. Then he threw it over. 1t
bumped along the stones, and his heart
beat each time it failed to catch grip. AT
last it caught and brought the boat stand.
ing, while the tense string throbbed like
The bass gut of harp. For the moment
it held. How soon would it partp He
,hrank from feeling along the strands He
was more afraid not to lest he should read
his fate in the twine tense and twaneing
under the current. Inch by inch his fin
gers travelled to his arms length. So long
As it held there he was safe. Time and