Morning journal and courier., 1883-08-01
Capt. Webb's Manager.
His Story of the Fatal Attempt to Swim the Whirlpool Rapids.
 fl,a Taou{or

His Story Of the Fatal Attempt to Swim
 the Whirlpool Rapids.
 From the Boston Traveller.I
 The business manager of Capt. Matthew Webb, MT. Fred Kyle, reached Boston on Thursday afternoon from Niagara Falls. He said that the stories about suicide were sim ply ridiculous. In detailing the events of the
 unfortunate day he said ''The captain ap- peared perfectly well and jolly as usual, de- clined to eat before starting for his plunge
 remarking that they would have good big
 dinner when he returned to the hotel after the plunge" So confident were he and Mir. Kyle of the success of the undertaking that no eood-byes were exchanged. Mr. Kyle continued ''I took 8 carriage and drove down the stream to the railroad suspension
 bridge, where waited and watched anxious ly for the captain. I still had some doubts that possibly he might not take the plunge
 but presently saw the boat in the middle of the stream coming slowly down. The cap tain then stood up, and the next moment he had taken the fatal plunge. and saw it was too late to stop him then. immediately got into the carriage and drove rapidly to the whirlpool, where had two attendants who had been there waiting from early in the morning. As drove down the stream these attendants came rushing toward me and shouted, The captains all right hos passed the rapids.' I had not seen him, and did not see him afterward After passing the rapids and just before getting to the whirlpool there is what is known as the neck of the whirlpool just below which in Q straight line there is place where the water is very swift, and just below the surface it is terribly rocky, while off at the left is the main part of the pool, where the water rush. es and boils in a spiral form. At this neck there were eight or nine persons standing on the shore, who saw the captain the last time that he has been seen alive. AS he reached this point, which is comparatively smooth, he threw himself partly out of the water, so that his head, shoulders and body as far as his waist were plainly visible. Turn ing his head and looking in succession at the two shores and then at the whirlpool before him. he suddenly made dive and was seen no more. The last time ever saw him was when he made his plunge from the boat. At this time I was just getting out of the car riage at the whirlpool when one of the at tendants called out to me, 'Oh, he's come he's passed in.' On hearing this I rushed down the bank to the whirlpool, where I quietly waited for him, supposing, of course, that he would soon appear, and in the place that he had previously pointed out to me, but, as you know, he was never seen. My solution of the problem is Rs follows: I do not think he ever entered the whirlpool prop- er-that is, the wide basin gullied out of one ,bank-but that he was drawn into the dan- gerous place just below the neck and close to the DaQk, OppOs1I0 LuS dcGud1 Wu1TJpOO1. anu was dashed upon the rocks, which are very bad indeed. He had planned the matter all out, and knew just how he was to avoid the currents, but think that when he reached the whirlpool he was much more exhausted than he had calculated on, and was conse- quentiy drawn into the swift current am led to think this because he said to me in the morning: If you will get the newspaper fellows at the whirlpool, will give an exhi bition of swimming when get there, If I feel all right. The swimming of the rapids was more difficult than he expected, but in doing it I claim he accomplished his task, and then met with an accident and was killed, for we considered the rapids the dangerous part of tine course.
 "I waited fully half an hour, when I be- came convinced that something was wrong, and went down to Queenstown, and by bribes persuaded some boatman to carry me up the river way, but found no trace of the body. I then offered reward for the body and obtained watchers all along the river who are constantly on the lookout. Capt. Webb understood the place thorough ly. We went there in June and spent day examining it. Anyone who holds an idea the captain committed suicide must be crazy. Why, he had everything to live for. He was a young man, being but 34 years old, and which he thought the world of and was al- ways talking about. He was just as well and in as good spirits the day he perished as he ever was in his life. His wife had such per feet confidence in his ability that she trusted him to accomplish whatever he undertook. Why, everybody who met him was immedi- ately drawn to him and had the most inn plicit faith in him. The stories which have been circulated about his money are false. He left e1 300, which is invested in England in such a way that the income is about $2OO, but his wife cannot touch it, as 1t iS settled on his children who are to get it when they come of age. His wife is virtually left without anything. The people at Niagara were very bitter against us and did not even treat us with decency, but those who became acquainted with the captain fol- lowed him everywhere. A sea captain came up to him and told him how difficult 8 task he was undertaking, and advised him not to do such rash thing. When the man turned away the captain said 'Well.meaning old cove, isn't hep When anyone advised him about the water he would invariably say good naturedly, He thinks he knows 8 lot about the water, don't hep The object of attempting this feat was purely to advertise himself and create an interest