Morning journal and courier., 1886-07-12
News by Telegraph FROM ALL QUARTERS. THROUGH THE RAPIDS. Graham Swims The Mag
 ara River. GLADSTONE WILL STEP DOWN. America Gets A CoIored
 Priest. 4 LION TAMER'S ADVENTURE. Disastrous Hail Storms
 Out West.
A LION TAMER'S ADVENTURE.
Disastrous Hail Storms
 Out West.
THROUGH THE NIAGARA RAPIDS

l THROUGH THE NIAGARA RAPIDS. | A Man Passes Safely Through the Whirlpool Enclosed in a Cask.
 l BUFFALO, July 11.-Very few of the thou
 sands of people who visited Niagara Falls
 to-day had any idea that another adyentur-
 ous man would attempt to swim the whirl- pool rapids in which Captain Webb lost his | life. For some time past o.. D. Graham Lad
 been making his preparations for the at
 tempt, but few people if any believed his 1 courage would hold out long enough for him | to make it. Such, however, was not the | case and about o'clock this afternoon Gra- | ham started on his perilous voyage which | he successfully accomplished Graham had l told a United Press reporter all about his plans and stated that he would carry them | out at any time. He did but request that the time be not given in publishing the
 article, fearing that the auth critics would pre-
 vent him. Accordingly very few were aware of the fact and the banks of the river, which would have contained several thousand more people than watched Captain Webb in his suicidal attempt, contained but a few hun dred and most of these were attracted by the curiosity and anxiety with which those
 who knew of Graham's intention were
 watching different points of the river.
 Graham kept the case in which he was to
 make the attempt in saloon in this city.
 About Il o'clock last night he loaded it on a
 wagon and accompanied by several friends
 started for the Falls. They arrived there
 about o'clock this morning and unloaded
 the cask at point on the American side be-
 low fa11 H.
 above the bridge A policeman noticed him
 after he had unloaded his cask. Graham looked somewhat anxiously around at every approaching person and being afraid of ar rest his looks did not add to his good ac
 tions. The officers took him for one of the | Tonawanda horse thieves and arrested him. l
 His Buffalo friends, however, managed to l get him clear with the promise that he | would appear before the justice of the peace 1 Monday morning. When everything was in | readiness Graham got into the barrel | and closed the manhole at the top.
 At this point of the river the current is l light. small boat pulled the tank out into | the river to where the current could catch it | and then Graham was started on what might l have been his trip to eternity. It took but | few moments and the stream caught the cask | whirlpool. Slowly at first it moved | along, then faster until the mad cur rent dashed it on with it's force. | The cssk bounded up and down over the great waves and several times turned complete summersaults, but more generally l the wider portion remained Cuppermost, al- though it twirled around like top. The | cask kept pretty we'll in the center of the river until it reached the whirlpool, when it struck strong side current and cerried through, reaching the waters beyond in safety, i From here the journey was comparatively 11at Thaa l. fol ordo I ovx,iC ton right side up and the danger was passed. It was picked up five miles below the start ing point and Graham crawled out unin- jured with the exception of slight bruise on one arm, which he received when passing through the whirlpool. He said: ttWhen I struck the rapids it was one continued round of jerks, but am not hurt bit"
 Graham is native of Philadelphia, thir- three years old and 8 cooper by trade. He is poor man and is compelled to work for his living. About two months ago he came to Buffalo to find employment in a cooper shop. He has travelled extensively and had some scheme of this sort his brain. Being cooper a barrel naturally sug gested itself to him as the best means to swim the rapids. All his possessions were put into the barrel, which he construct ed himself The barrel was made of 1A | inch oak, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom and shaped like buoy. A sand bal last fixed as to keep the side which Graham faced uppermost. Graham hung or rather stood in a sort of hammock made like a suit of clothes and held on to the iron han dies. He could live at least half an hour without any fresh air, and by the time the air was exhausted he was beyond the whirlpool and could pull the plug from the little air hole and get all the fresh air he required. Graham did not | make a cent by the operation. He received no pay and bore all the expenses himself, being glad for the privilege of making the