Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-09-08
CHRVALlER BL0NDIN.
THE MAN WHO CROSSED NIAGARA
ON A WIRE.
How He Became Tight-R Rope
Waiker-Dangers and Delights
OF the Business.

ais ana the famous tlgit-rope walker
who is known the world over, is charm
ing gconversationalist. He was asked re-
Gently how he came to adopt tight-rope
walking as means of getting fame and
fortune.
No one, as rule, knows how or when
he first began to be smart" he replied.
''and l am no exception to this rule. Ny
earliest recollection Of events from which
my fame may be said to date goes back
just sixty years. | was four years of age
and looked upon rope-walking and rope
dancing as the noblest of all high arts.
My home was at St. Owen, Pas de Calais,
where company of equestrians and aero
battle performers one day pitched their
tents. OF course, together with other
boys in the neighborhood, | became a
wondering spectator Of their exploits.
Among the performers was young wo-
man, whose act consisted of various feats
upon rope stretched from the top of the
center pole of the tent to the outer edge
OF the ring, where the equestrian perform
ances We're given. At one of these enter
| ta.nments, the young woman accidentally
dropped her pole and stood midway be-
tween the top of the canvas and the
ground in a semi-dazed condition. With
out stopping to think of the danger to N.Y.
self or the difficulties to be encountered
sprand forward, picked up the pole and
without any trouble ran up the rope and
| placed it in her hands.
81 cpnn1S aacy fnr mo 10 oSoa,J H..
| hempen incline at that time as it is to-day
for the average man TO walk along the
string-piece of Hudson river steamship
pier. My father, who was one of Napo-
| Icons Old Guard, encouraged my ambition
to initiate the work done by this stroll
| ing band of acrobats, and in a little time
was credited with being able to perform
variety of gymnastic feats such as no child
OF my age had ever attempted before. My
fayorite work was the tight and slack rope,
and satisfied that the bent of NV mind
justified ii, my father placed me under the
tuteage of the proprietor of L'Ecole de
Gymnase at Lyons. Here ! was treated
with the greatest consideration and kind
ness, and my acrobatic apprenticeship was
not it the least severe. From the first my
thoughts were >wholly on the possibilities
of rope-walking. Fear | never knew, and
in SIX months from the day of my enter
ing at DEcole de Gymnase made my
professional debut. My success was in
Simultaneous, and many were the fiattering
offers | received from various managers to
break with my indulgent and kind-hearted
master and proprietor of the Gymnase. To
all these, however, | turned deaf ear,
and until the death OF my parents, which
left me an orphan at the age OF nine wears,
practiced assiduously and elaborated nv
performances TO a degree upon which |
look back at this dav with great pride.
"Books containing any allusion to rope
walking were my especial delight, and one
by one | devoured Suetooi's Life of Nero
Pliny, Juvenal and other histories of
Rome and Greece, each one of which
served only to incite me to further efforts
in the line Of my chosen profession. At
night when slept my dreams would be of
such men as the Emperor Caligula and the
Comte d Artois and such events as the four
elephants of whose wonderful performances
on the rope Pliny gives such glowing ac-
counts, and the equestrienne of the thir-
teenth century, who cantered up and down
a tightly drawn rope. Waking, my mind
was full Of the feats performed by the
Egyptian dancers who performed on ropes
extended from masts of ships in the har-
Dor a Constantinople. | never tire of
reading now when Edward VI. passed
through London, rope as great as the
cable of ship was stretched from the bat
tlement of st. PauTs steeple with a great
anchor at one end fastened little below
the Dean of st. Pauls house gate, and
how, when his Majesty approached near
the same, there came a native of Arragon, /
lying on the rope with his head forward,
casting his legs and arms abroad, running
on his breast on the rope from the battle !
ments to the ground, and how, after saiut-
ing his Highness, King Edward, he went
up the rope again until he came to the
middle of the churchyard, where he per-
formed certain quaint mysteries. The
feats of Dutch Peter, who performed SINH
lar acts on the weather-cocks of ST. PauPs
Cathedral, and the Dutch woman who, in
the reign of james H., danced and vaulted
on the rope, were rs familiar to Inc as
though | had lived at the time and wit
messed them.
'For years l travelled through France.
attending village festivals, private and
public celebrations, with great success and
profit. My ambition, however, was unsat-
isfied. | sighed for new worlds to con-
quer. | dreamed of place where | might
have an opportunity at least of distin-
gushing myself. In 1851, when | was q
years of age, this opportunity came and |
embraced it. 1t came in the form of an
engagement to the famous Ravel family of
acrobats and pantomimists. To illustrate
the utter absence of fear in my make-up.
let me relate an incident that occurred
while the Ravels and myself were Journey
ing across the ocean on our way to Amer
lea. Among the passengers by the same
vessel was a young noblemau, who during
a violent storm was suddenly precipitated
overheard. As suddenly as when twenty
three years before ran up the rope and
carried to the rope walker her pole, | !
sprang after the drowning man and sue
ceeded in reaching him just as he was
about to disappear for the last time. The /
subsequent effort 10 reach the ship was no !
slight one, and necessitated great strength (
and endurance, but after battling with the I.
waves for a long time | at last succeeded |
in reaching rope which was thrown TO !
me, and still holding on to the half !
drowned man, who by this time was un-
conscious, was drawn up in safety to the |
ships deck.
any American debut was even more
successful than | had dared t. hope for, !
but as in many cases before and since, the
doctrine OF chance plays an important part
in my renown. With the Ravels / per-
formed at Niblo's Garden One morning
Antoine Rayel was busy rehearsing a
scene, where he was to make his escape
from a band of Bedouin Arabs by making
a sudden and unlooked-for leap over their
shoulders, muskets and bayonets. He was
busy arranging the men in a Gordon, pre-
paratory to attempting the feat, when, as
| usual, not stopping to think twice, took
three or four hurried steps and vaulted
clear of the mems heads and their fire.
arms, turning double somersault as 1
went. | remained with the Ravel family
nearly eight years and during my travels
visited Niagara. No sooner did lay eyes
upon that wonderful spectacle and speci-
men of natures handiwork than / was
seized with one of my erratie impulses. l
wanted to walk across the chasm above the
| roaring cataract, and had rope been at
Al r. II