The Lamar register., 1893-01-28

small scow. tho bow of which rested
lightly on the beach. and had rocked
1t free OF Its hold to his great delight
hoated serenely away.
On the west bank OF Welland river
about $50 yards above its junction
with the Niagara stood the house
and shop OF Joel Lyons a stout
muscular shoemaker and a practical
oarsman. On hearing the alarm
given. this man wasted no time in
idle exclamations but ran at once
to where several boats were moored
further up the stream. Selecting one
already provided with sculls he
sprang into it and was away ut full
speed before most of the onlookers
had collected their senses
just at this moment / arrived upon
the scene and witnessed all that
afterward occurred.
Now there are two entrances and
exits to and from the Welland; one.
known rs tho cut" being on the up
per or west side OF an isolated bluff.
called Hog island. and the other-the
original chameleon the low err or east
side
1t was from out this last named
passage that the child had foated.
and conse luently he was much nearer
the falls than II he had emerged into
the Niagara from the cut
Lyons OF course. took the east
channel but ho had quite 400 yards
OF slack water to row over before
striking the larger river and when he
reached 1t the little scow with its pre-.
cious freight was st least that distance
from shore and much closer to the
rapids than even the boidest oars man
would ordinarily daro to 20.
SO utterly desperate appeared the
chances OF rescue that as he sped
down Chippewa creek. the shudderinC
spectators among whom was Mrs
Lyons with one accord called out to
the gallant boatman not to throw
away his own life in so mad an at
tempt But the brave fellow paid no
heed to their cries Out to the broad
bosom OF the Niagara he pushed. and
was presently. flying obliquely down
and across the stream with the speed
of racing she'll His wife screamed
aloud in her agony of apprehens ion.
and to even the coolest among us it
seemed all too horribly certain that
we should witness a double tragedy.
More and more earnestly. without
break or n skip aud with never re-
laxing strength. the experienced
scuiicr beat to his work. geancing
now aud again over his shoulder at
the precious prize he had determined
to vin-or die in losing.
To US who hardly daring to speak
saas ke.s N1.a. N..I,a 4
ture its success appeared we'll nigh
impossible. The child could perhaps.
he snatchcd from the boat before
reaching the rapids But what thenp
Neither he nor his rescuer we felt
convinced. could ever regain the
shore
The tiny scow was now quite COO
yards from sbore and with gradually
accelerated motion. was drawln .
frightiulIy near the rapids. But the
pursuing toat went four feet TO its one
aad was swiftly closing the gap be-
tween them The innocent babe had
nj last become alarmed and as Lyons
drew near. he stretched his little arms
imploringly toward him a sight
which drove the women nearly fran
tic and caused tears to roll down
more than one manly check.
oh. hushl hushi not a word nor
cheer yet" some one said in a chok-
ing whisper, as the two boats came
together. Tho fight is sull to win. :"
As he ranged alongside. Lyons
pulled ir one oar leaned over the
gunwale caught up tho child and
lifted him into his own boat Too
latel Oh too latein shrlelsed his
agonized wife And. indeed so it
seemed TO each one OF us
But then the noble fellow cool as
II there was no danger within
thousand miles reshipped his oar and
did the only one thing which could
offer possible chance Tor life. He
did not vainly attempt TO stem the
current by rowing upstream. nor
even directly toward the shore but
turned his bow auartering down. and.
pulling with nerves OF Steel and giant
strength. shot with arrow speed di-
and. In less than five minutes landed
safely Mt the head of the channel
running between Streets island and
the mainland.
Theu-why go on? No language
much less my poor pen. can adequate
ly describe the scene which followed.
This incident is matter OF history.
| presume | may now inform those
who read it for the first time that
the royal humane society of England
soon after sent to Mr.. Lyons its gold
IL IL L