The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1893-07-13
HOW Captain WEBB DIED,
An Eyewitness Story of the Brave Mans
Last Struggle.

Last Struggle.
SIT is singular, but true. that the
world has never been told how that
greatest of swimmers. Capt. Webb, lost
his life in the Whirlpool rapids of Nj
agara. This arises from the fact that
the trial swim which resulted fatally
was not advertised, but was in fact
undertaken almost secretly. Conse-
quently there were no reporters pres
emit.
Every one at the Falls had heard of
the swimmers intention, but when one
day cabman told me as he drove past
that Webb had descended the precipice
near the Clifton house to make the trial
l believed with difficulty. Neverthe
less, / went over and descended in the
elevator at the Whirlpool Rapids Can
ada side) and passed along at the foot
of the preoipice until | was opposite
the spot where the fury of the waters
is greatest. Here the precipices con-
verge. The spectator will notice that
when the descending waters strike the
! projections of fallen rock at the foot of
the precipices there are waves sent
washing outward and diagonally across
| the main volume of the river. Conse-
| quently there is a continual combat of
waters in the middle of the stream. 1t
is bewildering spectacle of immeas-
urable forces. giving the idea of great
drove of white horses driven into a mar
| rowing gorge, where, in the crush, hun
| dreds are forced upward and ride along
on the backs of others, plunging and
| tiinging their white crests high in the
air and crashing at each other as they
go.
"As I waited with some others who
had hurriedly come to the spot Capt.
Webb jumped from boat far up the
river in the calm part. And the de-
scription of what first happened to him
was obtained from some friends of
mine who were on the railway suspen-
sion bridge at the time. As he passed
underneath the bridges which stretch
like ribbons across the chasm my
friends were admiring the whiteness
OF his skin. When he arrived opposite
me his body was red.
"As soon as he passed the suspension
bridge the fight for life began. The
first back-wash, such as | have de-
scribed, was a small one. The second
followed almost Immediately, and he
tried to swim over it. But so great was
its force that it turned him over back
ward and spread him out at full length
on the dark blue surface of the main
current. My friends on the bridge
al 4 L l. 4
BILE blow. Under the next back wave
he apparently Owed, or it may have
simply overwhelmed him, but when he
appeared again at the surface the
water was SO turbulent and the speed
OF his passage so great that minute de-
scription become impossible
From where | stood / saw him long
before he reached the bridges, and as
he came near me could occasionally
see his head, looking like black spot
in the water Sometimes it was hoisted
high on the top of a wave, or ridge, or
upheaval of water, but most of the
time 1T was lost to sight in the gullies
or valleys or beneath the surface
1T does not take long to go few
huHoACu ,SiroS III niHeJcen miles an
hour, and in few moments he was
quite near me. Here, either by luck or
management, he was in the calmest
part of the river-on course that
would avoid the leaping mountain of
water that foams against the current
further out. AS he came opposite me his
countenance was set firm. and he was
INn 1
There was no sign of distress on his
face. He was in an upright position
'treading water as the boys call it.
81 particularly noticed the bright
red color of his shoulders neck and
face. From the determination in his
face felt quite sure that he would
make the passage safely. But when
directly opposite me he disappeared
This was in water so comparatively
tranquil that any swimmer would ap-
parently be safe in it,
HE did not dive. There was no oc-
casion to do SO. He simply went under.
as if pulled down by the feet. We
waited-breathlessly, but with lit
tie fear, for he had looked so brave
and full of power. Then jumped
from the rock to the roof of the photo
graph shop for a better view. The peo-
pie beside me. who had been cheering,
were now silent.
From the roof could see far down
the river. ! was certain that the head
did not appear again. and yet could
not imagine the superlatively brave
man to be already dead. | assembled
the cliff and drove to the whirlpool.
but nothing more was seen of the great
swimmer until his body was found.
days after, seven miles down the river.
What was it that DESTROYED Capt.
Webb? Was the redness of his skin
caused by wave-beatings, or by sutfo-
caticn? Was he carried to unknown
depths in one ot those downward
shoots which seem in places to be in
dicated at the surface? All the waters
near Niagara Falls are fascinating and
pitiless beautiful with gladstone colors
and horrible with secret powers No
one will ever know why the strongest
swimmer in the world was drawn ont
of sight while in comparatively smooth
waters, but a close examination of
their powers for deadly treacherv will
90 far to eXplain"- V Recorder