The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-08-29
A NIAGARA TRAGEDY
A MAN DROWNED WHILE PoWERLess
HUNDREDS LOOKED ON.

He Started to Row Across the River, Lost
Control of His Boat, Took Refuge In n
Lodged Tree and Finally Went to His
Death Attempting to Leap Into Boat.
Since sunrise they had been reviewing
tho wonders concentrated between Lake
Erie and Lake Ontario, for who could re-
sist the stop over priyilegesg Certainly not
Chicagoans who love the rush and roar of
lifo and stupendous ways Of doing things.
They chose scat where they could look
into the majesty of the American cataract
and tried rs tho June day waned to realize
that tho grave thunder, the desperate leap
of silver and sapphire, the grinding into
white smoke on the rocks below had been
going on for eras. This was n tremcn-
dous mental undertaking for mortals accus-
toned to tho evanescence Of great power,
and they presently abandoned tho effort rs
vain and confined themselves to remarking
the daring position of n tree washed down
the river by n recent freshet and apparent
ly rooted In the ledge of rocks over which
ravcd and plunged the American falls. Tho
wooded giant, extended at full length,
seemed to DO looking deflanty over the
rocky wall down into the cnldron below.
That the torrent must finally conquer was
evident, but to defy Niagara for even
few hours-how magnificent!
That treo reminds me of my first visit
to tho falls" said sudden and deep
voice from beneath u bench few feet
away from where tho two travellers were
sitting. AS no ono else was within rc;,-
sonablo hearing distance, the awakened
drcamcrs felt tho remark must be for
them, though the speaker looked rs if he
were addressing tho Canadian shore or tho
Three Sisters He was n stout, elderly,
ly quite proper to listen. He went on
hurricdy as If he felt inipcllcd to tell n
story and wished it finished, somewhat aft
er tho manner Of the Ancient Mariner.
lit must have been near the end of the
fiftics, that first visit of mine l had Just
become captain of Don't on tho river
and had como down hero between runs.
A big tree had lodged over the falls, Just
like that ono there now, 1 seem to see it
all over again, only things along shore nrc
different a little before 6 o'clock ono
evening man started from the other
bank Mt what ho must have Thought Il safe
distance from tho falls. Very soon we
saw that 1t was desperate rowing with
him, but he seemed TO be getting across
when suddenly his little boat began to
whirl downward with the current. He
went with it of course, but he uttered no
cry, ana when almost at the Verge of tho
precipico no lcapcd up and caught n limb
OF that trcc-nO, not that one but the
one there 40 years ago-and seated him
self across the trunk. And there no sat,
with the waters roaring close around him
like hungry wolves
You should have seen the excitement.
Men, women and children gathered on the
bank and stood, hour after hour, shouting
and praying and crying over that man, and
not ono of them knew him. never did
hear who he was. People coming in on
the train stopped off to see what tho OK
citemcnt was about, especially those from
tho west on the Canada Southern, the ono
now called the Michigan Central. You
know 1T runs several miles along the shore,
giving view of things from the rapids to
the whirlpool, and so people could see from
tho car windows that something unusual
was happening down here.
And some of the men who stopped off
dubbed together and offered $40, 600 to
anybody who would save that man-hc n
perfect stranger too! And they won't ND
and down through the crowd, throwing
up their arms as if they were insane and
shouting out their offer till they were
hoarsc Ten thousand dollars then SEEM
cd rs much as 500, 900 does now, and it
was awfully tempting, but everybody was
afraid, some because they didn't know
anything about the rocks and undcrcur-
rents, and some because they knew too
much.
"The man was but few feet from shore
we could talk with him from the bank
He was Il we'll built, fine looking young
fellow of about 90 When men wanted
few years ago to get the cable across for
the suspension bridge over there and did
not know how, some onc-an American
H0lIht-SIlUppStnI n xvu 1x-bi n, HOY f,I
lowed. They sent across II kite. To tho
tail of the kite they tied n cord to tho cord
a rope, to tho rope II cable. Two been won
dcring rs sat here why. In all that crowd
not one of us thought of trying to help in
that way The wind blew toward tho is
land, just over against where the man sat-
and we might have lowered q rope to him
possibly. Heaven knows we wanted to-
AS the hours ran on we seemed to get nc
quaintcd with that man until he appeared
to be our own brother, and yet we could
not get to him mouthful of food or help
him back to life. Well he sat there look
ing into the face of death, speaking only
when spoken to, from q O'Clock in the even
ing To O'Clock the next aftcrnoon-22
hours! AT last something had to he done
and so boat, secured by ropes, was drift
ed toward him. IL sccthcd round and
round ana then seemed to stop second
right under where he sat. He gave n brave.
well aimed leap, but the boat glilcd from
under him, and with the words they say
every ono uses in meeting sudden, con
sciOns dcath-'My Godu-ho went over
the falls"
Hero the elderly gentleman rosc abrupt
ly and strobe away as If no could not trust
himself to say another word Chicago
Tribune.