Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1897-02-25
ON BLONDIN'S BACK.
IT WAS THUS HENRY CoLCoRO
CROSSED NIAGARA FALLS.

Tn. wonderful and Blood Chilling Feat
OF the Great Rope wsIker-How He
Lost His balance When n Man Who Bet
He Would Fail Pulled n Guy Rope.
Henry NJ. Golcord, the artist, has stu
do in the Auditorium tower. He has
weakness for high places. Colcord Is the
man whom Blondin carried upon his back
on a slender MANILA rope across Niagara
falls. This Chicago artist knows what 10 Is
10 look downward goo feet and 10 feel the
peculiar sensation incident To such IA haz-
ardo il feat.
~ crossed with Blondin three times,
said Mr. Colcord, but now not a deed to
the whole city of Chicago could tempt me
to 90 out foot over that fearful gulf.
Why did 10 in my youth cannot explain,
save through implicit confidence In Blond.
In or utter failure 10 realize the attending
danger.
.'Blondin and | were with the Rayell
pantomime troop for IA long while. Att
erward they were succeeded by the Marti-
netti troop We played at Niblo's every
winter and travelled the rest Of the year.
When we were ut Cincinnati, the thought
OF crossing Niagara falls on tight rope
came to Blondin He asked me 10 go with
him, and consented. The rope was made
In New York and was =, 800 feet long. The
actual walking distance across the river
was q 100 feet and the height above the
water was $50 feet
1.-The rope was stretched in the summer
Of 1858 and was left out all winter with
out injury. Blondin made his first cross
ing In the summer of 1859, and subsequent
ly went over blindfolded. His browning
piece of daring was walking on stills How
he did it is something that have never
been able To explain and l doubt If Blond
In himself could give satisfactory ex-
PLANTATION. lt required IA masterful nerve.
lone day nc said To me, Il want TO carry
YOU across on my back / thought he was
Joking and turned off the subject He
urged, and finally consented. There were
800, 900 people present ON the afternoon
that put my arms around Blondin's neck
and placed my legs In two barrel hoop iron
hooks which he attached ON either side OF
his belt will not attempt TO tell all l
felt as we went out over that abyss l can
not tell it. know that kept my eyes
open and looked down without feeling dir
zy 1t was Ia supreme moment, and perhaps
the situation gave me the nerve that car
ried me through the ordeal. | looked to
forms of the multitude. They stood silent
and fearful do not believe one person in
that throng enjoyed the pcrilous scene.
"In order that Blondin's limbs might
not be hampered in action all my weight
was thrown upon his shoulders, my legs
resting very lightly in the hooks For this
reason my arms became So tired that be-
fore we got out 40 feet / was compelled to
dismount three times TO rest myself. The
first time | did this heard a hoarse muir
muir from the crowd. When dismounted,
i placed my hands lightly on Blondin's
shoulders and stood with my right foot on
the rope, the left leg pointing outward and
downward To be used "a a balancing medi-
um. Reaching the last guy rope on the
Canadian side, from which we had started,
there were ahead of us 40 feet of line un
protected by lines. With his foot resting
on the last guy rope Blondin said to me:
Harry, whatever you do as we cross this
unsupported place, do not attempt to bal
ance yourself. BE perfectly passive, as
though you were a part of my own body.
If lean, lean with me. On you depends
the safety of our passage. Then he step
ped out toward the swaying center. In
moment he had lost his equilibrium. He
leaned away over To the right To me il
seemed our bodies were parallel with the
earth. / nerved myself, however. In "a mo-
ment he regained his equilibrium and then
leaned as far to the left. Blondin could
not regain his balance readily.
His movements were not unlike those
OF hoy who attempts 10 walk on a rail Of
"a track He started and ran, his object be-
ing to reach the first guy rope on the OPP
posite side, where he knew that he could
secure u steady foothold and regain his
poise. He reached the place. At that in
slant felt something shake beneath me.
There was momentary but violent oscil-
lation of the rope, and Blondin had start
ed to run again. He made the knot of the
next guy line, and there secured firm
footing.
Get of, he said. 1 dismounted and
stood as l had done before. This time 1t
was he who was exhausted. He stood there
like statue. Beads of sweat were on his
face. His veins stood out like cords.
I'VE reached land In safety. AS we drew
near the American shore every man, WON
an and child within 100 feet of the lines
end had arms outstretched to receive us
Their lips were parted and their eyes had
something of almost agony In them !
have believed To this day that there were
people in that crowd undergoing greater
nervous strain than either Blondin or my
self
There had been an enormous amount
of betting on the result of the crossing
Many did not believe that the feat would
be accomplished. 1t was one Of these who,
seeing success probable, had gone to the
shore end of one of the guy lines and pull
ed it hard enough To break IL at the main
cable Just "a Blondin had placed his foot
upon the knot. Nothing but the magnif-
cent nerve of the rope walker saved him
and me from being hurled to our death in
the river below.
AT the time of our first crossing to-
gether the Washington Grays, New York
military organization, were present. A
woman had seen the man who attempted
to break the guy rope. The Washington
Grays sent out IA description Of him and
offered 81 900 reward for his capture, but
he was never found. Chicago Times
Herald.
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