The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1897-06-11
A MAN WITHOUT FEAR.
The Wonderful Feats erformei I
R;nndira the Great

The Wonderful Feats erformei by
Biondin the Great.
Jean Francois Gravelet, known the
world over as Blondin, the great tight
rope walker, died at London. Blondin
performed many feats which his imita-
tors dared not attempt and was un-
doubtedly the greatest acrobat in his
line, but his fame rests chiefly on the
fact that he was the first man to cross
Niagara Falls on tight rope.
Blondin was born in France and his
father was a soldier of the great Ma
poleon. AS boy he displayed agility
and daring on the tight rope, and as
young man became famous throughout
Europe. He came to America in 1855,
and in 1859 conceived the daring de-
sign of crossing Niagara. He was called
q madman, but he determined to carry
out his idea. The rope was stretched
above the wide gorge at about a height
Of ITO feet above the water. He crossed
for the first time on June 80 In the pres
ence of an immense throng of people.
He crossed again ON the 4th of July
with the upper part of his body and
his head enveloped in several thick
nesses of blanket that completely shut
out his view Of the rope and the roaring
waters; then he crossed wheeling d
wheelbarrow.
Another time he threw somersa
on the rope and went through several
other acrobatic feats that were difficult
to some gymnasts on solid ground. He
also crossed with a man on his back,
and finally made the ticklish journey
at night amid a blaze of fireworks,
standing on his head as they were go
ing off. In the summer of 1860 the
Prince of Wales saw the famous
Frenchman cross on rope below the
suspension bridge. He then went over
the slender walk with man on his
back, and set the man down six times
while he rested. He also went across
on stills.
Since his performance at Niagara
parts Of the world more than 1000
times. He had many thrilling escapes.
In one of his performances at the Crys-
tai Palace, the man who set off the fire
works threw the ropewalker off his bal
ance, and he just missed falling 120
feet by pitching away his balancing
pole and throwing his right leg across
the rope SO that he just managed to
hook it with his knee-joint. Mrs. Blon-
din, who was watching him, tainted,
and many persons shut their eyes
thinking the thud of his 4O-pound pole
was the sound Of his falling body.
He once advertised that he would
wheel his little girl across the rope in
wheelbarrow filed with flowers, which
she was to scatter right and left.
The British Home Secretary thought
this was a little too strong for the
nerves of the populace. and he inter
fered- He delighted to spring sensa tions
on the theatergoing public. Most of
his acts he rehearsed, but there was
one that he could not, and that was
taking young lion across the rope in
the open air at the Geological Gardens
in Liverpool There was a stiff gale
blowing, the rope sagged a good deal,
and there was steep incline from each
mast. The lion was strapped in the bar
row and line attached to the barrow
" pIcVcAl II IuAulnS away WIN olOu-
din as he went down the incline.
The line slipped out of the attendants
hand, and the barrow, without it's
check, ran down the rope at a great
rate. The line became entangled in the
top branches of a tree, and it looked as
if the daring acrobat, when the line be-
came taut, would be hauled from his
perch He restored the equanimity of
his anxious watchers, checking the
speed of the barrow. Knowing that he
could not reach the opposite mast, he
began to move slowly backward to the
mast he had left. Then he took the
lion across, as he had started at first
to do. Within a year persons passing
the neighborhood of the Blondin home
have been surprised to see the old fellow
turn somersaults in the road while on
his way to or from his house, which he
called Niagara Villa. He performed on
the rope in London when he was 20
years old.