The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-10
HooDooED AT THE FALLS.
SOMEBODY ALWAYS WENT OVER
WHEN ZOON ARRIVED.

From the New York Sun.
IT am a subscriber TO a whole lot of
country newspapers" said John Gilbert,
the travelling groceryman, because they
keep me Informed in local matters in the
line of my business and ia other things.
have been away few weeks, and have
Just finished going through the accumu-
lated copies of those newspapers. In one
of them of issue month or so ago, read
a three-line personal a simple regula-
ton, country newspaper personal, saying
that So-and-So had been on visit to such
and-such a place. That was all. But it
startled me and set me to thinking.
In the first place, l will go back lit
tie. read in the Sun at the time It oc-
CURED, which was four or hve weeks ago.
about Peter Schemm. the eccentric Phlla-
delphia brewer going to Niagara rams
jumping into the rapids above the fans
and meeting the fate that inevitably fol-
lows such an act, and couldn't help say
ing to myself;
"'Can't be that Uncle Joe mas peeh
there again, can it?'
THE coming of this thought into my
mind was a little singular, because 1
hadn't seen Uncle Joe since 1881. by the
way. Uncle Joe is Joseph Zook OF Dau-
phin county. One day in the summer OF
1887 met Uncle Joe In Harrisburg.
".John.' said he, I am on my way TO
Niagara Falls. This will make my fourth
visit to the great cataract, ana nope
there will be no fatality connected with
it,
:" What do YOU mean, Uncle Joeg' said l.
ct is a strange story, John, said he,
l,ut it is true. Just you listen; My hrst
visit to Niagara was in the summer OF
1858 and had been there not more than
an hour when l witnessed the agonlzlng
scane of a Young man and a beautiful fair
haired child swept away by the swift cur
rent from Goat Island and dashed over
the falls The young man was Charles
Arlington. and the child was little Eva
De Forrest. The Addingtons and De For
rests we're prominent Buffalo tamllles'
Young Charles Addington was engaged TO
he married to Ada De Forrest, sister OF
Eva. The day that I paid my first visit
| to Niagara, Mrs. De Forrest. Ada, her
little sister, Eva, and young Addington
| had come from Buffalo for a days outing
| at the falls They picnicked on Goat ISL
and, and little Eva having strayed away
from the group, her mother sent young
Arlington to find her and fetch her back.
| He discovered her not far away, stand
| ing on the shore, looking at the swift
water. Stealing up behind her, he thought
lessly grasped the child under the arms,
and lifting her up held her out over
| the water She threw up her arms and
| slipped from his hands into the river. Ad-
| dington sprang in and caught her before
| she had been carried into the swifter cur
| rent He succeeded, after desperate
| struggle, in getting back near enough to
| the shore to enable him to throw the
| child up on the bank She had not suf-
| dcient strength to hold there until her
| mother could grasp her and pull cher to a
| safe place, and she fell back into the
| water Addington again seized her, but
| he was too much exhausted to make way
| against the current, and the two were car
| ried into the rapids and disappeared to-
| eether over the falls. I was on Goat ISL
| and and saw the whole occurrence.
In the summer of 1864 1 again visited
| Niagara Falls / arrived there at night,
and early next morning l walked over to
| Goat Island, and loking down the Amer
1 lean rapids, what should ] see but a man
| clinging to an old tree trunk that had at
| some time lodged between the small ISL
| ands off Goat Island and the American
| shore. Before l could give the alarm the
| man had been discovered by others, and
the news spread rapidly. Who the man
was or how he came to be in his perilous
situation no one knew, but it was sup
| posed that he had been rowing across the
| river somewhere above the night before,
| and losing control of his boat, had been
swept down into the rapids, and the boat
| striking the tree trunk, he had by some
miracle gained a foothold upon it.
AS soon as possible after the discov-
| cry of the mans peril word was tele-
| graphed to Buffalo, and a party of life
| savers came on a special train to the fails
| to try and rescue him. Before 10 O'Clock
| thousands of persons were gathered at
| every available spot where sight of the
| unfortunate man could be obtained The
railroads ran special trains, and people
came In conveyances of all kinds from the
| surrounding country. No one seemed ut
first to know how to get to work to be of
aid to the man, but he chung to the tree,
| watching every move that was made--how
| anxiously he watched may be imagined.
| 1t was, of course, impossible to make him
| hear anything that might be shouted to
him, and there was no way to give him
| any directions. Finally lifeboat attach
cd to a cable and let down the rapids
from the bridge toward him. Guide ropes
were tied to it, by which il was directed
toward the log by men on the shore of
the island. The plan was well calculated,
and the boat made directly for the spot
where the man was hanging between life
and death. The assembled multitude be-
gan to feel that in a few minutes the poor
man would be safely drawn ashore. Sud
denly the boat was caught by a swirl of
the rapids, the cable parted like a weak
kite string, and the boat rushed past like
a flash and was carried over the falls
" This sad ending OF that effort to res
cue the man showed the Iife-savers that
there was no hope for the man i'm that
plan. Several others we're suggested, and
finally one was adopted which IL took I'M
til late in the afternoon 10 get in readI-
ness. In all those long hours of suspense
/ don't believe one of the spectators NOV
ed from his tracks. Everything else about
Niagara Falls was forgotten except the
terrible scene OF a feilow-being hanging on
the verge of death and patiently awaiting
the success or failure Of the efforts that
were being made 70 rescue him. The plan
adopted was TO fasten a strong cable Sc
curely to the American shore, attach a
stanch raft to it, carry the loose end OF
l. IN.