The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1899-10-13
WIRE WALKING AT MAC

lhe Adventurous EioAdu Has taas
Many Irhita ora
Wire walking exploits form con-
siderable feature in the history of ad-
eGtu-es at Niagara Falis. They be
-al with the feat OF B;ondin, the fam
Jus French rope-wa.ker. who threw s
cable across the chas;n IN the summer
e 1853 and made his hrst trip across
L June Both of that year. lie hao
cen refused permission 10 stretch thf
wire siom Goat Island 10 1l4e Canad
: i s.ls-the newspa pefa t.scSuncins
Il, as fool and d f.auj AID wa
/, :3speiied to run it to a Eriya-e pleas
:. ground on the Cars,G Z side. the
--ork. moreover. having to Is cone dur
. the night 20 avoid interference
- the cautious residents
>,ot many people Witnessed Bon
Inns first crossing. the impression
c;.r:c:S been general that tie EIan was
-.lne or would fail at the last mo-
IT. When he had accomplished the
|. the utmost Amusement was ex-
ssed. which, however. was again
rned to incredulity when he an
uEced that he would cross the wire
-an. and this time with man on
Is back-Darry Colcourt. Biondin's
us;ness manager. a man weighing one
auEdred and ffty-five pounds. The
Feat was successfully accomplished on
,!.c afternoon OF August II. 1859, amid
cars of applause from the multitude
hat locked on.
On August oath in the same year.
ldin crossed on the rope chained
rand and foot, and OF his return car
= sd with him a cooking stove on
clich he made an omelette.
In the summer of the following year
le had the cable removed to point
heiOw the suspension bridge. and i'm
'ncdiately over the whirlpool rapids.
, Iere he gave several further eXhib1-
ems. one being on August ., 1860.
= hen the Prince of Wales and the
lcvsrnor-general of Canada looked on.
efore Blondin started. the Prince.
:avirS looked at the wire and the
apidS. became nervous. went to Blon-
N and begged him not to make the
tempt. But the rope-walker smiled.
said it was not 80 dangerous as It
1'led, and soon went across with
C..ccrrt on his back.
There have been many irlitators OF
2lond;n. In 1878 an Italian named
! .lini stretched wire from opposite
he ferry landing to Prospect Park,
and three times he jumped from the
middle of the cable into the river and
swan to shore.
Steve Peer, a celebrated American
wire-waI!,er, repeated Blondin's feat
IN June %, 1887 in connection with the
/ mems Jubilee celebration on the
Canadian side. He crossed in nineteen
minutes. A few nights afterward
GER. while intoxicated determined. so
II is supposed. to repeat the perform
auce, and unknown to any one went
cat ard climbed on the wire with the
result that next morning he was found
lying dead on the rocks below.
An exhibition of wire-walking that
attracted considerable attention at that
me was that of S. j. Dixon, Toronto
I Photographer. who used the same cable
that had been used by Peer. This
amateur ropewalker, thirty-eight
years of age, had practiced almost
daily for some weeks On wire
stretched sixty feet above the water
of Toronto Bay, before he essayed the
tremendous adventure which made
D.ondin so famous. This he UNDER
took dressed in tights and moccasins
and carrying pole twenty-five and 2
calf feet long, weighing thirty pounds
Re showed no uEeasiness or nervous
ness, although slight u1steadiness o:
the long cable caused him TO pause fire.
Cuently to regain the ba-ance that ne
uomentaTily lost.
When he reached the center of the
gorge. this amateur lay down on his
Lack on the wire, with his balancing
poie under him. Two hundred and
fifty feet below ran the furious rapids,
ready to devCur him should he make
a risstep.
He did a number of other daring
feats as he neared the other end of the
wire. and finally touched soil on the
American side thirteen minutes after
he started. A few minutes later he re-
with sJop around his
and in this way walked out on
the wire about two hundred yards.
Mrs. Blanchard and Mrs. p. 6.