The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-03-07

I across on a slack wire, carried a man
On his back, and washed handkerchlets
IN water which he had drawn up from
4 the river.
In July and August. 1855, Harry Les
/ lie, styled "the American Blondin, -
crossed the gorge on a cable over the
rapids. In August, 1873 SignOr Balleni
stretched a caOle from Prospect park
TO point on the Canadian side, and
made his first crossing on Aug. -. 1873
Balleni embsllished his performance by
dropping from the cable to the river
by means of a rubber rope. and one
day while fastening his balance pole
preparatory to this leap. he lost it In
the river, but managed with difficulty
to reach land again.
On Saturday afternoon. July s. 1876
Signolina Maria Spelterina crossed the
Niagara gorge on a two and one-fourth
inch rope stretched over the rapids be-
low the railway suspension bridge. She
is the only woman who has the credit
OF such q performance. Her crossing
with baskets on her feet was startling
and she also walked with ankles and
wrists manaCled. In those days Nj
agara was far more popular with
southerners than it is today. and the
southern society that gathered there
set the pace for all pleasures and en-
/ couraged the performance of these
hair-raising feats
Among those who had helped Signor
Baleni erect his cable in 1873 was a
painter named Steve Peere. who lived
in DrummOndville. Ontario. One day
Peere secured Ballenrs pole and fear
iessly ran out on the cable. The jeal-
ousy or Bal eni was aroused to such a
plJch thaJ ne was caught in the act of
trying to cut the cable One strand
lad already been severed. and a couple
or strokes would have sent Peere to in
slant death. This incident closed Bal
lem career at Niagara. Peere. how
ever, was destined to make his mark.
for a few years later he crossed the
gorge on a cable only three-quarters
OF an inch in d ameter, a mere thread
compared with the rope that Blondin
and others had used. Then, too. its
surface was hard and slippery. Three
days after this feat Peere was found
dead on the river bank under the Ca
madam end of the cable, and ii has al
ways been supposed that he had tried
to walk the cable at night, with his
boots on, while intoxicated
Net discouraged by Peere's fate.
Samuel John Dixon of Toronto made
two trips across the same narrow path
of steel
Clifford NJ. Calverley, James f. Har-
dy and J. F. Jenkins have also cross
lngs of the gorge to their credit Hardy
is SAID to have been the youngest man
10 perform the feat: while Jenkins
crossed on a velOcipede arrangement.
MS balance-pole being carried under
his feet.
In 1851, Captain Jel Robinson went
over the falls in the Maid of the
Mist and came out alive.
In 1883, Captain Webb. the English
swimmer, tried to swim down over the
falls, and was dashed to death.
Carlisle D. Graham. a Philadelphia
cooper, went over the falls FIVE times
in a barrel
The first double trip through the
rapids was made by George Hazlett
and William Potts of Buffalo. in 1896.
In the same year W. J. Kendall a Bos-
ton policeman, swan through the
rapids to the whirlpool, protected only
by life-preserver.
In the fall of 1856 Miss Sadie Allen.
in company with George Hazlett. made
tarrel trip through the rapids.
Various people were killed going over
the falls or shooting the rapids. In
1901, Mrs Taylor went over the falls
in a barrel and came out alive.