Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-05-03
WALKING ACROSS NIAGARA.
A Feat of Nearly Half Century Ago
Has Never Been Repeated.

A Feat of Nearly Half Century Ago
Has Never Been Repeated.
AS a "reminiscences, I want to tell
my young readers, how, forty-eight
years ago, the whole land was thrilled
by the feats of Frenchman who
came over here.
In 1859, forty eight years ago,
thousands Of people stood on the
shores of the Niagara to witness one
Of the most daring feats that was ever
performed by any man. 1t was walk
ing across the great cataract on a
cable by Charles Blondin, the cele-
brated French rope walker, carrying
a man on his back. Some men Will
repeat their daring feats. but Blon-
din would not repeat that. Though
he crossed on the rope several times,
he could not be induced to carry an
other man; indeed it was hardly pos
sible that another man could have
been found who would have been
willing to have taken so perilous a
ride. For months the feat Of Blondin
was the startling sensation all over
the country, and many boy had his
tight rope stretched from fence to
fence, and even from house top to
house top initiating, in a small way
Blondin's Niagara feat.
In the Scrap Book" recently read
a very thrilling account Of that most
thrilling scene, written by Henry M
Colcord, the man whom Blondin car
ried on his back across that raging
chasm, and who had never walked a
rope, had never been suspended in
such a dreadful position, and knew,
therefore. that he was committing him
self to the fate Of Blondin, whatever
that might be. Here is what Colcord
said of himself many years after he
made that perilous voyage:
You ask what it feels like to be
twelve hundred feet in mid-air, over
a raging torrent" he said, II cannot
describe it better than by saying
that the first sensation was an over
whelming one, in which it was hard
to separate awe from fear. Then
there came what may be best termed
an absolute cessation of feeling.
Before starting from the shore
Blondin told me to look up My
arms were about his neck and my
legs were slungi in hooks at his waist
Out he went over that horrible gulf
1 heard the roar of the water below
and the hum which ran through the
crowd of one hundred thousand spec
tators. AS we cleared the brink the
hum ceased. Unable to resist, l stole
one glance down at the black waters
It seemed for an. instant that l was
poised above the entire universe
Then 1 looked up, Blondin walked on
steadily, pausing for a brief moment
at each point where the guy rope join
ed the main cable. At the last resting
place before we reached the slender,
swaying span, Blondin said to me:
Harry, you are no longer Colcord 4;
you are Blondin. Until 1 clear this
span be a part of me, mind, body and
soul. If sway, sway with me. Do
not attempt to do any balancing your
self. If you do we will both go down
to our death.
81 had dismounted while he was
talking to me and stood with one foot
on the cable and both hands resting on
his shoulders. 1 climbed back into my
perch and Blondin started across the
unstable part of the line. He swung
to the right and then to the left Each
time I went with him as though we
were moulded into one piece, with i'm
movable parts. knew afterward that
the line beneath his feet was sway
ing horribly and that to the people on
shore it seemed that time and again
our bodies were parallel to the rush.
ing Niagara rapids below.
"Blondin's marvellous skill, however,
and the precision with which he
manipulated his. pole brought us each
time to the upright. The unprotected
center was passed. all but few feet,
Blondin was now running just as
boy runs in order the better to keep
his balance when walking railroad
track We were nearing the point
where the joining place of the first
guy-line from the opposite short Of
fered us a moments breathing space.
Blondin's foot was planted on the knot
which joined the lines. At that in
slant the rope was jerked from beneath
his feet. How he caught 1t and saved
us / never knew. Before I could real
ize much of anything he was running
again. Some gambler. interested pc
cuniarily in our deaths, had cut the
guy-rope. hoping to hurl us to the
river. He did not dare repeat the
attempt, and when the second point OF
connection was reached we rested
safely Blondin stood there like a
man Of marble, through the agony In
his mind produced by the shock mo-
ment before, had brought great beads
of sweat to his brow.
I'VE reached the shore safely, but
before we were well there we could
see the people in the crowd even at
a distance from the edge of the gulf,
begin to stretch out their arms as If
they would draw us in from the peril
The president of the New York Cen
tral railroad presented me with a
check for one thousand dollars. for
crossing with Blondin, and then Of
fered me a like amount if l would
promise never to do 1t again."
Colcord didn't say whether he ac-
cepted the last offered check, but
imagine he did not need to be hired
to repeat that foolhardy peril.
What must have been the deprav-
ity of that gambler who, for the sake
of winning a bet. cut that guy rope
with the hope of seeing Blondin and
Colcord dashed to death.-Rev. r. H
Whitaker in News and Observer.
A TERRIFIC ABYSS.-More than half
the surface Of the globe is hidden un-
der water two miles deep; 100000
square miles lie at a depth of $4,000
feet or more. Many places have been