The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-09-19
Whir|ing Waters Batter Graf on Rocks But He
 Lands Safely
POLICE SAY HE TRIED ]
 10 COMMIT SU|C|D|,,
Forty Thousand People Watch tn. Daredevil Act-Larsen's Is Only Engine Propelled Craft to
 Go Through Rapids

Niagara Falls. September 1s.-Capt3 Klaus Larsen. in his little motorboat the Ferro, late this afternoon made successful trip from the foot of the cata ract through the whirlpool rapids to with in mile of Lewistown, a distance oll four and one-half miles
 He started from the Maid of the Mis- dock at 445 and ran on a rock nea the American shore at 5:3O.
 Despite the battering of the whirlpool rapids, Larsen went through safely, bull his boat was leaking badly at the fn. ish Larsen's start was delayed by rni| zine trouble. tl
 Besides, the authorities threatened \ Id interfere, on the ground of attempti.u} suicide. The Ferro swung under |, h cantilever bridge, the engine. running l. ll top speed and was caught in the sw drift, where the river begins it's rlf down to whirlpool rapids
 Larsen held to the middle of the chtl. nel and in less than three minutes h. managed the great pool. In the tx through the rapids the little boat wa lost to sight most of the time, but af Great Wave it was shot 20 feet out of. the water. The boat landed right and continued to the pool.
 Larsen kept to the outer edge of thef pool and passed out and down without accident. Just as he left the pool the engine stopped working and Larsen was, at the mercy of the waters, hardly less violent than those above The little boat swung around stern first and then turned cOmnletplV Larsen ttra h d1xr. battered and with an injured leg.
 From then on Larsen was the pay-l thing of the mighty river, unable to hold the course, the 'boat swinging from one side to the other. After getting through Devils Hole, the Ferro swung toward the rocks on the American side of the river. rolled over one boulder and went fast between two others. There Larsen stayed for five minutes, 40 feet from shore, work ing desperately to release the craft. Get ting free, he was hit by a comber and sent careening toward the middle. At the bend, with the Lewistown bridge in sight, the boat drifted toward the Amer ican side again and was caught in the shore eddy. The Ferro grounded again, this time near enough to shore to be caught by Roy Rockwell. of this city. who waded into the water and caught d rope thrown by Larsen.
 Larsen wanted to continue the trip, but, having accomplished the worst part of the journey he was persuaded to board a. trolley car to Lewistown, setting the boat adrift
 '~The trip was worse than I thought 1t would be- said Larsen, but I am not hurt and l will do it again some time with another boat. My leg was jammed when she tipped over. but that's all. The engine worked fine through the rap ids, and I could have made the trip in half an hour if it had not stopped be- fore leaving the whirlpool"
 This morning Larsen was summoned to the police office here because he was to touch on this side. A committee of five was to inspect the boat and If the hazard could be termed attempted sui- eide. Larsen fiirted with the committee. running his boat back and forth near the dock. but not near enough for a close inspection.
 A crowd of 40,Do0 lined bridges and banks at the time advertised for the trip, but when Larsen started some of them had gone.
 Except the Maid of the Mist, sent through in 1864 to avoid seizure, Larsen's is the only enginepropelled craft to have gone through the rapids.
 Peter Nissen, Chicago, 1900. and c. A. Percy, 1887 and 1901, went through the rapids safely in barrels. No one else has ever passed through the rapids and lived.