The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1911-07-27
old B0Bf' LEACH.
LEAPS HORSESHOE
EIlLS|l.ABLRREL.
MAN or sixty NINE YEARS GOES
OVER CANADIAN SIDE or THE
NIAGARA C CATARACT AND LIVES
TO TELL HIS EXPERIENCES.
sPEGTLTO2 SNIM TO RESCUE
sENssLEss, BLEEDING At EARS
AND MOUTH, HEssls F1sfiEDs
ouT--WATER, TEARS OPEN THE
cAsk.


oyT-WATER. TEARS OPEN THE
cAsk.
NIAGARA FALLS, July % OLD
Bobby Leach realized bis dream Of
years when he dove over the Cana
dian Horseshoe falls Of Niagara yes
terday afternoon in an especially built
cigar:shaped, steel-tipped cask. Leach
lis sfxtynlne years old, After his reck.
less plunge straight down 1853, feet,
with The barrel for most Of the TWEEN
/ ty-two minutes that he was In the yor-
tex buried under thousands Of tons Of
falling water, the old man was taken
out of the barrel utterly exhausted.
His most serious injury was a sprain-
led leg. Oxygen, however had to be
used to revive him from tatnttng
condition,
Deachs proprietor Of lunch wagons
in Plainfeld, N. j., and Niagara Falls.
He has trlfled with his life again anu
again. He has made 200 balloon ascen-
sions, and in 1898 shot the rapids in
a barrel, and repeated this perilous
performance only about month ago.
But the old man has often said that
he would not die content unless he
had taken the plunge over the great
Horseshoe cataract.
Besides its outer steel easement the
barrel possessed an inner compart-
ment within which Leach rested in a,
canvas hammock into which he was
dashed with straps. Tiny air holes
perforated the barrel at either end
SO small that while water jutted In,
not sufficient could be taken aboard
to sink the -barrelboat, The craft
was twelve feet long and four feet six
inches in its largest diameter.
Leach and his barrel were taken
out above the Falls in a launch. At
five minutes to 3 o'clock the old man
was strapped and the seams clamped
and he was set adrift in the dashing
current The point Of embarkment
was Just off the mouth Of Chippewa
creek. Approaching the brink Of the
Horseshoe Falls, the comical craft was
whirled, up-ended and flung into the
air, then caught again and It disap-
peared entirely in its plunge through
the great sheet OF descending water.
It passed over the brink about 300 feet
from shore. q
Crowd Thinks He's Done For.
5 The barrel was completely out or
sight for thirty seconds. When it re-
appeared cries Of horror went up from
the crowd. 1T was plainly to be seen
that one end had been wrenched on
by the great power OF the falling wa
ter. For a little while the crowd
feared that Leach had been torn out
OF the barrel and crushed and drown
ed.
After Its plunge, the barrel was
caught in the terrific outrush OF the
Horseshoe at high water and sent spin
ming and tumbling along In the spray.
Of the Ontario Company gen. !
Grating plant, Leach and his cask
were caught in whirlpool and spun
catching the downward current. About
a mile below men In launch were
waiting to catch the barrel, but before
Il got to them Frank Bender, of Chip
pewa, swan out to the barrel, bearing
with hint rope paid out by others on
shore. EIe grasped the barrel by one
If its handles, tied the rope to 1t with
lrm knots, and a minute later Leach
vas being lifted out of the cask. He
vas unconscious. He was, moreover,
bleeding at the mouth and ears. For
i time be did not respond to any Of
he stimulants given him, but when
he oxygen was applied he soon re-
covered and was able to be up and
bout bis home last night. His trip
lad occupied exactly twenty-five min
ties.
Plunge Was Easy, He Says.
1.-THE toughest part Of It all" he
aid, twas not the drop over the falls, /
was the spinning and tumbling
bout before went over After I
yent over the brink 1t was all easy"
The daring feat performed by Leach
esterday was first done by woman,
FRS. Anna Edison Taylor. She did 1t
IN years ago in the hope that by ex-
lifting In museums she could raise
he mortgage on her Texas ranch. She
lso escaped without serious injury.
mother woman, Maud Willard, was
illed in an attempt Il duplicate
each's feat Of shooting the Rapids in
barrel.