New-York tribune., 1912-02-05
Thousands See Thrilling Attempt
to Rescue Man, Woman and
Boy as FIoe Speeds
Down River.
LADS LIFE ALMOST SAVED
Drops After Being Pulled to
Within 60 Feet of Bridge
Husband Tries Hard to
Save Wife - Four
Get Ashore.

river channel between the cataract and
the upper steel arch bridge below the
falls for the last three weeks broke from
its snoring just at neon 10 day and went
down the river, taking with it to their
death a man and woman, believed 10
have been Mr.. and Mrs. Eldridge Stan
ton, Of Toronto and Burrell Heacock,
seventeen years old. of East l1Ith street,
Cleveland. Four other persons were on
the ice at the time, hut managed to get
ashore in safety.
The bridge vas considered perfectly
safe. For weeks the great fields Of ice
had been coming down the river, pilins
up against the barrier until ii was from
sixty to eighty feet thick, and under the
influence of zero weather the great mass
had become firmly anchored TO the shore.
The Jam was about one thousand feet in
length, and in some places a quarter of
a mile i'm breadth: For two weeks 1t
had offered safe passage TO the hardy,
and to-day a great crowd of visitors
came to view the winter wonder Of the
river. Had the accident happened An
hour later hundreds would have lost
their lives, for the crowd was moving
down into Prospect Park in the elevators
which run down the cliff for the purpose
of venturng out on the ice.
Body Lies in the Whirlpool
Somewhere deep i'm the great whirl-
pool tonight sleeps the man partly den-
tilted as Mr.. Stanton, who twice put
aside chance cf rescue in order 10 re-
main with his terrorstricken wife, AMI
who. in the shadow Of death-just at the
break in the rapids-spurncd assistance
for himself and attempted to bind about
the womans body a rope dangling from
the lower steel arch bridge; and the lad,
Burrell HeacOck was cast in the same
mould. Had he not turned back on the
ice to give assistance to the man, he,
too. might have made the shore.
on the bridge at the time it tore free
from me shore, besides these three, were
Monroe Gilbert. of No. 1lOS Grove ave-
nue.. this city: Ignatus Roth. of No. 2lli
Fulton Road. Cleveland, Heacock's com
panion; William Hill. an old riyermar
who had a shack on the ice; William La
blond, a Tverman, and an unidentified
Italian. Hills shack was near the
American shore. When he heard the
grinding and crashing Of the ice he ran
at top speed toward the Canadian shore.
calling to the others to follow him. La
blond gave them warning that safety
lay in that direction. Gilbert and the
Italian followed their lead, but the others
became confused. BY the time they had
regained their compOsure the bridge was
moving fast down the river
Man and Woman Confused.
The man and woman started first tow
ard the American shore, but they were
stopped by a lane Of open water. Back
they ran again toward the Canadian
side. turned about and made for the
American side. When hardly more than
6fty Yards from the rocky shore the
woman fell o. her face, utterly spent.
II can't go on! l can't go on she
cried. Let us die here
And all the time the great field of ice, |
driven onward by a southwest gale ana
messed by a Jam broken free from its
anchorage near the base Of the Horse |
shoe Fall, went on breasting the terrible |
outrush of the Niagara Falls Power
Company's tunnel outflow, the mightiest |
current in all the river. without being |
broken AS the woman fell the man |
strove to get her TO her feet again and |
tried to drag her along the ice, calling |
for assistance TO Roth and Heacock, who |
were nearest. Heacock turned back to |
the couple and helped support the |
woman. The act cost him his life.
Roth struggled along over the hum !
mocks OF ice, getting close TO the IN !
stretch of water at the Canadian end of |
the lam. There were men on the shore
ready to give him assistance-Lablond,
Hill. william Cook and Harry King, !
superintendent of the Ontario Power
Company. They were stationed at the
bottom of the cliff just at the foot of
Eastwood street, Niagara Falls, Ontario.
Roth was afraid to trust himself in the
icv waters. Lablond jumped out to the
field of ice with a rope. and half carried.
half dragged. the boy ashore.
Thousands Line Shore.
Word that the ice bridge had gone out
flashed through the city like wildfire,
and within short time the American
shore Of the river was lined by thousands
90 neopIe. who stood watching breath
Iosslv the tragedy being enacted in the
deep ravine below them.
After getting Roth safely ashore the
non made an effort to reach the other
three on the ice foe. But at a poin.
obo,,t six hundred feet below the upper
,teel arch bridge the ice field broke into
,yo great fields One section went
,ou,ard the American shore and anchored
- q great rock near the hydraulic
,,ouer house. The moving foe, with the 4
three HELPLESS beings, passed slowly down
the river.
N,oanwhile the fire headquarters truck /,
,od been called out, and general alarm
~ fire on the Canadian side called out
the men there. They took station with
rones along the shore. but the foe was
,sr bevond their reach. The Niagara
avenue firemen were sent to the lower
steel arch bridge. and there took station
y.ith a rope. The Canadian fremen had
two ropes down from the cantilever
Continued on third page.