The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1912-10-10
When the Ice Broke Up.

When the Ice Broke Up.
Every year the famous ice-bridge
at Niagara tempts hundreds of people
out upon it's beautiful, although dan
gerous, highway. The bridge is form
ed by the piling up of the ice-cakes
that come laundering over the falls.
These cakes, together with the snow
and ice and frozen spray, soon form
a solid bridge across the river be-
low the falls. Three lives were actu-
ally lost on the breaking up of the
ice this winter, and narrow escapes
occur almost every year, for the
bridge rarely given warning of its
collapse. The incident described here
occurred several seasons ago. 1t was
a usual winters day, and to. the
crowd the bridge seemed quite as
safe as ever.
SUDDENLY a warning cry rang out,
as the great mass Of ice was felt to
tremble. A great gap appeared in
the middle of the bridge, then more
cracks; soon cakes began to split of
and go whirling down the river. The
terrified people who, a moment be-
fore, had felt themselves in perfect
security, rushed panic-stricken to-
ward the shores. They scrambled
over the hillocks of ice, or leaped
across assures which opened suden-
ly at their feet. In spite of the diff
culties, however, all but three man
aged to reach the shore; man and
woman and boy were left on the
ice.
The man and the woman were has
tening to the Canadians side of the riv-
er; no one knows what had delayed
them. The ice was breaking up rapid
. ly now, and the couple had hard
time keeping on solid ice. They had
almost reached the shore, when sud-
denly the woman seemed to give way.
For an anxious moment she wavered
on the brink of the water; as she
started to fall the man sprang to her
side and bore her back. They push
ed on, the man supporting the wo-
man. Hand in hand, they made a
desperate leap on to an ice-cake, and
thence to the shore. They were safe,
but only by the narrowest of mar
gins. They had already sprung from
the ice-cake, when a great mass of
ice bore down on it and smashed it
into pieces.
The boy, meanwhile, was in an
even more precarious situation. He
had started for the American shore,
become confused, and at the last mo-
ment turned back to the Canadian
side. His change of mind was cost
ly, for the ice was now going to
pieces on all sides. Suddenly the
piece on which he was standing broke
away, was seized in the full grip of
the current, and whirled rapidly
down the river. The water was full
of laundering, crashing cakes, which
threatened at any moment to smash
the peice on which the boy was. With
the greatest difficulty, he managed
to maintain his position, and by good
luck, his foe kept free from the rest.
On toward the bridge they swept
with ever-increasing velocity, toward
a jam which had formed by the
bridge and the projecting shore. 1t
seemed inevitable that the cake
would be hurled against that jam:
already the Mortified onlookcrs could
see the catastrophe But the boy had
not lost his presence of mind. Crouch
ing on the ice, he waited for the
shock. It came, with terrible
splintering crash, but moment be-
fore, the'boy had leaped high up on
the jam. He managed to secure a
hold, and to draw himself up out of
the reach of the ice. From there
willing hands lifted him to safety
Youths Companion.