Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-02-05
TRIPLE TRAGEDY, SUNDAY.
BELOW NIAGARA FALLS
Continued fr IN Page one.)

about 90 feet below the upper steel
arch bridge the ice field broke into two
great fields. One section went towards
the American shore and grounded on
a great rock near the hydraulic power
house. The other foe with the three
helpless human figures ON it passed
slowly down the river. Meantime. the
IRE headquarters truck had been called
out. and general alarm of fire on the
Canadian side called out the men
there They took stations with ropes
along the shore. but the foe was far
beyond their reach. The Niagara ave-
nue. hremen were sent to the lower
steel arch. bridge and there took sta
ton with rope. The Canadian fire.
men had two ropes down from the
canteleVer bridge. which is about 500
yards above the other structure.
Just above the Old Maid of the Mist
landing, quarter of n mile from the
Whirlpool rapids the foe on which the
three We're borne broke into two sec
IONS, each about 200 feet square. the
man and woman on one. Heaeock on
the other. Heacock waved his hand TO
MS companions in distress. as the foe
moved clear Of the other. and. caught
IN current, raced down the river. The
other foe then shot towards the Amer
lean shore. WAS caught in an eddy and
Mhirled about there for about five
minutes. This was within sight of the
tuiioIihg waters which marked the be-
ginning of the rapids and death.
Heacock saw the rope dangling from
BRIDGE nd ,xf,1 Il
Very cooIly he took off his overeoat and
posed hlmsef on the tossing foe In mis-
course there dansled one rope and q
second was moved toward him. He
caught one held by Officer Pat Kelly of
the Ontario police force and a company
OF about 20 railroad men, caught it and
jumped free of the ice The sag of the
rope at that great drop-200 feet--Iet him
INTO the chilly water UP to his waist And
before he was clear of it he was fright
fully battered by three successive foes
of jutty ice
Not content with the effort of the men
above To draw him up, he tried to assist
himself, hand over hand. The time was
Lie O'Clock and the hour or more that
the boy had been on the ice and the eff
fects of the icy ducking had Slapped his
strength. He stopped trying to pull HIM
SELF up and hung limp on the rope. which
spun him around like Il top. Kelly and
his men pulled steadily Three feet, 70,
20 80 feet, up he came The great crowd
on the bridges cheered-those that We're
not weeping. Grimly the boy hung on
Trying always TO get his leg wound about
the rope. Then his hands began To slip
lie sought to get hold of the rope with
MS teeth, but could not. Finally just IS
he was about 60 feet clear of the water.
his head fell back. He was utterly
spent He lost his grip and plunged far
down into the stream. When he came
up his face turned towards the great
wave and he feebly moved his arms in
the breast stroke, but the nightly rush
ing water was too much for him He
was caught like a cork and sent racing
onto the midst Of the seething waters
For perhaps half 81 minute he was an
view and then he was no more seen--he
was swallowed up in the spume
Heaeoek's fatal failure was witnessed
by stanton on the other foe His wife
apparently dared not look. The man ap-
peared calm as he in turn prepared 10
stake his and his wifes lives against
death, Tor, caught by a down-river cur
rent, the foe was moving into the course
Heacock had gone.
AS the couple swung under the canti-
lever bridge, Mr.. Stanton grasped q rope
and tried to put 1t about his wifes waist.
The force of the current was too much
for the rope-it parted and the man way
ed the torn end toward the crowd,
There was still another chance-tho
rope that was dropped from the lowe;
steel arch bridge by the Niagara avenue
firemen. As the Hoe eareened into 2
swift drift the man caught it and grimly
hung on. He was given slack and h,
tried to wind the rope about her waist
He fumbled in his agony of effort as I
his hands We're numb The rush of tn,
ice in the stream was overpowering