Bisbee daily review., 1920-01-11
By EDWARD M. THlERRY, N. E. A. Staff Correspondent With mithsonian-Universal African
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Expedition.
 VICTORIA FALLS, South Africa Two daring. Americans have per formed a world-beating feat - the descent of Victoria Falls!
 Scaling a precipice of 369 feet with rope, tbey accomplished hazard ous climb down the remaining rocks to the waters edge at the extreme notion of the great pit-a total of more than 400 feet-and stood where. no human foot has ever trod.
 First to penetrate the pit were Pliny w. Horne and William Stowen, both of Los Angeles.
 Horne is a camera man and Stowell film director for the Universal Film company. They are members or the Smithsonian African Expedition, a party of scientists and motion picture men touring Africa.
 Never in history, since the mission ary-explorer Dr. Livingstone discov- cred Victoria Falls in 1885, has any living thing been at the bottom or the Chasm, save baboons and birds.
 Hole to the Earth With One Outlet
 To appreciate what the Americans did: Imagine a cleft in the earth 400 feet deep and of width varying from
  cliffs, absolutely without footholds; the chasm at right angles to the Zam- besi river. which cascades over the one long side of the narrow, iongl- tudinal Dit. leaving the opposite cliff bare. mist-bathed and forbiddinS; i'm agine the chasm a hole in the earth, with only one narrow outlet near one end, a gateway with rocky sides fall- irotn nj water. a maelstrom aptly called the Boiling Pot
 Had the rope broken there would have been no escape for Stowell or Horne from the bottom of the pit. They couldn't. scale the sides. They couldn't swim the whirlpool current. There was just narrow ledge to stand on. nc path along the bottoms edge to the gateway from the chasm into the gorge.
 And Stoweu and Horne made not one descent-but two. Previous to penetrating the full distance, they first went over the cliff or cataract Island to the bottom of Devils Catat ract, the most westerly cascade of Cascade Falls, a distance of 260 feet. Go Over the Top on End of a Rope
 fs spectacular and unprecedented reat, a hand winch and $50 feet of rope were brought from Bulawayo 2S0 miles away. The winch was set up on tho top of the cliff and weighted with boulders, the rope passing over d los lodged at the edge. The winch was operated by Thomas McEwen Of Bula- wayo, a veteran and expert trigger, of
 A board saddle was rigged up at one end of the rope. Horne was tied in. Then, armed with stidk to fend himself from the jagged side of the rock wall, he went over the cage of the precipice backward and was slow ly let down.
 After he disappeared over the brink he was invisible to the meen at the winch. So other members of the Smithsonian party led by Dr. J. R. Armstrong of Los AngeIes, stood watch on the opposite side of the chasm. Here also was posted another movie camera, operated by Henry x. Kohler of Chicago. taking long dis tance pictures of the descent With binoculars trained on the descending man-who seemed to be crawling down the sheer wall like fly for only the swaying guide rope could be seen, and not the black rope bearing the weight-Dr Armstrong watcned for signals of distress.
 After Horne reached the bottom and united himself in binding rainstorm of mist from the adjacent Devils Cata- ract, that left him drenched, dripping and cold, the camera, the tripod and other paraphernalia were lowered down to him one at a time. Then Stowell made the descent.
 The slow work of letting two men down and the separate pieces of cam era equipment and the tedious, peril ous climbing over rocks at the bottom to set up the camera consumed the whole day.
 Next day the second and most spec tacular descent was made. On the third day, directly opposite Rainbow Falls, the camera men shot" some beautiful scenes.
 This stunt was q motion picture triumph. For the camera. set up on the narrow ledge at the bottom, GOV cred in full sweep the magnificent picture of the cascades of the main falls nearly half mile up the canon the picturesque trickles of Rainbow Falls directly opposite the place of descent and the superb contrast of the nearly-dTy rock walls of the east ern portion of the cataclysmic Chasm