Year: 1879

The Idiotie Canadian VINO Courts Death


at Niagara Fans-Deeds Of Daring in the


Vicinity efihe Mighty Cataract


Niagara Falls Special to the Globs- Dsmocratl


In April last-I think it was on the
21st--a Canadian, named Harmon Peer,
took his stand upon a platform jutting
out from the center of the foot and car
riage bridge at this point, and prepared
himself for drop into the river, which
rushes along with such mad fury nearly
two hundred feet below. In order to
prevent the suffocation or suspension OF
respiration, inseparable from the rapid
passing through the air of his descend
ing body, Harmon fastenedla sponge
over his mouth and nose. He then
sprang boldly into the air, and in four
seconds from the. time he left the plat
form disappeared below the surface of
the river. he was picked up uniniured
by one of the boats which were waiting
for him after his hazardous descent.


The falls of Niagara are among the
most sublime speclacles in tine world /;
but it is safe to say that more people
visited this celebrated resort on that
day to witness this adventurous fel-
low jump into the mighty river than to
look at the mighty cataract. Ameri-
cans long ago selected these falls, the
rapids preceding the rivers headlong
leap, and the whirlpool below, as scenes
for the exhibition by man of daring ath-
ietic feats. 1t is just fifty years ago
since that intrepid swimmer, Sam Patch,
undertook to leap from ladder, sus.
pended at the foot of precipice, upon
Goat Island, into the boisterous and
whirling waters below.


AT length" says descriptive re-
porter of that day, "Sam Patch reached
the pinnacle from which his plunge was
to be made, and, clothed from head to
foot in white, sat for moment like a
seagull upon cloud. Having made his
tremendous leap amid the breathless
silence Of those who watched him with
little expectation that they would ever
see him again, the bold adventurer sank
into the seething cauldron which closed
over him and hid him from sight.
A boat was at hand to pick him up,
but nothing was seen of him until he
was discovered clambering up the
rocks on the rivers bank, some hun
dreds of feet below the falls. He sus-
tanned no sort of injury, although it
is said that among those who have been
carried by accident over the falls, NO
survivor ever escaped instantaneous
DEATH"


Then came Blondin, who twenty years
or so ago was the hero of Niagara. He
electrified a large concourse of specta-
tors by walking across the turbulent and
boiling river upon single rope,
stretched above the abyss from bank to
bank. To cne who has studied the Falls
under the full light of the monday sun
or beneath the moons pale beams these
senseless exhibitions are strangely out
Of harmony with the surroundings.
No one can possibly describe the over
powering sensation produced upon his
mind by the appearance Of the river
which affords vent for the four might.
est fresh water lakes in the world, as
they discharge their overflow through
the awful gorge of Niagara into the
| fifth lake which connects them with the
St. Lawrence River. Americans yield
to no people in love of honest outdoor
sports, but they must be legitimate
games and contests of skill, no Sam
Patch jumps, like the one this fellow
Peer accomplished, or like that Of
the Roman who climbed the Tarpeain
| rock and thence threw an immortal flip
flop into eternity.


There is well authenticated story oil
an Indian chief who was once caught in
his canoe while padding across the
| rapid river above the falls and before
he was aware of it the vortex of the de
scending stream sucked him in. Fold
ing his arms with the characteristic i'm
perturbabflity of his race, he was car
ried over the brink and his dead body
was picked up in the whirlpool some two
or three miles below, where the river ii
twisted at right angles in its hurried
course toward Lake Ontario. The ca
noein which the helpless sachem mad,
the plunge was torn into Thousand
fragments, attesting the irresistible
force and fury Of the cataract, which
has often tempted men weary of life
| to plunge into the deyouring abyss a
| a means of committing suicide


Many years ago the Buffalo Aduer
Hssr printed sensational story to tn,
effect that the Falls of Niagara, tn,
unmatched phenomenon of nature, tn,
Capitalization of power, grandeur ant
beauty, the theme of poesy and the in
sDiration Of the traveller, the resort o
the ennuye and the delight of the sus
eeptible, are no more" 1t was repre-
sented that the bastion of Goa
Island" had fallen into the stream be
low, and that the supporting fabric o
the great cataract had perished unde
the ceaseless battery of the tremendou
body of water carried over its edge. Th
Horseshoe Tower and the hotel on tn
American side were said to have disaI
peared, and for many weeks geologist
. and scientific men in all parts of tn
world exhausted themselves in speculs
tions upon the causes which led to thi


prodigious convulsion.


But the marvellous cataract still exists
surrounded by natural features of s
sublime and magnificent characte
b that it is in contemplation to create


psrk or pleasure-ground upon both side


of the stream. Such an internations


park would do away with the money


making fellows who now charge fo
everything under the sun. 1t is for tn


benefit of these spectators that the az
palling leap which Harmon Peer undel


took had been arrangedfor.


Thoughts of Great Men.


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