Plunges Over Niagara Falls A Family Failing

Chronicle (Levin), 21 October 1948, Page 9

Plunges Over Niagara Falls A Family Failing

A family failing among the Hills of Ontario is to throw themselves over Niagara Falls. William Hill did it three times in a barrel before he dicd in 1932. Recently his son, William ("Red") Hill, staged his second plunge and collected about 500 dollars (£156 5s) from the watching crowd of 75,000 people. "Red's" previous barrel trip in 1945 earned him only £100. He says that his barrel, cigar shaped and fitted with oxygen apparatus, cost him £350. He will trv another ri'de

next year in a bid to raise enough money for a memorial to his father. In "Red's" last ride the barrel's hammock broke half way through the four and a half hour ordeal. The barrel spun dizzily in a whirlpool and had to be towed out by "Red's" two brothers. It was the same whirlpool, "Red" pointed out proudly, in which his father spun for five hours many years ago. The Hill family is famous for its Niagara River activities. "Red" saved a Canadian soldier from a ledge 190 feet above the falls two years ago. A month eaPier, with the help of his brother. Norman, he retrieved a suicide body from the foot of the falls. Norman swam the river at its most dangerous point, towing a boat by a rope held in his teeth.