OVER NIAGARA IN A BARREL.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2698, 26 October 1889, Page 6 (Supplement)

OVER NIAGARA IN A BARREL.

GRAHAM'S EXPERIENCES. Carlisle D.-Graham, who has-won the honour of being the first man to pass over Niagara Falls and escape alive, is a cooper, nnd he inide his trip iu a barrel of his own manufacture, in which he had previously passed safely through - the whirlpool, and the Devil's Rapids below the Fiillf. The barrel is made of Chinese locust wood, and is4.V feet long, 22 inches in diameter at the top, and 15 at the bottorn, and at the bulge near the top, nearly 27 inehes. It weighs 150 pounds, and iuside wore two 50-pound bags of sand, whilo a piece of railroad iron, weighing 25 pounds, was attached to 50 feet of rope to act as a drag. Inside were canvas straps arranged to support Graham while on his voysgo. The adventurous Graham entered the barrel through the manhole and crouched upon the bottom, fastening himself with the straps. The manhole was then closed and battened down with a tarpaulin, and tho barrel towed into the middle of the river, a short distance above the Falls. When turned adrift it started slowly, but when it reached the Horseshoe Rapids it began to be whirled about, now below the surface, now above, advancing rapidly to the brink of the cataract, over which it passed, withont shooting outward, remaining in water for the entire distance. A minute auda-half later it re-appeared, bobbing about in the foam at the foot of the Falls, and soon drifted into the eddies about one hundred feet away. The friends of Graham hastened to pull the barrel ashore. The iron fastenings of the manhole were so bent that they could scarcely be moved, and, moreover, Graham had fastened it inside with an iron bolt, which he had not sufficient strength to pull back. The barrel had to be burst open to get him out. Graham was found to be more dead than alive, but stimulants soon revived him. He had been in_ the barrel 50 minntea, and he was considerably bruised, but not seriously injured.

Another account says : —For three years Graham has been preparing to achieve the ambition of his life. He has made several daring trips, culminating, on the date mentioned, in his floating through the Rapids, being ni route sucked into the Devil's Maelstrom. Between his feats Graham studied the Falls, and adapted his barrel shaped float according to experience. Some of his barrels have been smashed occassionally, with animals enclosed in them. The barrel used on the occassion referred to was made of Chinese locust wood. It was four and a half feet long, and twenty-two inches in diameter, the°top quickly swelling to twenty-seven inches and then tapering to fifteen. It wag braced with irons outside, and fitted inside with canvass straps and handholds, to lessen the shocks. It weighed one hundred and fifty pounds, and was ballasted with a hundred pounds of sand in bags, a drag, weighing twenty-five pounds, was attached by a fifty feet rope. Despite a safe experimental trip on the previous day to meet his wife's scruple?, she refused her consent, and, consequently, Graham went without it. A manhole in tho head of tho barrel was battened at Chippewa Creole, on the Canadian side. The red top of the barrel was frequently visible, but occasionally the drab Hides, or disappearances, testified tho frightful tossing »nd twisting to which Graham was subjected. In twenty-five minutes ho was swept over 200 ft. from tbo Canadian shore. Following the water down, instead of shooting out into tho chasm, as he expected, he re appeared within two minutes, when the daring swimmer was dragged in shore, fifty minutes from the start. The head of the barrel was smashed in, and Graham's neck appeared to be broken, but friction and whisky produced evidences of life. After his recovery from the shook it was found tlutt he had suffered nothing worse than :i few fkiu bruises.

Graham said of his experiences : —"I went down the Horseshoe Bapids so quickly that I was hardly prepared. The lirst thing I knew I seemed to lie going into a deep abyss, and then I got a crack on the head anch as a policeman might give to a drunken man. Thoo I didn't know much, I was tossed about like a leather. I could not get much air, and did not dare to change my position, I kad braced myself up with the aid of straps, no that I was sure I should not s-trike my head again. I cannot tell just when 1 did go over the Falls, for the awful fch;il(i'iij;-iip fctu putted mo. I felt happy, like a man who is passing into a pninfess death by drowning. There was a suise of danger mixed with the pleasure, and tin: sensation was plen,sai:Ur than those I experience now after accomplishing llie feat. There were many shocks on the tiip, but none so great as the lirst one, and tho mure act of goinq over the Falls did not make itself particularly felt. I was not entirely oblivious, but felt helpless and voiceless. There was the terrible roar in my ears ; i tried to speak aloud in the barrel to break it, but I could not. It was simply awful, yet I felt contented and knew I really was over the Niagara Falls when the barrel went into the eddies. I was almost insensible. They rapped on the barrell and shouted to me. I could hear thorn talk to me, and tried to answer, but I could not. Finally, they broke open the barrel. I did not faint, but I do not know what happened for a while. I shall never repeat the attempt; once is enough. What I went through in half-an-hont has taken ten years oil' my life."