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KF5JRV > TODAY 24.10.18 11:34l 41 Lines 2181 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 23602_KF5JRV
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Subj: Today in History - Oct 24
Path: IW8PGT<IR2UBX<SR1BSZ<F1OYP<ON0AR<GB7CIP<AB0AF<N9PMO<N9LCF<W9JUN<
KF5JRV
Sent: 181024/1016Z 23602@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.16
On this day in 1901, a 63-year-old schoolteacher named Annie Edson
Taylor becomes the first person to take the plunge over Niagara Falls in
a barrel.
After her husband died in the Civil War, the New York-born Taylor moved
all over the U. S. before settling in Bay City, Michigan, around 1898.
In July 1901, while reading an article about the Pan-American Exposition
in Buffalo, she learned of the growing popularity of two enormous
waterfalls located on the border of upstate New York and Canada.
Strapped for cash and seeking fame, Taylor came up with the perfect
attention-getting stunt: She would go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
Taylor was not the first person to attempt the plunge over the famous
falls. In October 1829, Sam Patch, known as the Yankee Leaper, survived
jumping down the 175-foot Horseshoe Falls of the Niagara River, on the
Canadian side of the border. More than 70 years later, Taylor chose to
take the ride on her birthday, October 24. (She claimed she was in her
40s, but genealogical records later showed she was 63.) With the help of
two assistants, Taylor strapped herself into a leather harness inside an
old wooden pickle barrel five feet high and three feet in diameter. With
cushions lining the barrel to break her fall, Taylor was towed by a
small boat into the middle of the fast-flowing Niagara River and cut
loose.
Knocked violently from side to side by the rapids and then propelled
over the edge of Horseshoe Falls, Taylor reached the shore alive, if a
bit battered, around 20 minutes after her journey began. After a brief
flurry of photo-ops and speaking engagements, Taylor’s fame cooled, and
she was unable to make the fortune for which she had hoped. She did,
however, inspire a number of copy-cat daredevils. Between 1901 and 1995,
15 people went over the falls; 10 of them survived. Among those who died
were Jesse Sharp, who took the plunge in a kayak in 1990, and Robert
Overcracker, who used a jet ski in 1995. No matter the method, going
over Niagara Falls is illegal, and survivors face charges and stiff
fines on either side of the border.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@ICLOUD.COM
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