NIAGARA 217 



Postscript 



A year or so after I liad quitted tlie United States, a 

 man sixty years of age, while engaged in painting one of 

 the bridges which connect Goat Island with the Three Sis- 

 ters, slipped through the rails of the bridge into the rapids, 

 and was carried impetuously toward the Horseshoe Fall. 

 He was urged against a rock which rose above the water, 

 and with the grasp of desperation he clung to it. The 

 population of the village of Niagara Falls was soon upon 

 the island, and ropes were brought, but there was none to 

 use them. In the midst of the excitement, a tall, powerful 

 young fellow was observed making his way silently through 

 the crowd. He reached a rope; selected from the bystand- 

 ers a number of men, and placed one end of the rope in 

 their hands. The other end he fastened round himself, and 

 choosing a point considerably above that to which the man 

 clung, he plunged into the rapids. He was carried vio- 

 lently downward, but he caught the rock, secured the old 

 painter and saved him. Newspapers from all parts of the 

 Union poured in upon me, describing this gallant act of 

 lay guide Conroy. 



SOIENCE^- -V — 10 



