Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 April 1878 — Two Men Carried Over Niagara Falls. [ARTICLE]

Two Men Carried Over Niagara Falls.

Acorrespondentof the Buffalo Courier writes from Chippewa, Ont: Our otherwise quiet village was cast into a state of great excitement last evening, about 7 o’clock, by the report that two men had gone over the falls. Every house in the village quickly rang with the news, and at the Methodist Episcopal Church, where revival services were being held, a slip of paper passed round caused great excitement, one you’ g lady fainting away. The news was too true. The number of Niagara victims had been increased. It appears from what'we can learn that Capt. J. Riley and three or four others rowed over to Port Day early in the afternoon, followed soon after by his brother Patrick in his own boat, which was a very large and s ife craft. Patrick was in a state of intoxi cation, but his knowledge es the river brought him, in spite of his condfimi, safely to Port Day (the entrance txTOie water-power canal immediately above the rapids). Capt. Riley, learning that his brother was in town, determined to return with him, and, on one of the party volunteering to bring him over, he replied, "No ! he is my brother, and it is my duty to look after him.” Some time afterward their boat was seen by a young man on Goat island, heading for Chippewa for about a quarter ot a mile, when the Canadian current struck it, turning its bow toward the falls, they continuing to row without apparently knowing the direction the boat had taken. A boat' started in pursuit, but was soon obliged, on account of the nearness of the falls, to desist, and they were left to their fate. Soon their boat was seen to upset, leaving the powerful men struggling in the water, until the intervening rapids hid them forever from view.