Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 May 1875 — A Remarkable Leap. [ARTICLE]

A Remarkable Leap.

Situated at Marlborough, on the opposite side of the river, in the rear of Arthur Dubois’ hotel, on what is known as Jew’s Creek, is a gorge some 200 feet deep. Immediately in the rear of the hotel the bank slopes down about 120 feet to a ledge of rocks, and from there to the bottom of the gorge the bank is almost perpendicular, and covered with moss add a slimy substance, water oozing through the crevices in the rocks. A few days since, says the New burg Telegraph, Egbert Hall, standing on the piazza in the rear of the hotel which overlooks the chasm, while coughing, lost a set of teeth, and on Sunday morning several persons were discussing the possibility of getting down to the "ledge of rocks to see if they had lodged thereon; and accordingly two men, by securing a rope to thebuildine, succeeded in reaching the ledge, but without any success in finding the teeth. On returning they spoke of the impossibility of getting to the bottom of the gorge on account of the abruptness of the bank from the ledge down, when a boy about fifteen years of age, named David Ward, 'volunteered to go to the bottom if anyone would give him fifty cents. Some bystander offered to give him five dollars if he succeeded in reaching the bottom, and he immediately commenced to descend, reaching the rocky ledge with little trouble, when, to the horror of those who were watching him, he deliberately jumped from its brink and disappeared from sight. All supposed, as a matter of course, that he was instantly killed, but imagine their surprise at seeing him appear"in sight at the bottom of the gorge, waving hiiThat and shouting in triumph. It seems when he struck among the stones and gravel at the bottom he landed cn his feet, but the momentum caused him to turn a complete somersault, and he escaped with a slight sprain of one hand. This is truly one of the most remarkable leaps, without resulting fatally, on record. —Povghkeeptie T 7) News.