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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78938 ***
+
+
+
+
+                             OVER THE FALLS
+
+                          ANNIE EDSON TAYLOR’S
+                              STORY OF HER
+                                  LIFE
+
+                  HOW THE HORSESHOE FALL WAS CONQUERED
+
+                             [Illustration]
+
+             Copyright July 15, 1902, by Annie Edson Taylor
+
+                              Published by
+                        Mrs. Annie Edson Taylor
+                               June, 190
+
+ [Illustration: The lines on this photo show the direction Mrs. Taylor
+    and her barrel took on her frightful plunge over the Horseshoe.]
+
+
+
+
+                                Preface
+
+
+Despite the thrilling nature of the story of which this book is
+designed to be an accurate record, no attempt has been made to
+embellish it with sensational statements. It is a plain recital of
+fact. Annie Edson Taylor is the only human being who has ever gone over
+the Falls of Niagara and lived to tell the story of her experience.
+Even in its plain way, this little book has the distinguishing feature
+of being a story thoroughly original; a story which no other one of
+the million of people on this earth can truthfully tell as Annie Edson
+Taylor has told it.
+
+In the face of her wonderful accomplishment of having conquered the
+greatest waterfall in existence, Mrs. Taylor is not unmindful of the
+history of Niagara, and so it is her wish that this book be dedicated
+to the memory of the Indian maidens whose lives were sacrificed, as the
+legends of old tell us, in the days gone by, when it was the custom of
+the tribes to offer up their fairest daughters to the Great Spirit. As
+the world has progressed science and invention have demonstrated where
+mistakes were made in many fields, and it remained for Mrs. Taylor to
+show that the mistake of the Indian maidens was in trying to conquer
+Niagara in birch bark canoes instead of in barrels of Kentucky oak. We
+live to learn.
+
+
+
+
+                           Niagara’s Voyagers
+
+
+Ever since the early part of the nineteenth century Niagara has been
+the scene of perilous feats. Perhaps the earliest of these performances
+was the leap of Sam Patch in 1829. From that time on, at various
+intervals, men and women have journeyed to Niagara to win fame and
+fortune by doing some deed they hoped would make them an unusual
+attraction in the several fields they elected to enter to gain a living.
+
+The most popular feat at Niagara for many years was to voyage through
+the Whirlpool Rapids in a boat or barrel or protected only by a life
+preserver. Possibly the feat of Joel Robinson of June 6, 1861, set
+the pace in this field of adventure. It was Robinson who piloted the
+steamer Maid of the Mist through the marvelous Niagara canyon and its
+rough waters to the more placid portion of the stream at Queenston.
+
+The intrepid Capt. Matthew Webb, a man who had successfully swam across
+the English Channel, had the daring to try and pass through the wild,
+tumultuous, tossing waters of the Whirlpool Rapids unprotected, but
+instead of being a trip to fame, his was a trip to eternity. After
+Webb came many others, and it was then that the barrel voyager of the
+Niagara came into prominence. Protected by barrels several have made
+trips through the Whirlpool Rapids and Whirlpool, in fact this voyage
+long ago became lacking in interest.
+
+These circumstances and conditions led several to look about Niagara
+in hopes of discovering some other route to golden fame. Of course,
+there was the Falls, that stupendous downpour of water that drops
+the overflow of Lake Erie to the stream that runs so swiftly on to
+“Old Ontario.” The Falls of Niagara were there, and had been there
+for centuries, but even the ambitious men and women who desired to
+link their names forever with Niagara and its wonders, looked upon
+it as too great a proposition for them to trifle with; they wanted
+fame, they wanted dollars, but none of them sought death. And it was
+written all about Niagara, on the tongues and faces of the oldest and
+youngest residents, that whoever dare try and conquer this noble and
+sublime Cataract would surely go down to the grave--a grave marked by a
+monument bearing a statement of the occupant’s foolishness in presuming
+to pass over the precipice of Niagara and live.
+
+When Annie Edson Taylor journeyed to Niagara and announced an
+intention of going over the Falls, the announcement commanded but
+little attention. Everybody looked upon it as a ridiculous ambition--a
+foolish idea--and the knowing ones guessed that when she had studied
+the chaotic nature of the waters in the three-quarter mile stretch of
+rapids above the Horseshoe, she would quickly conclude that her home
+was a more peaceful place in which to end her days. Nobody believed
+that a woman would require but a glance at the awful plunge over the
+Falls to convince her that death lurked in those waters, eager to
+continue the unbroken record of fatalities on the list of those who had
+involuntarily been caught in the suction of the upper rapids and swept
+over the frightful brink into the chasm below.
+
+But Annie Edson Taylor lingered at Niagara. The date of her announced
+trip arrived. The wind was too high to allow the boatmen to reach the
+current necessary to escape the rocky reefs and to be swept over the
+Horseshoe, and the world was amazed by the statement sent out from
+Niagara that night that Annie Edson Taylor was still determined to
+conquer the Horseshoe Fall of Niagara or die. It was then that the
+people of the locality got serious on the matter. Previous to this time
+there had been a vast amount of joking, all at Mrs. Taylor’s expense,
+but this woman’s will was terribly set, and even the Coroner of Niagara
+concluded that it was time for him to interfere in his official
+capacity.
+
+On October 24, 1901, Annie Edson Taylor and her barrel were again taken
+out on the Upper Niagara, and the story that follows tells that she
+is the only person who has ever voluntarily made the frightful trip
+through the Upper Rapids of the Niagara, plunged over the Horseshoe
+Fall and floated on the foam-lashed, whirling waters of the Lower
+Niagara. When it was announced that Mrs. Taylor had successfully made
+the awful trip, the terrible drop into the gorge, the world was amazed,
+but none more so than the people who had passed their lives close by
+the Mighty Cataract, and who had come to believe that no human being
+could pass over it and live.
+
+In the lines that follow Mrs. Taylor has herself told in a plain manner
+the story of her life and her victory at Niagara. Her deed singles her
+out from all the world, in that she has done what no other man or woman
+ever before attempted. How she became impressed with the belief that
+she could conquer Niagara is a mystery, but conquer it she did.
+
+
+
+
+                         The Story of Her Life
+
+
+[Illustration: Photo of Annie Edson Taylor standing next to her barrel.]
+
+Mrs. Annie Edson Taylor, born October 24, 1855, near Auburn, N. Y., on
+the bank of Owasco Lake, the country seat of her father, Merrick Edson,
+who was of English descent, born in Massachusetts. Her mother, Lucretia
+Warren, was born in Albany, N. Y., and was connected with some of the
+oldest and best families of that day. Merick Edson owned large milling
+interests on Owasco River, which runs through the city of Auburn. In
+winter the family lived in the city, in summer on the farm, where
+little Annie went to the district school, and in winter to the city
+school. She was of a dreamy, imaginative disposition, fond of out-door
+sports and of books, especially those which run on adventures, such as
+“Life in Australia,” historical novels, and at the age when most girls
+were thinking of lovers, was reading Roman History and Plutarch’s lives.
+
+Merick Edson, her father, died when Annie was about 10 years of age.
+From that time up to 14 life was uneventful. At that age she and two
+older brothers were sent by their guardian to Charlottville, Schoharie
+County, to a seminary for boys and girls. This was an excellent school,
+discipline rigid, under the auspices of 24 selected teachers. There
+friendships were formed which changed the current of Annie’s whole
+life. Among the older girls was a Miss Jennie Taylor, a fine and
+accomplished scholar, who was chosen as a room mate for Annie.
+
+
+                          Married at Eighteen
+
+Later on she made the acquaintance of D. S. Taylor, who at the age of
+18 became her husband. The marriage was blessed with one child, who
+died in a few days. Her husband died in a little over two years. Then
+it was that Annie realized the imperfections of her education and the
+folly of a too early marriage. In a few months she entered the Normal
+State School at Albany and became an indefatigable student, and at the
+close of three years graduated, taking her vacation with a married
+sister near Auburn. Among the many schoolmates to whom Annie became
+attached were two lovely Southern girls, the Misses Kate and Mary
+Kingsbury. The latter was of Annie’s age, and most intimate friend.
+Annie was invited to spend a year at their Southern home.
+
+But, in the meantime, Miss Kate Kingsbury had contracted a most
+brilliant marriage with her cousin, and had gone to the faraway city
+of San Antonio, Texas. Annie concluded to go there for a year. After
+much opposition from her family and friends, one stormy day in October,
+1880, she took ship from New York for Cuba, and after a month’s stay
+went from there to Galveston, and from Galveston by rail to Austin,
+the capital; thence by stage through to San Antonio. After meeting
+her friends, the Kingsburys, Annie took a position as teacher in the
+High School. During vacation she went to New Mexico with a party of
+officers and their families, taking the overland route, where Capt.
+Nolan had a detail of soldiers guarding the building of railroads
+in the Shasta Mountains, and where every day the lives of the party
+were in jeopardy from Indians. On return to Texas, while rooming in
+Kingsbury Street, one night was chloroformed and her room searched
+for $3,000, which had been taken in for rents by Mrs. Taylor, who was
+acting as agent for the Kingsburys (who at that time were away).
+
+
+                           Held Up by Robbers
+
+On return North the stage was held up by a gang of robbers. In all,
+$3,000 dollars was taken from the male passengers. Mrs. Taylor had $800
+concealed in the folds of her gown, on the robbers pressing a loaded
+pistol to her temple and demanding the money she had, said, “Blow
+away, I would as soon be without brains as without money.” They spared
+her life. This occurred between San Antonio and Austin, in a forest.
+After a year’s course in New York City, under the best instructors in
+dancing and physical culture, Mrs. Taylor went to Asheville, N. C., and
+immediately engaged in teaching those branches.
+
+Just previous to that time she was in Chattanooga, Tenn., where I
+loaned $1,700 and it was lost in the boom in progress at that time,
+she was also burned out, losing all her household goods, holding no
+insurance.
+
+Returning from Asheville, she spent a winter teaching in Washington, D.
+C. Returning to Auburn she spent the summer and autumn, and then went
+to Indianapolis. She taught dancing in La Fayette, Ind., in a young
+ladies’ school.
+
+
+                        Shaken by an Earthquake
+
+While in Asheville she visited Charleston, S. C., and was there
+during the earthquake felt there. She then went to Bay City, Mich.
+She spent one summer at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., teaching a system of
+piano music. A year later she returned to San Antonio, Texas, going
+from there to Mexico City, where she spent the month of December, then
+returned to San Antonio. Assisted by Rev. Walter Richardson, rector of
+St. Paul’s Church, and an eminent and cultured woman, a member of the
+church, Mrs. J. J. Stevens, she opened classes in physical culture,
+returning to Bay City the last of April, where she had been keeping
+house. She remained there until October 4, 1900, when she came to
+Niagara Falls.
+
+
+                    How She Came to Go Over Niagara
+
+The manner in which Mrs. Taylor got the inspiration to go over the
+Falls of Niagara, to perform a feat never before attempted by a human
+being, is best told by her in the following words:
+
+For two years I had been constantly studying, when not occupied in
+teaching, what I could do to make money--to make it honestly and
+quickly. All kinds of schemes ran riot through my brain. Reading in a
+New York paper about people going to the Pan-American Exposition, and
+from there to Niagara Falls, the idea came to me like a flash of light,
+“Go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. No one has ever accomplished this
+feat.” I did not think it wrong, as there was nothing immodest in the
+act, nor did it involve the life of anyone but myself. I believe in
+prayer, and that God will answer if only there is faith. As my motive
+was not a selfish one, but to succor two friends, one who has little
+children, the other in delicate health, and to aid myself financially,
+I believed I would live. I was determined to live, to vindicate to the
+world God’s mercy and goodness.
+
+
+                     Her Desire Was to Help Others
+
+I frankly avowed what my purpose was, viz.: To aid two friends, raise
+money to help me pay a few small debts, and to enable me to sell some
+Texas land. Just how this was to be done I did not know, but thought a
+crowd would gather and a collection could be taken up. My great mistake
+was in selecting a manager, F. M. Russell of Bay City, who was well
+recommended, but who proved in every way unworthy the trust reposed in
+him.
+
+
+                        She Designed Her Barrel
+
+The idea came to me in August. I immediately set to work to shape a
+barrel, which I did, cutting it out of paper and sewing it together
+with twine. The dimensions were: 12 in. head, 34 in. middle, 15 in.
+foot. The barrel was 4½ ft. high, weight 160 lbs. It was made of white
+Kentucky oak, with ten hoops, each riveted every four inches. The
+barrel was made by Bocenchia of West Bay City.
+
+
+                        Her Trip Over the Falls
+
+October 24, 1901, I left the shore from Buffalo Avenue in a boat, and
+was rowed by two men to Grass Island. I then took off my hat, street
+skirt and coat, and entered the barrel, the barrel being placed in the
+water. I then adjusted a woven strap around my waist, and a strap from
+the back went through an eye in the foot of the barrel, fastened to
+a buckle in front to my belt. This was to keep my head from violent
+contact with the barrel. I placed two cushions on my person extending
+down to the knees--one in the bottom of the barrel. When all was in
+readiness, the head of the barrel was screwed down perfectly tight. A
+tube inserted in the chines I held in my hand, and an air-pump was used
+to fill the barrel with fresh air. I then put a cork in the end of the
+tube I held in my hand. All was now ready, and the boatmen towed the
+barrel out to the current, which they thought would carry me over the
+_center_ of the Horseshoe.
+
+I did not say, like Dante, on entering the barrel, “Who enters here
+leaves all hope behind,” but as I faced the inevitable, life or a
+horrible death in 50 minutes, my courage rose.
+
+
+                              Cast Adrift
+
+Thus, as the rap came on the barrel which told me I was cut loose, and
+no human power could avail me, for I was started on a trip no traveler
+had ever taken, my heart swelled, and for some moments I felt as though
+I were being suffocated, but I determined to be brave. By a supreme
+effort of will I calmed myself at once, and began earnestly to pray--if
+it was God’s will to spare my life, if not to give me an easy death.
+
+The trip through the Rapids was nothing but a pleasant sensation. I
+could feel the barrel toss and often turning partly over, until I
+come to first _drop_ over a reef, when the bottom caught for a
+moment. The barrel swerved, and for a moment I thought I would go head
+first, but with a jerk it loosened, turned foot down, and plunged to
+the bottom. I felt the water close over my head, but was not hurt. The
+barrel rose to the surface instantly, and pursued its course.
+
+
+                       Toward the Mighty Cataract
+
+Again the barrel swerved to the left, and I knew instinctively that
+should it pursue its course it would be dashed to atoms on the giant
+rocks near the Canadian shore. But God was good. The barrel paused,
+raised slowly on its head, then turned over on a rock and pursued its
+course down to the Brink of the Precipice. I tore the cushion from my
+head, placed it quickly under my knees, and dropped to the bottom of
+the barrel.
+
+As I reached the brink the barrel did what I predicted it would do,
+paused for a moment and then
+
+
+                         Made the Awful Plunge
+
+of 158 feet to the boiling cauldron below. I thought for a moment my
+senses were lost. The feeling was one of absolute horror, but still I
+knew when I struck the water of the lower river. The shock was not so
+great, but I went down, down until the momentum had spent itself.
+
+Below the surface _all was still_. Not a sound reached me. Slowly
+I arose, but unfortunately on coming to the surface I came under the
+falling of water and was carried back of the sheet that tumbles over
+the precipice. It was then I began to suffer. The barrel was whirled
+like a dasher in a churn; lifted, I should think, four or five feet
+clear of the water, and thrown violently about, at the same time turned
+around and around with the greatest velocity, struck on the rocks, and
+each moment water was forcing itself in at the point where the anvil at
+the bottom had been imperfectly put on. As the barrel turned violently
+around and around the sensation was terrible.
+
+
+                       Afloat on the Lower River
+
+The barrel then shot out from the Cataract like an arrow from a bow,
+giving me a frightful lurch. After a short time I felt the barrel being
+drawn up to a rock. It was none too soon, however, as my strength was
+spent. When I realized I had been rescued my senses immediately left
+me. Like a person falling to sleep, I became unconscious.
+
+Through the kindness of John Ross, chief engineer of the “Maid of the
+Mist,” and Mr. Williams of Canada, a wrench was brought, the barrel
+opened, and the fresh air struck me.
+
+A man’s voice exclaimed:
+
+
+                         “The Woman is Alive!”
+
+I answered, “Yes, she is, though much hurt and confused.” I was carried
+to my boarding house, and after suffering great pain was restored to my
+normal condition. The greater part of my life that remains to me will
+be devoted to doing good to others, for a woman, be she a true woman,
+can bless and glorify the lowest grade of humanity.
+
+                                         ANNIE EDSON TAYLOR.
+
+
+                      Newspaper Men Were Witnesses
+
+TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
+
+This is to certify that Mrs. Annie Edson Taylor passed over the
+Canadian, otherwise known as the Horseshoe Falls, on October 24, 1901,
+and further that we were eyewitnesses of the fact having been present
+when she entered the barrel as well as when she was taken from it after
+having successfully made the trip.
+
+                      CHARLES E. PERIGO,
+                              City Editor, Cataract-Journal.
+                      N. F. MADDEVER,
+                              City Editor, Gazette.
+
+
+                   Mayor Butler Certifies to the Trip
+
+                        NIAGARA FALLS, N. Y., April 1, 1902.
+
+TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
+
+This is to certify that on October 24, 1901, Mrs. Annie Edson Taylor
+went over the Horseshoe Falls at Niagara Falls in a barrel and survived.
+
+                                         MIGHELLS B. BUTLER,
+                                                        Mayor.
+
+
+                        Took Her From the Barrel
+
+                               STEAMER “MAID OF THE MIST,”
+                               NIAGARA FALLS, N. Y., June 3, 1902
+
+TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
+
+I, the undersigned, certify that on the afternoon of Thursday, the 24th
+day of October, 1901, I personally, opened the barrel that had come
+over the Falls and found a woman inside in a fainting condition but
+after the admission of air she shortly revived. With the assistance of
+Harry Williams, proprietor of the Lafayette Hotel, and John Dunn, I
+took her out of the barrel and put her in a row boat and took her to
+the Canadian dock, where she was placed in a carriage and taken away. I
+have seen the woman known as Mrs. Taylor on two occasions since and can
+positively say she is the same person who was taken from the barrel at
+Bass rock eddy, on the shore of the Niagara River, below the Horseshoe
+Falls of Niagara.
+
+                                    JOHN ROSS,
+                                      Chief Engineer,
+                                        S. S. “Maid of the Mist.”
+
+
+                    Saw Her Come Over the Horseshoe
+
+                              STEAMER “MAID OF THE MIST,”
+                              NIAGARA FALLS, N. Y., June 3, 1902.
+
+TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
+
+We, the undersigned, master and mate of the Steamer “Maid of the Mist,”
+plying on the Niagara River immediately below the Falls of Niagara, do
+hereby certify that on the 24th day of October, 1901, about 4 o’clock
+p. m., we being on board our boat directly under the Horseshoe Falls,
+saw a barrel come over the brink and drift down the heavy current close
+to the Canadian shore, fetching up in Bass rock eddy, it being about a
+quarter of a mile below the Horseshoe Falls. We saw the barrel taken
+from the water and the person of a woman taken from the barrel, and who
+(contrary to our expectations) was alive, and we confidently believe
+her to be the only human being that ever went over the Falls of Niagara
+and lived, and we can certify that the woman known to us since as Mrs.
+A. E. Taylor was the person taken out of the barrel.
+
+                               R. R. CARTER,
+                                 Master S. S. “Maid of the Mist.”
+                               WILLIAM THOMAS,
+                                 Mate, “Maid of the Mist.”
+
+
+
+
+                            Maid Of The Mist
+
+
+Of all the water trips in the world there is none that equals the
+voyage on the lower river in front of the
+
+                            Falls of Niagara
+
+The staunch and pretty steamers leave the docks at the foot of the
+inclined railways in the great free parks and pass through the spray
+clouds to
+
+                              Rainbow Land
+
+Passengers have the privilege of stop-over on the side opposite to
+their starting point and returning on any boat during the same day.
+Waterproof clothing is furnished as protection against the spray.
+The trip affords the most beautiful and unique views of the great
+Cataract, and no one who has not taken the trip has seen Niagara and
+its stupendous grandeur.
+
+
+                            FARE, ROUND TRIP
+                     INCLUDING WATERPROOF CLOTHING
+                                50 Cents
+
+                             [Illustration]
+                        FRANK LE BLOND, Manager
+
+
+
+
+                          TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
+
+
+In this text, small capitals have been represented by ALL CAPITALS.
+Words in italics have been marked by _underscores_.
+
+The date on the title page has been left as printed (“190 ”).
+
+Minor punctuation errors have been corrected without comment.
+
+Variant spellings of the same name have been retained as originally
+printed.
+
+Original spelling has been retained except for the following probable
+typographical errors:
+
+  Page 6:
+  “tumultous” changed to “tumultuous”
+  “...through the wild, tumultuous, tossing waters...”
+
+  Page 6:
+  “stupenduous” changed to “stupendous”
+  “...that stupendous downpour of water...”
+
+  Page 7:
+  “commended” changed to “commanded”
+  “...the announcement commanded but little attention.”
+
+  Page 7:
+  “choatic” changed to “chaotic”
+  “...she had studied the chaotic nature of the waters...”
+
+  Page 8:
+  “belive” changed to “believe”
+  “...who had come to believe that...”
+
+  Page 13:
+  “heigh” changed to “high”
+  “The barrel was 4½ ft. high, weight 160 lbs...”
+
+  Page 13:
+  “stap” changed to “strap”
+  “I then adjusted a woven strap around my waist...”
+
+  Page 15:
+  “Lkie” changed to “Like”
+  “Like a person falling to sleep...”
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78938 ***