Presentation on Dare Devils of Niagara Falls on March 9, 2019 at DeVeaux Woods State Park, NY. Led by NY State Parks. FREE but register at 282-5154.
Annie Edison Taylor who was a school teacher on October 24, 1901 (her birthday) was the first person to survive a trip over the Niagara Falls in a barrel. Desiring to secure her later years financially, and avoid the poorhouse, she decided she would be the first person to ride over Niagara Falls in a barrel but she never made much money from her adventure. Learn more.
The second person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls later died after slipping on an orange peel (you have to love that irony). His name was Bobby Leach in 1911 in a large steel barrel.He spent six months in the hospital recovering from injuries he sustained during the fall, which included two broken knee caps and a fractured jaw. Leach had been a performer with the Barnum and Bailey Circus and was no stranger to stunting. Later he slipped on the orange peel and the leg became infected and he got gangrene and died of complications.
