Annie Taylor was a sixty two year old widowed teacher at a
Charm school in Bay City, Michigan. Annie had traveled all of her life when she
finally settled in Bay City which was about two hundred miles west of Niagara
Falls. Her Success with Charm school did not last and soon Annie had to come up
with another way to support herself. A thought hit her one day. Seeking fame
and fortune, Annie decided that she wanted to go over Niagara Falls in a
barrel. Annie began designing a specially made barrel to withstand the force of
the falls. She took her drawing to a workshop but the man refused to build it.
Three days later Annie had convinced the barrel maker to build her special
barrel and they began working. When the
barrel was completed it was four and a half feet high, with iron bands wrapped
around it, and weighed more than one hundred and sixty pounds. Annie realized
that: “You can put an egg inside a can and let it drop to the floor. The can
may not be damaged, but it’s a different story for the egg”. That is why Annie
made the barrel just big enough to hold herself and a large number of pillows.
She also fastened handles to grab onto inside and a leather belt strap. Annie
hired Frank Russell as her manager who had worked in carnivals and fairs. Frank
new it would be tough to sell an old lady to the public so he embellished the
news of Annie’s adventure. Frank wanted to gain fortune as well. They decided
to let her barrel sit in the lobby of a huge hotel and let the word spread of
Annie’s adventure to gain interest of the public. Most reporters did not
believe Annie was the person in the story.
Annie hired Fred Truesdale to be the man to release the barrel into the
falls. Ten days were to pass before Annie’s great fall. When the day finally
arrived hundreds had gathered to witness the event. Fred and his assistant
Billy Holleran loaded the barrel onto their boat and away they went, with Annie
waving to the crowd. They rowed to a small island where Annie climbed and
fastened into the barrel. The men rowed away from the island and came quickly
to the “Point of No Return”-where the river rapids ran so quickly and
forcefully. Annie was cut loose from the rope of the boat and away she went.
She was tossed and turned so rapidly and violently. Annie was told that right
before the enormous drop the water would be still for a moment. Some screamed,
others cheered, most just watched with jaws dropped. Suddenly the barrel bobbed
to the surface and men raced into the water to retrieve it. It took a while but when Annie finally came
out she was bruised, slightly cut, and dizzy. But she was for the most part
perfectly fine. When she was well enough to travel, her and Frank were on their
way to fairs, and lectures to seek fortune. But once people realized that the
“Queen of the Falls” was merely just an old grandma they became more interested
with the barrel. Frank tried to run off with the barrel in hopes of selling it.
Annie put him to a stop and hired a new manager, Billy Banks. Billy booked
Annie to tell of her adventure in between acts in carnivals and fairs. But the
same thing had happened. People were not interested with her. Billy Banks tried
to steal the barrel and ran off with his beautiful girlfriend who tried to
pretend to be Annie. Annie put a stop to it but never got the barrel back.
Annie went back to Niagara Falls where she had another barrel built in the
hopes of traveling again come spring. But in time she had changed her mind and
placed the Barrel in the park she’d visited as a child and began selling
postcards. Annie told her story to anyone who would listen and she became a
familiar figure to tourists. In the summer of the tenth anniversary a news
reporter came to talk about her ride. Annie is content when she says she is the
one who did it.
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