A visit to Niagara Falls is supposed to be a pleasurable experience, viewing Mother Nature's spectacular handiwork, but for some it can be a rather frightening encounter.
Such was the case of Miss Florence Irene Leonard, of Arlington, Ga., who visited this city in the spring of 1900. It seems that some unnamed elevator operator forgot about her on top of an observation tower.
The tale, related by Niagara historian and journalist Orrin E. Dunlap, took place on a Tuesday, May 29, 1900, a rather cool spring day. She was a missionary, but on that day was simply a tourist wandering around Prospect Park.
She had taken a room with a tourist home operator, one Mrs. Cathcart, on First Street. Bible and prayer book in hand, she strolled to the falls. She did the usual touristy things: took the incline railway to the bottom to stare up in awe at the mighty power of the water coursing over the brink, then moved back up to the observation tower.
At that time, Dunlap said, there was a tower built in Prospect Park near the falls to provide a bird's eye view of the falls' beauty and grandeur. This tower was constructed on a street called Riverway just north of Falls Street.
Miss Leonard took the elevator to the open top of the tower about 3 p.m. and took her time viewing the scene below. It was a rather slow tourist day and she was alone atop the tower. When she was ready to come down, she pressed the elevator button and waited patiently.
Elevators, even in those days, can seem to be oppressively slow, so she kept punching the down button. She waited and waited, but no elevator.
She had not dressed too warmly, and as dusk fell the breeze picked up. Now she began to worry.
She looked over the side of the railing and could see people. She shouted, but the noise of the falls and the whistling wind drowned out her voice. She thought about writing notes and dropping them over the side. Alas, she had no pen or pencil.
Darkness came. She could no longer see anyone down below. Then things got worse. It began to rain and the top of the tower had no roof.
As Dunlap put it, "In utter misery and in a greatly agitated frame of mind, she crouched there on that tower top 300 feet above the earth in the wind and rain throughout the long hours of the night."
At the crack of dawn, when there was enough light, she opened her Bible and took solace in the Lord. When it grew lighter, she again saw people down below and tried to attract attention, but to no avail.
About 9 a.m. she heard the clanking of the elevator moving and hope blossomed. The elevator door opened and a worker, carrying flags for Memorial Day decorations, stepped out.
Miss Leonard was taken down to the bottom, then to her lodging house, where a doctor was summoned. She was not seriously injured.
Dunlap concluded, "No matter what the future had in store in the way of adventure for Miss Leonard, the night she spent high over the falls of Niagara, practically amidst the spray cloud, would never be forgotten."
It was not recorded whether she ever filed a negligence suit.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | May 28 2008 |