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HERO THOMAS CONROY SERVED FALLS WITH DISTINCTION IN ITS EARLY DAYS

By Bob Kostoff

The falls have inspired many brave souls over the years, but perhaps the most prolific hero was portly Thomas Conroy, a winner of the Congressional and Carnegie medals.

Conroy's unselfish bravery was not the type of the foolhardy daredevils who dared challenge the falls, but that of an empathetic individual whose only desire was to save the life of a fellow human, even if, as sometimes happened, that human did not want to be saved.

Conroy was a Canadian, born in Ottawa in 1849. He found his way to Niagara Falls, N.Y., as a teenager in 1867. Work was not too plentiful then, but there was always the tourist industry. He took a job as a guide for the Cave of the Winds.

On a fateful day on June 1, 1874, Conroy was on the job when word came that a man was in the rapids above the Horseshoe Falls. He and other guides hurried to the top to see what was going on.

A huge crowd lined the fence watching 60-year-old William McCullough clinging to a rock out in the churning rapids just above the falls. McCullough, a painter, had been working on the bridges to the Three Sisters Islands when he fell off the scaffold and was swept rapidly toward the brink. Conroy, without a second thought, obtained a long rope, tied it around his waist and gave the other end to a group of men on shore. He then began wading through the treacherous rapids to McCullough.

He made it to the stranded and terrified man and tied the rope around him, then guided the man back to the shore. A collective gasp went up among the crowd when both men fell into the water, but the men on shore pulled frantically on the rope and got the pair to safety.

Later, Conroy was quoted in local papers, saying, "When I saw the man in the river, I made up my mind I was going to have him out right off, and if he had been out as far again, I would have made for him."

The throng that witnessed Conroy's act of bravery was so impressed they immediately took up a collection and presented him with $200. And the United States Congress voted to award Conroy a commemorative medal for his courage.

But this was not the end of it.

After his stint at the Cave of the Winds, Conroy became a village constable, working in the rowdy and dangerous Tunnel District on the East Side. Leaving police work, he joined the Niagara Falls Fire Department, where he was working when another falls incident occurred.

On June 5, 1906, Canadian shoemaker and mental patient Amos Schweitzer made his way to the American Falls with suicide on his mind. He waded out into the roiling rapids a short distance above the brink.

Parks police and others extended a pole to Schweitzer, but he tried to jerk them into the water. He also ignored a rope repeatedly tossed to him. In frustration, the would-be rescuers called the fire department. On the hook-and-ladder truck were Chief Otto Utz, Harry Batts and Thomas Conroy.

A ladder was extended out toward Schweizer with a dozen firefighters holding the land end down. Batts went out over the ladder, while Conroy went into the water helping secure the ladder. Batts grabbed the struggling Schweitzer while the ladder was bobbing like a diving board.

Conroy reached the struggling pair, added his strength to the fray and the firefighters on shore pulled the ladder and the wet trio to safety. Mayor O.W. Culter honored the pair, who each received a hero's medal from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission.


Bob Kostoff has been reporting on the Niagara Frontier for four decades. He is a recognized authority on local history and is the author of several books. E-mail him at RKost1@aol.com.

Niagara Falls Reporter www.niagarafallsreporter.com Oct. 11 2005