Annie Edson Taylor doesn’t fit the stereotype for a daredevil. She was a 63 year old retired teacher, and a widow, when she went over Niagara Falls in a barrel. She had a powerful motivation for performing the feat, however: she needed the money.
Annie Edson was born in Auburn, New York, in 1838. Her father owned a flour mill, and died when Annie was only 12 years old. There was enough money for the family to live comfortably after his death, however, and Annie even went to college, to the Conference Seminary and Collegiate Institute in Charlottesville. There she met her future husband, David Taylor. They married after a short courtship, and had seven years together before David was killed during the Civil War. After that, Annie was on her own.
She moved to San Francisco, where she had friends, and got a teaching job there. Later, she moved back to New York and opened a dancing school. It apparently wasn’t too successful, because she kept moving and trying to make a living in new locations: Chattanooga, Birmingham, Washington, Chicago, Indianapolis, to name a few. At one point she even went to Mexico with a friend to look for work — unsuccessfully. Eventually she ended up in Bay City, Michigan, and she was running out of money.
Annie had received a decent inheritance from her parents, but her problem was that she always liked the finer things in life. When she opened her dancing schools, she followed the same pattern. Nothing less than the best would do for Annie’s clients, so she spent a great deal of money renting accommodations in the best part of town. All that spending was slowly wiping out Annie’s funds.
In 1901, the Big News of the day was the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Annie read about it in the newspapers and got an inspiration. “I laid the paper down, sat thinking, when the thought came to me in a flash,” she said. “Go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. No one had ever accomplished this feat.”
She got a special barrel manufactured and found a promoter. The barrel was displayed in a the window of a local store for a short while ahead of time to generate interest. It generated a lot of interest, all right. Her manager, Frank Russell, was notified by the police that if she died on her trip over the falls, he would be arrested for manslaughter.
Annie and her manager decided to give the barrel a test trip ahead of time. They loaded it with a cat named Lagara, and sent it on its way. The cat emerged alive, although undoubtedly a bit testy. They decided to go ahead with the exhibition.
On October 24th, Annie Taylor went over the falls herself. It was her 63rd birthday, although she told the press she was only 43. The barrel was made of oak, and was four and half feet tall, and 34 inches in diameter at its widest point. It was held together with seven iron bands. It weight 160 pounds. An anvil, weighing between 100 and 200 pounds, was placed at the bottom, to keep the barrel upright as it floated. There was a mattress inside to protect Annie during the buffeting, and arm straps to keep her from breaking her neck. Once she climbed into the barrel and the top was secured, a bicycle pump was used to pressurize the interior.
To nearly everyone’s astonishment, the barrel survived the trip, and Annie emerged alive. She was uninjured, except for a small gash on her head. According to contemporary reports, her first words after being helped from the barrel were, “I prayed every second I was in the barrel except for a few seconds after the fall when I went unconscious…Nobody ought ever to do that again.”
Annie had hoped that her feat would bring her financial security, but her troubles were far from over. She collected money for signatures and memorabilia and spoke before groups, but it wasn’t really enough to support her lifestyle. Her manager made off with her barrel, and she spent a great deal of money hiring private detectives to track it down. Eventually it was found in Chicago, but disappeared again later. Annie died practically penniless, and was buried in the “Stunters Section” of Oakwood Cemetery, near Niagara Falls, in a donated grave.
Sources: Chase’s Calendar of Events, 2011 Edition: The Ultimate Go-To Guide for Special Days, Weeks, and Months, Editors of Chase’s Calendar of Events; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_24 ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Edson_Taylor ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Falls#Over_The_Falls ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_objects_that_have_gone_over_Niagara_Falls ; http://www.niagarafallsforyou.com/travel-information/niagara_daredevils.html ; http://www.niagarafallslive.com/daredevils_of_niagara_falls.htm ; http://bay-journal.com/bay/1he/people/fp-taylor-annie.html ; http://myoakwoodcemetery.com/annie-edson-taylor/ ; http://www.legacy.com/ns/news-story.aspx?t=annie-edson-taylor-heroine-of-niagara-falls&id=138 ; http://www.niagarafrontier.com/devil_frame.html .