"Henry M. Colcord, the artist, has a studio in the Auditorium tower. He has a weakness for high places. Colcord is the man whom Blondin carried upon his back on a slender manilla rope across Niagara Falls. This Chicago artist knows what it is to look downward 260 feet and to feel the peculiar sensation incident to such a hazardous feat. "I crossed with Blondin three times," said Mr. Colcord, "but now not a deed to the whole city of Chicago could tempt me to go out on foot over that fearful gulf.Why I did it in my youth I cannot explain, gave through implicit confidence in Blondin or utter failure to realize the attending danger. "Blondin and I were with the Bavell pantomime troop for a long while. Afterward they were succeeded by the Martinetti troop. We played at Niblo's every winter and traveled the rest of the year. When we were at Cincinnati, the thought of crossing Niagara falls on a tight rope came to Blondin. He asked, me to go with him, and I consented. The rope was made in New York and was 2,500 feet long. The actual walking distance across the river was 2,100 feet, and the height above the water was 260 feet. "The rope was stretched In the summer of 1858 and was left out all winter without injury. Blondin made his first crossing in the summer of 1859, and subsequently went over blindfolded. His crowning pioco of daring was walking on stilts. How he did it is something that I have never been able to explain, and I doubt if Blondin himself could give a satisfactory explanation. It required a masterful nerve.".

One day he said to me, 'I want to carry you across on my back.' I thought he was joking and turned off the subject. He urged, and I finally consented. There were 300,000 people present on the afternoon that I put my arms around Blondin's neck and placed my legs in two barrel hoop Iron hooks which he attached on either side of his belt. I will not attempt to tell all I felt as we went out over that abyss. I cannot tell it. I know that I kept my eyes open and looked down without feeling dizzy. It was a supreme moment, and perhaps the situation gave me the nerve that carried me through the ordeal. I looked to the farther shore and could see the tense forms of the multitude. They stood silent and fearful. I do not believe one person in that throng enjoyed the perilous scene. "In order that Blondin's limbs might not be hampered in action all my weight was thrown upon his shoulders, my legs resting very lightly in the hooks. For this reason my arms became so tired that before we got out 40 feet I was compelled to dismount three times to rest myself. The first time I did this I heard a hoarse murmur from the crowd. When I dismounted, I placed my hands lightly on Blondin's shoulders and stood with my right foot on the rope, the left leg pointing outward and downward to be used as a balancing medium. Beaching the last guy rope on the Canadian side, from which we had started, there were ahead of us 40 feet of line unprotected by lines. With his foot resting on the last guy rope Blondin said to me: 'Harry, whatever you do as we cross this unsupported place, do not attempt to balance yourself. Be perfectly passive, as though yon were a part of my own body. If I lean, lean with me. On you depends the safety of our passage.' Then he stepped out toward the swaying center. In a moment he had lost his equilibrium. He leaned away over to the right. To me it seemed our bodies were parallel with the earth. I nerved myself, however. In a moment he regained his equilibrium and then leaned as far to the left. Blondin could not regain his balance readily. "His movements were not unlike those of a boy who attempts to walk on a wall of a track. He stinted and ran, his object being to reach the first guy rope on the opposite side, where he knew that he could secure a steady foothold and regain his poise. He reached the place. At that instant I felt something shake beneath me. There was a momentary but violent oscillation of the rope, and Blondin had started to run again. He made the knot of the next guy line, and there secured a firm footing. "'Get off,'he said. I dismounted and stood as I had done before. This time it was he who was exhausted. He stood there like a statue. Beads of sweat were on his face. His veins stood out like cords. "We reached land in safety. As we drew near the American shore every man, woman and child within 100 feet of the line's end had arms outstretched to receive us. Their lips wore parted and their eyes had something of almost agony in them. I have believed to this day that there were people in that crowd undergoing a greater nervous strain than either Blondin or myself. "There had been an enormous amount of betting on the result of the crossing. Many did not believe that the feat would be accomplished. It was one of these who, seeing success probable, had gone to the shore end of one of the guy lines and pulled it hard enough to break it at the main cable just as Blondin had placed his foot upon the knot. Nothing but the magnificent nerve of the rope walker saved him and me from being hurled to our death in the river below."

"At the time of our first crossing together the Washington Grays, a New York military organization, were present. A woman had seen the man who attempted to break the guy rope. The Washington Grays sent out a description of him and offered $1,000 reward for his capture, but he was never found."—Chicago Times-Herald.