Niagara Falls Incident
Delahanty died when he was swept over Niagara Falls in 1903. He was apparently kicked off a train by the train's conductor for being drunk and disorderly. The conductor said Delahanty was brandishing a straight razor and threatening passengers. After being kicked off the train, Delahanty started his way across the International Bridge connecting Buffalo, NY with Fort Erie (near Niagara Falls) and fell or jumped off the bridge (some accounts say Ed was yelling about death that night). Whether "Big Ed" died from his plunge over the Falls, or drowned on the way to the Falls is uncertain.
A study of the tragedy appeared with the publication of July 2, 1903: The Mysterious Death of Big Ed Delahanty, by Mike Sowell (New York, Toronto, MacMillan Publishing Co., 1992). Sowell presents the evidence of a drunken accident, suicide, and even possibly a robbery murder (there were reports of a mysterious man following Delahanty).
Read more about this topic: Ed Delahanty
Famous quotes containing the words niagara, falls and/or incident:
“We set up a certain aim, and put ourselves of our own will into the power of a certain current. Once having done that, we find ourselves committed to usages and customs which we had not before fully known, but from which we cannot depart without giving up the end which we have chosen. But we have no right, therefore, to claim that we are under the yoke of necessity. We might as well say that the man whom we see struggling vainly in the current of Niagara could not have helped jumping in.”
—Anna C. Brackett (1836–1911)
“Abide with me: fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide:”
—Henry Francis Lyte (1793–1847)
“What is character but the determination of incident? What is incident but the illustration of character?”
—Henry James (1843–1916)