Niagara Jumper charged with Crime

Kirk Jones, who went over Niagara Falls yesterday and lived to tell about it, has been charged with illegally performing a stunt, if convicted he could be fined $10,000. Why fine the man? Because Jones put Parks Commission employees at risk when they rescued him. Climbing down into the gorge to rescue someone isn’t exactly safe. It was a stupid thing for Jones to do.

According to most news sources, Jones is the second person to survive a fall over the Canadian Falls without safety devices, the first being a 7 year old boy in 1960. No one has survived a fall over the American Falls without protection. What is odd about these reports is that it is reported in many sources (here, and in a book by historian Paul E. Johnson, and in an article written by Bob Kostoff of the Niagara Falls Reporter) that daredevil Sam Patch survived a jump over Niagara Falls in 1829, and I would imagine that back then there was no form of protection used. The article by Kostoff indicates Patch’s jump was from a ladder near the Bridal Veil Falls. While Bridal Veil Falls is technically not American Falls, it is almost immediately adjacent to American Falls and has the same rocky base.