The man who chased legendary Niagara Falls tightrope walker out of the city
Published June 22, 2023 at 11:30 am
As chronicled in this space before, there was precious little that French acrobat Charles Blondin could not do on a tightrope across Niagara Falls.
As the first man ever to cross the Niagara Gorge in 1859 from side-to-side precariously perched on a rope just a few inches wide, he also crossed on stilts and once even cooked an omelette on the highwire.
After Blondin, many came along to Niagara Falls hoping match his feats, including Harry Bellini, a.k.a. “The Great Bellini.”
In 1873, Bellini, 32, came to Niagara Falls from Great Britain and in August 1873, he made his first tight rope walk across the Niagara River. However, Bellini combined his walk with a foolhardy leap into the river where he was quickly picked up by a waiting boat. In the best of daredevil ways, they did the same daring feat three times that year.
However, the one thing the spectacular Bellini could not do was share the spotlight – not even with a local daredevil.
Here’s the story about that kid. When Blondin first crossed, one of the 25,000 spectators was 19-year-old Stephen Peer, a Niagara Falls lad who, like everyone else, was awestruck by the acrobat’s staggering daredevil feats.
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He quickly set his mind on becoming just as good as the French man. Starting on his family farm, he became practising on a tightrope strung between posts, less than six feet off the ground and continued until he was walking between buildings in the Niagara Falls neighbourhood of Drummondville.
When Bellini came to town, Peer finally saw his chance, getting himself hired onto the daredevil’s crew to assist in erecting the line across the gorge. What Peer also did when no one was looking was sneak in a little practice for himself.
Bellini turned Peer, now 32, down time and time again for a chance to get out on the rope solo. The Brit was not planning on sharing the three-inch stage with anyone.
So one day, when Bellini was taking a break between performances, Peer ventured out onto the rope to the cheers of the crowd. Bellini, confused about the commotion, came back, saw Peers on his rope and, well, pretty much lost his man.
Seeing Peer outperform him to the cheers of the crowd, Bellini became grossly enraged and uncontrollable so he started to cut one of the ropes from its Canadian side anchorage. As the Niagara Falls Public Library noted, “That was a big mistake, as Bellini was literally mobbed by the crowd close by and run out of town, never to return or perform in Niagara again.”
While Bellini was never seen again, Peer continued on but rather than use three-inch rope, he upped the daring-do by perform cable just slightly larger than a half-inch.
Perhaps it was the pressure of the stunts but Peer began taking to the bottle before performing and in 1887, he jumped onto a rope strung up for a different daredevil, made his way out before slipping and falling to his death in the Niagara Gorge.
While his body still sits in an unmarked grave at the then-new Fairview Cemetery located in Niagara Falls, a line in his obituary read as follows “He was a good-hearted man, and it is said that he had not an enemy in the world.” Well, except perhaps for “The Great Bellini.”
Left, a flyer promoting “Professor” Stephen “Peere” while the man performs for the crowd.