Bobby Leach was the second person to brave Niagara Falls and live. He performed his death-defying stunt when he was 49 years old—sealed in a barrel.
Fifteen years later he met his end in a most unexpected way as the following news release records: "Bobby Leach, who achieved fame when he went over Niagara Falls in a barrel, died today of injuries received in slipping on an orange peel. Leach, who made the perilous Falls journey without receiving a scratch, broke his leg when he slipped on the orange peel. Complications set in following an amputation, causing death."
The case of Bobby Leach is only one of thousands reported, with many more untold. An officer, hero of many battles, escapes the sword, only to die later from a scratch by an infected pin. A sea captain, who had weathered many a storm and always reached port safely, was drowned in his bathtub at home.
Ahab, king of Israel, disguised himself in a battle with the Syrians but was brought down by a bow and arrow shot "at a venture," by an unknown soldier. (1 Kings 22.) Israel's king Abimelech died of a fractured skull when a woman threw a piece of a millstone down on him from a tower. (Judg. 9:5353And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all to brake his skull. (Judges 9:53).)
The moral is plain: be prepared, for your time may be short—much shorter than you dream or think.