Bobby Leach was the first MAN to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. What was the cause of his death?

Bobby Leach was a well known English dare devil. He was not at all afraid to tempt death, having worked with the circus Barnum and Bailey as a stuntman. He performed many, many other death-defying stunts. Bobby was the first man and the second person to ever go over the Niagara Falls in a barrel and survive.

Fifteen years after his famous stunt, in 1926, while on a publicity tour in New Zealand, Leach injured his leg when he slipped on an orange peel while walking down a quiet street. The fall caused a massive break in his leg, and one which would not mend. The leg became infected, and eventually gangrene necessitated the amputation of the leg. Despite this extreme procedure, Bobby Leach died of complications two months later.

The first person to ride over the falls in a barrel and live to tell the tale was not a famous daredevil or performer, but a 63 year old widowed teacher named Annie Edson Taylor.