Thus the matter dragged and great fears were entertained that the case would be lost. Meanwhile the above-named prominent citizens had not been idle. They had sent to their friends and constituents a kind of a circular and obtained about four thousand signatures in favour of the measure. Clergymen, educators, editors, and attorneys were well represented; medical men without exception signed the petition, which was finally submitted to Governor Hill. For a time it almost seemed that the Governor shared the views of Governor Cornell. He was "pestered to death" in behalf of the bill until the matter actually created a stir, as though the very welfare of the State depended on it. Great pressure was brought on Mr. Hill to sign the bill; he visited the Falls himself, went over the ground, but he was non-committal and even his intimates had no idea whether he would affix his signature. Yet he seemed apparently more favourably disposed than heretofore. There was left a feeling of uneasiness and uncertainty [writes Mr. Welch], concerning the fate of the bill. Another week passed. Rumours were rife concerning the intention of the Governor to let the bill die, in lack of his signature, and thus arrived the 30th of April, 1885, the last day for the scheme allowed by law. The forenoon was spent in a state of feverish anxiety--not lessened by frequent rumours of a veto in the Senate or Assembly; some of them started in a spirit of mischief by the newspaper reporters. When noon came, it seemed as if the bill would surely fail for lack of executive approval. But the darkest hour is just before daybreak. Shortly after noon a newspaper man hurriedly came to the writer[12] in the Assembly chamber and said that the Governor had just signed the Niagara Bill. A hurried passage was made to the office of the Secretary of State to see if the bill had been received from the Governor. It had not been received. At that moment the door was opened by the Governor's messenger who placed the bill in the hands of the writer saying "Here is your little joker." A glance at the bill showed it to be the "Niagara Reservation Bill," and on the last page was the much coveted signature of David B. Hill, rivalling that of Mr. Grover Cleveland in diminutive handwriting. It is reported that the "King of the Lobby," a man notorious for years in Albany, expressed his satisfaction at the approval of the bill, saying "The 'boys' wanted to 'strike' that bill, but I told them that they must not do it; that it was a bill which ought to pass without the expenditure of a dollar--and it did."