The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1874-09-08 00:00:00

UP IN A BALLOON.

A French aercentu-- t's freak has been the sensation of the
put week. M. Duruof, the pioneer of ballooning at the
lame of the siege of Paris, and his wife, proposed to creme
to England in a balloon the other night, but the wind
threatened to take them to sea, and the intention woo
abandoned. Stung by the taunta of some spectators, he
was heard to say that he and his wife knew how to die,
and against the entreaties of shier friends and the
authorities the daring aerosaute seconded, without food
or extra clothing. Hem is M. Duroufs account of their
experiences : —The lialhion went up amidst the acclamation
of the crowd, and for the space of Phi mega went in.
northertiligd
direction, but upon obtaining that height our
4)1111710 to the N.Z. and shortb afterwards we
saw the French and English lighthouses at sea, and we
seemed to be going more towards England than towards
France. There were no vessels to be seen at sea, midnight
was coming on. I felt that as I thould be obliged to make
along voyage, I moat economise my ballast, and I decided
teli= the night watching the extremity of a rope 70
long, and every time the rope touched the water I
threw out a very small quantity of Wiest. A four am.,
not knowing the distance I was from the nearest land,
and fearful of being driven by another current to the
northward. I resolved to try and lower myself cm to •
weasel I perceived many of all sizes below me, being
then 1,000 metres high, and I npuneurred so as to get
doers. Towards five o'clock I succeeded. The lower
current of the wind was blowing N.W. It is impossible
to deecribe my extreme thirst, and my poor wife, whom I
tried to console by telling her that we were going in the
right direction, did not lose her courage. I thawed her
two vessels in the direction we were falling, and I made
her understand that we were trying to get stopped by one
of them. I noticed that the smelled of the vessels, a
fishing smack. manowyred and tried to cross my path. It
was then six o'clock, and, seeing the goodwill of the fisher-
men to come to help us, I resolved to stop the speed of the
balloon by springing the valve until the car filled with
water, and thus gave inore renetance to the progress of
the balloon. However. when I turned round, I could not
see the vessel. From time to tiros tremendous waves
broke upon the balloon, covering us with water, but still
the balloon resided, and my fear then wu that the balloon
might Wet. In which case we should assuredly thee been
104 My wife's Inaba were benumbed, and at each )ark
of the balloon she became weaker and weaker. The smack
continued to &Wretch no. and was now within 500 metres.
I pointed it out to ley wife and it renewed her courage.
What made the position MOT* tiring was being obliged to
bold her in my WM& At this time their boat was nearly
oinking on account of the strung jerks of the balloon, but
they did not lien courage, and, taking hold of my wife's
hand, who was like acne.,., they drafe2Lher se best
they could into their boat I saw the
litamd I began to cut the rupee that wer7rllotteloewel'ethe
I had cut the greater part of them whri-if was
dashed sagest the boat, and I let myseU fall into the
teat I,like my wife, lay helpless at the bottom of the
both The man Gnu let go the ropes of the car, and the
balleen rushed off with mighty speed towards Homy,
end the bog retained to the smack. We were pat on
board and taken into the cabin, where • good fire assisted
In twinging us round. We have only to thank the mee
fer their oars, and the kindness those good sailors showed
to us during the voyage to Grimsby.

At • social of the labourets of the parish—old
awl y Penealwood, Somerest, on Thursday, Hrs
Broarnor OiJ 80 pearl of age, bads dance on the village
no British Museum, has 1.1 . valuable
&litre...Um to its art treasures, rum y, • torso of • stator,
o. ma poetess- It is placed in the collection of
from the Island of Cyprus.
The notary onforki or% Soasersetshire, Le vacant by
=
death. , of too Rev. Henry Bennett, who
19 roms of age, and had been 51 years in holy order,
The value of the living is about "mo, and the glebe m
about SO nava
Catrtion.—Yessra Rzciort I Bon beg to caution the
Vlillise&tiegS ilisquwuaq ea
mob' 7..1 In Use Pr'.ncs
w • uundry). fold in wrappers bowing their
Wan sad Us& mark.