The Express.
London, England, 1852-06-05 00:00:00

DEATH OF AN AERONAUT.

We communicated yesterday the meltncholy intel-
ligence that Mr. James Goatskin of Old Kent-road, had
lost his life on the hills in Yorkshire, near to Saddleworth,
after an ascent in a balloon from Belle Vue Gardens, Man-
chester. Our Manchester correspondent says :—I went
yesterday (Thursday) evening to the place where Mr.
ooulsten wee killed. It is on the mountainous range of
hills which separate Lancashire anal Yorkshire, and about
half a mile on the Yorkshire side of the boundary. It is
named, on the Ordnance map, Stone Breaks Hill, and the
distance from Belle Vue Gardens, as the crow flies, is only
about eight miles. It is about half-way between Moseley
and Oldham ; and taking the London and North Western
Railway to the former place, ten miles from Manchester.
I bad a walk of nearly three miles across a rough and
uneven country, the very sight of which suggests the den- I
gets to which an aeronaut would be exposed, in the moot
favourable weather, in an attempt to gain footing again on
germ/Irma. There is good pasture, and even meadow land on
these rocky heights, but the place of hedge-rows is supplied
by stone walls, which give the country a bleak and wild
appearance. Stone Breaks Hill takes its name from an old,
disused stone quarry, near to the villages of Springhead,
and Austerland. So far as I can learn, Mr. Geolstun had
passed over the manufacturing town of Lees ,near Oldham,
and had first attempted a dergent in that neighbourhood.
That must have been ten midites to a quarter before eight
o'clock on Wednesday night. A working man who saw
the balloon says it was then very low indeed, and rain
was descending fast and the wind blowing in heavy squalls.
Another man, who was standing en the side of Stone Breaks
Hill, which faces towards Lees, says that he saw the balloon,
and that Mr. tioubiton was ;lieu standing up in the car,
aid pulling at • string which communicated with the
balloon. He afterwards saw him stoop down and do
something in the bottom :of tl.e car, but does not know
what. The rain, and the precipitous and uneven surface of
the country, prevented, no doubt, people from following
the balloon to give assistance, but it was tinier ed that
when the balloon was about to pass the Clayton House, the
residence of Mr. Wm. llalliwell, a millowner in the neigh-
bourhood, the grappling irons were hanging out, anal there
seemed a probability, to those who were watellinir, that they
would hold by the coping.stones of the house. In this,
however, they were mistaken. There is but a small space
between this house and that of Mr. Edward Lawton, but
the grapnels went through this opening and the balloon
ascended the side of the hill. The grapnels seem to have
cleared the first field on the slope of the bill, and the stone
fence which bounds it ; but there are marks on the wall, on
the further side of the second field, where bits of stone have
been chipped off as if by the grapnels. The third field, a'
meadow of mowing grass, still further up the ascent,
presents a clear trail of the grappling irons dragging along
the ground, and exactly 114 feet from the further side, a
bag of sand which had been used as ballast was found ly-
ing. I have heard of no one who saw the unfortunate gen-
tleman at this time, but there is season to believe that
either owing to the grapnels, when suddenly striking the
last-mentioned wall, giving a check to the balloon, or some
other mischance, Mr. Cloulston fell hoed downwards from
the car in passing over this meadow, and became entangled
in a network of ropes underneath, for it is clear that his
head struck with great force against the next wall, a little
beyond the bag of sand. A considerable quantity of brains
and blood spattered orer the wall marked the spot where
his head came in collision with the wall, and a portion of
the brain was found in the field under the wall. A portion
of the scalp and some hair have else adhered to the rough
stones of which the wall is composed. Up to this point
the grappling irons do not appear to have taken
hold of the ground, but in the next meadow they
have torn up the sod considerably in six or eight different
places. Tho next wall is the boundary of the field on one
aide, and that of the old atone quarry from which the vil-
lage takes its name, on the other. The quarry has not been
used now for 26 years. A quantity of blood and brains on
this wall also indicate but too clearly where the unfortunate
aeronaut was dragged across it. This ;11 at the summit of
the hill, and the balloon passed over the quarry and against
• house near it occupied by a man named Edward Kershaw,
and a strong gust of wind again dashed the machine for-
ward with such force that Mr. Ooulaton struck the wall
heavil about ten feet from the ground. Another sicken-
ing splash of blood marks the spot. Hero some villagers
came up, and some of them holding fast by the ropes whilst
others got hold of the balloon, • knife was run through the
side, the gass allowed to escape, and its progress finally
checked.

The people who first came to Mr. GouWon's assistance
say they found him head downwards, completely entangled
in the nettim, so that they had to cut the ropes to liberate
his body. Their assistance, however, was too late. Life
was probably just ebbing at the moment, for all they
noticed was • deep sob, and a gasp or two, and his last sen-
sations
of this life appear to have ended. His remains were
subsequently removed to the Three Crowns Inn, Auster-
lands, where they will probably remain till after the in-
quest The blows against the walls appear to have gone on
the right temple and cheek, both of which are entirely
beaten in : the remainder of the face has escaped with • few
scratches, and the bod) is without injury except • few
scratches on the right shoulder. The shucking occurrence
took dace about five minutes to eight o'clock, for about
ten minutes later, when Mr. Goulston's watch was taken
from his pocket, it was still going, and the fingers pointed
to 6 minutes past eight.
Mr. Jennison, the owner of Belle Vue Gardens, did not
receive tidings of the sad catastrophe till neat morning,
when his sous went over, and the balloon was also recta-
I aired. It is said that young Mr. Jennison was to have
gone up with Mr. Goulaton, and that a person connected
with the press also was anxious to have gone, but the
weather and a short supply of gas furnished reasons which
induced him to decline taking a companion. Mr. Jenni-
son tried to dissuade him from going up himself at last,
owing to the stormy state of the weather ; but he said the
people would be greatly disappointed, and he refused to
listen to such solicitations. The wall against which Mr. Gout
sten appears to have struck first is 838 feet distant from the
house of Kenbaw. His hat was found in the bottom of
the ear, along with an open clasp-knife.
Mr. Sadler, it appears, made en ascent from Warrington
26 years ago this month, and made • safe descent at the
foot of Stone Breaks Hill, but a short distance from the
scene of this fatality. The son of Mr. Goulston thinks it
not unlikely his father became entangled in the ropes whilst
endeavouring to step from the car, for it was his first
ascent alone, and he had declared hie intention if he found
a difficulty in landing of stepping out if he got near the
ground, anywhere, and leaving the balloon to go where it
might.