The Sun.
London, England, 1837-07-29 00:00:00

part of England, or on the Continent, if required by Messrs.
Gye and Hughes, for the above-mentioned sum of thirty

pounds.
" July 21, 1837. (Signed) R. COCKING."
Mr. Cocking appeared to witness to be very well off in the
world, and stated that it was not from a pecuniary object
he went up. Witness visited him once, and found his par-
lour hung round with pictures of balloons and parachutes
of every kind that had ever been invented. It was plain
that he was engrossed by the subject. Mr. Cocking saw
the parachute made entirely himself. He would not let
any one interfere with him. Indeed, he was so firm in his
own opinion that he did not appear very willing to receive
any suggestions from other persons. The parachute took
about three weeks to make in the Vauxhall-gardens. There
was a little hurry the last two days, as was usual in all works
of this kind. Mr. Cocking worked at it on the Sunday. It
cost about 40/. He (Mr. Gye) never told him if he under-
took to go he must go ; on the contrary, he told him if he
thought that his surface was not large enough, or if his nerve
failed him, not on any account to go ; but he replied, " Oh,
my dear sir, you are very kind, but I would not fail to go on
any account." There was no understanding that he must go
up at all hazards. So far from it that witness said if he felt
the least distrust of his calculations, or of his work, to let it go
up without him, and he (witness) would encounter in prefe-
rence the disappointment of the crowd. He told Mr. Cocking
that he did not mind if they pulled the gardens to pieces,
or if he were obliged to return the money, and bade him
not have any apprehensions on that account. Mr. Cock-

ing, however, assured him it was " all safe." Witness left
nothing undone to provide for the safety of Mr. Cocking,
although no fatal result was anticipated. He set his tackle-
man to make a rope-ladder to enable him to ascend into
the balloon if he should wish to detach the parachute with
ballast, and remain above himself (which witness assured
him would gratify the public just as much) ; but on speak-
ing about this with Mr. Green, previous to starting, the
latter recommended a pulley-tackle instead, as he and
Nr. Spencer could haul up Mr. Cocking thereby in
safety, whereas his effective ascent by the rope•la-ddcr
would depend on the state of his nerves. Witness
agreed, and the tackle was substituted for the ladder.
_ _ _

It had been justly said that the construction of Mr. Garne-
rin was calculated to afford a more effective resistance to
the air in descendiu, but Mr. Cocking was aware of, and

had allowed for that. He would now proceed to explain
what he conceived might have been the cause of the fatal
result. He had mentioned his view to Mr. Green, who had
at once exclaimed," You've hit it !" He believed that Mr.
Cocking had, in liberating the parachute, by pulling the
trigger-rope, unfortunately rolled it around his arm to get
a firmer grip of it, and that he was (on the ascent of the
balloon's next movement) caught up by the arm out of the
basket. On such an occurrence his head would, probably,
be struck against the inner iron ring from which the basket
was suspended, and this might have left the wound per-
ceptible on the top of his head, which it was difficult to
account for in any other way. Here it would be very pro-
bable that from the number of ropes coming over his head
he got entangled, and had no command of himself. Be-
sides, he was twelve stone weight, and falling about ten feet
from the rope he had twisted round his hand into the basket
it would easily account for the machine not coming down in
a direct line ; but as to its turning over it must be entirely
an optical illusion, inasmuch as the atmospheric pressure
(mere accident excepted) must have been equal upon all
the under surface of the parachute. His belief was that
there was the indent of a cord round his left wrist.
A Juror—Mr. Finch, the surgeon, has stated that he
saw no mark of any such indent.
Mr. Couchman, the constable of Lee, most certainly 31w
the mark of a cord on his wrist, when he was brought to
this house.
Mr. Spencer, Mr. Dennison, and Mr. Green, with seve-
ral other gentlemen, stated most positively that they aee
the indentation, which was equal to the thickness of the line
suspended from the trigger.
Mr. Finch persisted in stating that he saw no mark of
echemosis in the wrist. The muscles were very good.
Mr. Morley, a surgeon, who also examined the body,
corroborated Mr. Finch.
Professor Airey asked if the rope or line alluded to would
be enough to pull a min's arm out of the socl;ct, for, if it
would nor, then there ,must have been some mark upon
the wrist ?
Mr. Morley begged to observe that Mr. Cocking was a
man of extraordinary muscular power, and was much in the
habit of using ropes by tray of exercise.
A juror asked Professor Airey what was the difference
of resistance offered by the air to the parachute before and
after it had collapsed ? To which the Learned Professor
replied, about one-fourth.
The ConoNee—l saw the descent myself, and I most
certainly say that it did not keep its position for three se-
conds after it was detached from the balloon.
Several 4f :he Jury concurred is that opninn.
Gre:elale, Mr. Norihm's s4-trvant, was again called, :sed
in answer to se:erel questions said that the long sticks
(the ribs of the parachute) ou•sile the parachute, end
the cords were inside it, as ir inside an umbrella not quite
half open.
Mr. Frederick Gye resumed his evidence, and stated that
Mr. Norman told him the par ichate was coming directly
over his house, and Mr. Cocking having an apparatus of
pullies to change the direction, to save himself from alight-
ing on a house or a tree, he probably used it, and having
thrown his weight upon one side, it came down out of the
right line, a manoeuvre which he had taken coosideraide
credit to himself in being able to accomplish. '['he pa-
rachute certainly took a slatting direction as it was de-
scending over Mr. Norman's house, and slid at least 300
yard,, into the field.
Mr. Monch Mason was next called up. In his opinion,
whether the machine had broken in the descent or not, the
main result would have been the s title ; the insufficiency of
the parachute to sepport the individual within the limits of
velocity required by nature for the preservation of life was
the real cause of the catastrophe. The rupture ef the
machine sins merely an aceident which had occurred during
the consummation of his fate. So far from hating been
influenced in his opinions by the consideration of its
strength, the eenchtion to which he had arrived regarding
the iasuffieienee of the means rdiout to be employed was
not only determieed bet made known to the public bethre
he had ever seen the parachute, or any idea of the strength
of the material employed in its cozr,truction. The
grounds upon which he hid c.dculated the result were
purely mathematical, it is true, and not experimental.
They were by no means abstruse ; on the contrary,
enough could be deduced, even by those moderately
acquainted with that particular branch of science, to
enable them t 3 ascertain tlte result, had they taken erdi-
nary pains to look into it. Tile mole in which the conclusion
was to be obtained, was by a consideratior. of the size, form,
and weight of the apparatus. With those he had been
made acquainted by the public announcemeet of the pro-
prietors of Vauxhall ; and he could not but thick it deserv-
ing of much reprehension, that in a most vital point the-e
were not properly stated ; he alluded ;o the weight of the
machine, which had been declared to be 223 pounds, and
with the rest of the appendages, altogether 393 pounds.
Now it appeared, from the evidence of Mr. Green, that the
weight of the whole did not fall much short of 600 you ads,
The CORONER—About .500.
Mr. Mason—At any rate the announcements differed
exceedingly from the truth. Who could tell what steps
might not have been taken to satisfy the party- of 1::3 error,
and have prevented the melancholy experiment from Liking
place, had the mathematical world been really apprised of
the fact that it was in contemplation to make a descent with
such a weight in a parachute of the dimensions described'?
Mr. Gye here interrupted the witness to observe that M.
Garnerin's parachute was but 28 feet in diameter, -and this
was upwards of 30.
Mr. Mason—M. Garnerin's parachute had only to sup-
port a weight of 2251b5., and, besides, was of a nature and
construction particularly adapted to sustain it. Considering
the weight, the form, and the size of the parachute em-
ployed upon the late melancholy occasion, the velocity of
the descent, had the machine remained entire, would have
exceeded twenty feet in a second—a rate totally inconsis-
tent with the safety of the individual,
By a Juror—l did make 'Known the result of my calcula-
tions. Some time n*.eviousl I informed Mr. Green of
them. On the
them to the nigfigt before' the ascent I communicated
public press, in the hopes that they might make
amore
beigiingpowerful impression upon the parties concerned, as
with them the stamp of authority, which a public
declaration of opinion always confers ; and also in the hope
that the public, being acquainted with the results, might be
the more readily inclined to sanction the withdrawal of the
attempt, if not absolutely to interfere to prevent it. Find-
ing eny remonstrances unavailing, on the following evening
,the day of the ascent) I went to the gardens, accom-
panied by this gentleman beside me (Mr. Sotheby),
with the view of personally drawing the attention of
the parties to the imminence of the case. I saw Mr.
Cocking, expostulated with him seriously upon his
design, beseeching him to afford me a moment's attention.
Mr. Cocking replied that his friends had made experiments,
and that he was fully satisfied of their correctness. I en-
treated him to observe that the case was not one for ex-
periment, but for calculations ; the experimental part had
lona been determined. Upon these data the calculations
were founded by which I hoped to convince him of the cer-
tainty of his failure. Mr. Cocking replied, as before, that
he had no doubt as to his success.
The CORONER—Your calculations had not been tested
by Dr. Farraday ; besides, he is not here, and his name
should not be unnecessarily introduced.
Mr. Mason—l am aware of it ; I should not have ad-
verted to it had I not been called upon.
The Coroner and Jury then retired, and in three-quar-
ten of an hour returned and announced the following ver-
dict ;•••.." We find that the deceased Robert Cocking came