The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-10 00:00:00

FRIGHTFUL DEATH FROM A PARACHUTE.

The parachute descent of M. le Tur, a French aero-
naut, which took plate from Cremorne Gardens on Tues-
day week, an account of which appeared in The Sun of
the following day, has terminated, as we suspected it
would, with fatal consequences to the rash man who ex-
posed himself to such gratuitous danger. The balloon,
with the attached parachute, took, as then stated, a
north-easterly direction, but as to the fate of the voyagers
nothing has transpired until the present time, when it
appears that our worst apprehensions have been realised.
We now learn that on reaching Tottenham Mr. Adams,
one of the occupants of the car, in consequence of the
openness of the country, prepared for a descent, and
with that view cut two of the ropes attaching the para-
chute to the balloon, and he was in the act of severing a
third rope when he discovered that it had become entangled
with one of the wings of the machinei. They had by this
time arrived over a meadow adjoining the Tottenham sta-
tion, and two youths in the employ of the railway company
were enabled to catch hold of the grapnel attached to the
parachute, but they had quickly to let go their hold. The
grapnel of the parachute, which was composed of two
ropes and a cross piece of wood, was at this moment
dragging along the ground, when, Mr. Adams, perceiv-
ing that they would quickly come in contact with some
trees, thought of escaping the eminent peril by darting
again into the air, and with that object discharged the
ballast ; but before the balloon had risen a sufficient
height, they crossed the trees, the parachute being drag-
ged with great violence through the branches, which
were heard crashing at the railway station, a distance
of a quarter of a mile, as the machine forced through
them. Mr. Adams, upon clearing the trees, made an
immediate descent in the adjoining meadow, belonging
to Mr. Delenew, a farmer; and close to the Marsh-lane
railway station. Upon the grapnels of the balloon
catching in the stumps of some felled trees, the sudden
jerk gave a fearful impulse to the parachute, which.,
remained attached, and which lay a short distance from.
Where the balloon descended. Mr. Adams and his
friend had no sooner alighted than they rushed to-
wards the parachute, to which the unfortunate French-
man remained fastened. A large concourse of per-
sons who had followed the course of the aeronauts were
instantly on the spot, and the poor fellow, who re-
mained conscious and continued to moan and groan
fearfully, was released from his painful position and con-
veyed to the Railway Tavern, adjoining the station,
where Mr. Barrett, the proprietor, had a room imme-
diately prepared for his reception. A mounted mes-
senger was instantly despatched for medical aid, and
Mr. Hicks was promptly in attendance. The poor fel-
low, who it appeared could not speak a word of English,
but continued to exclaim "Mon, Dieu!" "Mon Dieu!"
was then placed in bed, and Mr. Hick's made a careful
examination to see what injuries ho had sustained, All
that Mr. Hicks could discover was that the poor fellow,
besides being externally bruised and injured, had sus-
tained some frightful internal injury, which from the
beginning threatened life. In the course of the even-
ing several gentlemen from Cremorne Gardens hastened
to learn if the report of the accident was true, and
amongst the foremost that arrived was M. Franchet,
an intimate friend of the unfortunate man, who had
induced him as a matter of speculation to visit this
country. M. Franchet appeared to feel deeply for
the fate of M. le Tar, and refused to leave him,
which seemed to ease greatly the sufferer's Condition,
for M. Franchet could convey to his ha.ple,s family the
tidin"gs of the melancholy diasaster. M. Franchet ful-
filled his promise, never leaving his unfortunate country-
man until death terminated his sufferings on Thursday
last, and even after his death M Franchet expressed
his determination not to leave the hotel until he bad
seen the last rites paid to the deceased. From the first
little hopes were entertained of the deceased recoverin,.
Dr. M:lrsden was amongst other medical gentlemen called
in by M. Franchet to attend the sufferer, and he agreed
with Mr. Hicks that there were slight if any hopes. Up
to his death he was quite sensible, and spoke with calm-
ness to M. Franchet; to whom he gave his last dying
requests. He was 49th year, and it was stated
that he has left familSr' in very indigent circumstances in
Paris—his unfortunate wife being in the last stage of
pregnancy. Amongst the visitors to the poor fellow,
who took a deep interest in his fate, was Mr. Simpson,
the proprietor of Cremorne Gardens. The parachute
was not much injured, and remains at the inn for inspec-
tion of the coroner and jury.