The Sun.
London, England, 1836-10-06 00:00:00

THE DUKE OF BRUNSWICK AND

MRS. GRAHAM.

The extraordinary statement of. Mrs. Graham, in her ac-
count of her late accident,-inserted in our-paper of the 30th
ult., that she had fallen from a height of upwards of three
hundred yards, or one thousand feet, has created the greatest
surprise among all classes, but more particularly among
those persons well acquainted with the science of aerosta-
tics, who all concur in the opinion that any person falling
from so high a degree of altitude must have been a corpse
long before thoy could reach the earth.
The Duke of Brunswick most positively denies the truth
of her statement that lie " stepped out of the car safely upon
terra firma, with apparently not the slightest inconvenience
to himself," and declares, that on the sudden rising of the
balloon, after its violent concussion with the earth, he was
thrown out of the car head foremost, from the height of
full eighteen feet, but contriving to alight on his hands, lie
fortunately sustained no injury. Having regained his feet,
he saw Mrs. Graham in the act of falling out of the car,
not at the height of 1,000 feet, but of about 50 yards, or
150 feet ; and that, instead of her pelise acting as a para-
chute, her clothes were almost forced over her head, and
she consequently fell to the earth like an inanimate object.
The following letter, which we have have just received
from Captain Currie, is a decided contradiction to the
pecuniary, as well as other parts of Mrs. Graham's state-
ment :

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING ADVERTISER.
" Sir,—Having read in your newspaper of the 30th of
last month, a statement signed by Mrs. Graham, concerning.
her ascent with the Duke of Brunswick on the 22d of Au-
gust last, I think it but justice to his Serene Highness to
make public the following remarks thereon :—Mrs. Graham
asserts that she has not received from the Duke of Bruns-
wick anything more than the sum agreed upon by his Serene
Highness for the ascent. Now, the fact is, there was no
stipulated sum agreed upon. The Duke asked me what I
usually gave, when I told him ten pounds or guineas, and
the costs of posting to town, which made it about twelve
pounds, with which I said I was convinced Mrs. Graham
would feel satisfied, as I had not heard that any more had
been given by any of the persons who bad accompanied
her on her previous ascents. After the accident, his
Serene Highness having expressed to me his desire to pre-
sent to Mrs. Graham more than the sum before-mentioned,
and having requested my advice on the subject, I said I
thought double the usual amount would be sufficient, but
his Highness most generously (after I had expressed that
opinion) sent Mrs. Graham 501., which amount was men-
tioned in all the papers of the day, and considered by all per-
sons with whom I have conversed on the subject as very
liberal. Judging from the above error of Mrs. Graham, I
think there can be no doubt of the veracity of his Serene
Highness's statement as to having been thrown out, instead
of having quietly stepped out of the car (as asserted by
her) at the moment of the descent, especially when it is
remembered that Mrs. Graham found it necessary to catch
hold of the hoop to lessen the violence of the shock. Any
one at all conversant with aerostation must be aware that
it is impossible to step out quietly, when descending with
such rapidity as described by Mrs. Graham herself, unless
the car was secured by the grapnel. Those persons who
witnessed the accident, even from a distance, his Highness
assures me, felt convinced he must have been considerably
injured, from the height they saw him fall, and wished him
to have medical advice, and be bled, to avoid the conse-
quences of the shock. His Serene Highness, in my opi-
nion, did everything that could reasonably be expected
from him, having waited with the unfortunate lady upwards
of four hours, and ever since expressed to me his regret for
the accident and for her situation.

" Before I conclude, I will just notice one very foolish
account given by Mr. Graham, a day or two after the acci-
dent, and to which be signed his name, saying that the
Duke stepped safely out o the car, &c., and that Mrs.
Wilson, his wife's sister, in Poland-street, would corrobo-
rate what he had stated, both being at the time miles from
the spot where the accident occurred, and Mrs. Graham
being at the time incapable of speaking.
" Common justice to the Duke of Brunswick has in-
duced me to trouble you with this letter.
" I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,
" Isle of Wight, Oct. 3, 1836. "R. W. CURRIE."