Richmond Indiana palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1837-1839, 1838-09-01
Office of the Argus, Easton, August


On Saturday last, lth inst at 10 minutes be-
tore IL O'Clock, l assembled, with nv Parachute
Balloon, accompanied with two small Parachu,es
aud animals, from the spacious yard of the WASH
lngton Hotel, kept by Mr. Connor, and soon as
| attained the height of 1000 feet, detached the
couical parachute with his occupant, which land
ed IN safety near La Fayette College; by that
time | rose several thousand feet more when
detached my oiled silk parachute, which expert
ment was TO dicide the certainty and safety of nv
parachute baltoon-tt did not descend with tina
uniform velocity as the first. however concluded
that the experiment would not DO hazardous, if
not disagreeable | also was satisfied by former
descents, that a balloon as soon il became
tiaccId, would invert, in a rapid descent When
attained altitude of about 1900 feet, the
balloon became fearful expanded. causing loud
Kissing from the small tube at the bottom, through
which the valve rope passed, giving me warning
that unless opened my safety valve, the balloon
must rupture; at this critical moment | became
somewhat excited as looked over the side of nv
car and saw the vivid flashes of lightning passing
from one cloud to another-The thunder gust
was moving from S. w. to n. E., and nv vessel,
At this time, was sailing swiftly from n. w. to.
wards s. E. passing New Village and Asbury.
looked at my time-pece, and found II 20 min
utes past ,, and as was returning it to my peck
ct, the balloon exploded! Although l had conf
/ dence in the apparatus, l must admit that it was
moment of awful suspense. for in the space o
10 seconds the gas rushed from the balloon with
a noise resembling the approach Of hurricane
and as fell through the air IT whisied through
the net work like unto strong north wester,
through the rigging of ship. l cast my ewes To
the balloon, and found my expectations realized
1t assumed the form of concave hemisphere
falling rapidly without any vibratory motion, un
/ Ill | reached the lever strata of air, which was
blowing u sharp gale from the south When the
parachute commenced its first vibrations, drifting
me northward, making vibration about ever.
ten seconds, which now made tho descent yer,
unpleasant, every motion causing sensation
similar to that of person dreaming they fall
Il make the comparison because | consider IL
general affection. as II frequently occurs tn my
self) The wind from the south dritied me ahou
three miles before approached the earth, ant
made my landing much harder than II would have
been in calm atmosphere. AS | neared IN,
earth, | threw over all my ballast, which put IN,
off my guard as the car struck the earth obli1uc
", 1t bounced me out about ten feet, slight,
bruising my shoulder. l sprang upon my fee
quickly to it collapse but it had fell along sid
of me- | now stood gazing with astoniShmen,
first at the parachute, then 1T the car, which ha
turned bottom upwards. next cast nv ewes {!
, the fleeing clouds through which | was sailin!
but three minutes before, and now was sinn1u!
, on terra firma, congratuiatng myself on the &c
: suit of my experiment, which intend soon tn re
I peat. | landed on the farm of Mr.. Eii nh Warn
about ten miles from Etston, and got the assis
tnnce of MIR. WarHe and his neighbors. who wcr
watching the descent of tho parachute, littl
J. thinking that human being accompanied ~
J. WISE
n Easton, August 18th, 1923.