Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1842-05-24
BALLOON ASCENSION-TUR AC-


COUNT.
A Mr.. Hugh Parker made an ascension
in balloon from Mobile a few days ago.
and landed abou, four hours afterwards.
somewhere in the swamps Of Florida
The descent was a perious one, and we
extract the following notice of i: from his
ACCOUNT
81 had always a desire TO soar 10 as
great an elevation as it is possible 10 ar
rive at, and having upwards of go lbs. as
censive power, | determined to crafty my
wish. Away | sped-continualiy ascend
ing-leaving the clouds as far beneath me
as they were above when | started. |
now began to feel cold, large drops of per-
spiration oozing from my skin, and ting
ling sound liz my ears, as if something
cracking in my head, vacant feeling and
difficulty Of spration-now very cold.
The water in my bottle freezing, took
hold Of it, in order to try if drink would
calm my nauseating feeling; the neck stuck
10 my hand, and drew the skin off as if
blstered by fire. Still uneasy, the drops
Of perspiration had turned to liquid matter
resembling yellow oil-my tongue become
swollen, my nails and teeth were loosened,
and every joint in me and all my energies
seemed relaxed. looked up and saw the
gas rushing from the neck of my balloon,
and endeavored TO open my valve to affec,
its escape, but had not strength 10 accom-
plish it. | feared the result, and was not
kept long in suspense. judged myself at
this time TO be six miles high. when the
balloon was rent on the top. Away wer t
the gas Can describe my feelings at
that moment? No, no! as whring, down
came, with feeling as if the whole sys-
TEN was driving to my head. entered a
dense cloud, the substance Of which rushed
past me with whizzing sound, like steam
from the escape pipe Of an engine. The
clouds were somewhat warmer than the
air above, which considerably terminated
me. Looking, | saw that the balloon was
forced hard against the netting from at
mospheric pressure; this circumstance in
a measure calmcd my agitation, although
still defending with unspeakablc rapidly.
| exhausted all my ballast, let go my Crap
mel to its full extent, and noticing that
was approaching the earth with great We
loci'y, braccd myself up to await the re-
suit, and how must express my thanks to
the Disposcr Of all Events, the givcr and
prcserver Of life, for my miraculous pre-
servaton. The bulging body Of my bal
loon struck one side Of pine tree, from
which cause | was saved, and found my
self, instead of being dashed to the ground,
only forced against the body Of the tree.-
AS soon as recovered my shattered SEN
SOS, hauled up my grapneI, dashed the
car to the tree, hove the bite Of the rope
around a branch Of the pine, and deccnded
to the ground"
1t is said by The Mobile Ledg n, that Par
ker's balloon story IS rather a curious one d.
If the conjecture Of the Eronaut be true,
it is the highest assertion ever made; but
we suspect ii can very readily be demon
stratcd that no human being could exist at
SO great an altitude. Guy Lussac, the &C.
LIBERATED French Philosopher, assembled
over % 600 feet, which is somewhat more
than four miles, and he stopped there only
because it was impossible to go higher with
the certainty of existence. Mr.. Parker's
ascent, according to his own account, was
31,609, which is 5000 feet higher than the
FrcnchmGn's.