The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1852-07-10
A PERILOUS BALLOON ASCENSION.

The following account of an ascension made
by foolish ;rronaut, We copy from the Paris
correspondence of the Washington Rcpuhlic
Il mentioned some weeks ago that VI. CoStc.
one of the late editors of the Avcncmcnt. had
deserted journalism for rronautic>. The
third ascent of this gentleman. ten davs aoo,
was the most rrrilouS in prostatic annals
The wind had been violent all dav. and at )
O'Clock in the afternoon. the hour of dcpart-
urc, the balloon. instead of being in the form
Of a peer looked more like a letter :. VI
Goddard advised his pupil not to venture: all
the gentlemen who had engaged places in the
car refused to embark: and the audience
were on the point Of opposing the ascent.
when VI. CoSte. taking advanta"c of a lull in
the wind. jumped into his place and gave the
order to let 90. His departure coud not have
been called an ascent his upward motion
was so slight that he barely escaped the roof
shcltcrin@ the seats of the IIipp"lromc but
his speed horizontally was terrific. In less
than thirty seconds he was ont of Sioht. and
the universal belief was that he never would
he seen again alive He soon found himself
in the midst of thc clouds that were cau>in"
all the commotion, and knowing that it was
impossible to descend, he determined to soar
above them, lie threw ont thirty pounds of
ballast. and was soon conscious that the bal
loon was ascending rapidly; but 50 extended
were the clouds. that it was only an elevation
OF 1900" feet Gonr milcS) that he came in
view Of the sun and left the wind below him
, He speedily found that he could not remain
IN so rariti"d an atmosphere: his ears hum
med. his breathing was difficult. and pieces
"t paper that he threw over fell like lead 1t
became indispensable to descendant to brave
the fury of the elements as best he mi"ht.-
Ills strength was so reduced and friction so
remarkably ~ increased that he could not. un-
I'll alter repeated efforts. raise the valve. and
allow portion of the Gas to escape At such
an altitude the asccnsional force of Gas is ,lou-
hied. and when the valve was opened a uuan-
tity was discharged that at once DESTROYED the
balance, and the balloon began to descend f,,-
riously. NJ. Coste threw out every thinotllat
he could dispense with. and lashed himself to
the car The earth began soon to appear.
and to approach at trightful rapidity. The
balloon struck sideways, and plouehed up the
heid for some twenty yards The mronaut
freed himself from his cordage. and jumped
ashore unhurt The balloon. lirhtencd of a
hundred or more pounds. was off again in a
twnklng; but VI. Co>tc caught hold of the
anchor rope. which is always allowcdt to hann
and suffering himself to be taken up 4 dozen
yards, brought the balloon back. Bv this time
assistance had arrived, and party of stou,
peasants bound the frantic machine to a tree
where 1t was di>inilated. NJ Coste arrivcd
at the llippodromc the next morning. at ten
o'clock, and was received as man risen from
the dead He had been given up as lost b,
all who saw him start. Nothing daunted, h,
has made three aScenSions since. and has seer
nothing Vet, he says, to dis.ua,le him from
dopting the career of an pronaut NJ Cost,
was the on Y editor Of the Avenement tha
never was imprisoned for ieih de J,resse.-
One would suppose that man of such ener
gy and unbounded Spunk would be one OF tho
first 10 get himself into limbo for too unbrllel
use of his pen"
ART OF SwIMMING-Men are drowncl
by laisins their arms above water, the un
lrCy.J ,ro,-l, 80, ,,L;,L ! o,-. IL L. !