M'arthur Democrat. (McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1853-1865, 1858-10-28

va tAN lullOOnlblSs
The ascension made from the CITY
Let on Monday last, by the great bal.
loonists, Prof. j. II. Steiner and
Monsieur GODDARD, was most brilliant
as the thousands that were gathered
in and on the outside of the lot, on
the tops of houses, and every other
available place from whence a sight
could be had, are ready to testify
The air was clear and balmy, the
wind being slightly in the north east,
and the yoyagers in the nppor air
moved off, apparently, at a very slow
rate.
Before losing sight of the city,
Steiner hailed GODDARD with the ex.
clamation, "What q magnificent
view!" "Oui, monsieur!" replied
GODDARD, whereupon he produced q
bottle of wine, from which he filed a
couple Of glasses-one Tor himself,
another for his passenger, Mr.. VIM.
lloc!-and then proposed, as a toast,
This great Rcpublic!" Professor
Steiner was prepared to meethim, and
so he exhibited Il bottle of Catawba,
filled a glass, and drank the sentiment,
whereupon they gave three cheers
GoGard then proposed to his compan-
ions, "The great American Rronaut,
Professor Steiner" Steiner then re-
ciprocatod by toasting, "The celebra-
ted French Hronaut,' Mons. GODDARD"
Now, it came the turn Of the passon.
gerto propose toast, who gave, "Our
sweethearts and wives!" This was
drank with three hearty cheers. What
a scene for us on tcrra J0nea to i'm
agine!
During the Transportation of this ex-
traordinary incident the yoyagers had
reached an elevation Of five thousand
feet, and were about two miles from
the city. Jnst then Steiner saw that
Godard's balloon WAS gradually ap.
preaching him, and lie was apprehen
sive that q collision would take place.
When they got to an equal hight, il
the close proximity they were, Stein.
er's balloon took the wind away from
Godard's, and made it almost station
airy, whiehcaused him to shout out to
GODDARD to let 90 some of his ballast,
which he instantly did, but not SO
quickly as to preventSteiner's balloon
from striking the basket Of the other
"a collision that prompted GODDARD
and his companion to reach over and
push the balloon out Of reaching dis
tance. 1t was q moment Of fearful
suspense, but in another instant God
ard shouted out: "All right--no dan
ger"
= But a minute or SO before, GODDARD
had disposed Of a bag Of his sand,
and after the collision he began to as.
cend at a rapid rate, reaching, ina
few minutes, an altitude of from A.
900 to $4,000 feet. After that, Stein
er says, they never came within
speaking distance.
Steiner then threw over small por-
tion of ballast, and rapidly assembled
to an elevation Of 10000 feet, where
he,strnck a strong current Of air, north
by north east, which propelled him
at the rateof 35 Or 40 miles an hour.
After parting with his c6hapagnon dn
Uoyage. Steiner closely watched for
Godard's balloon, and saw that he
was gradually desceuding--he even
went down to,within 500 feet of the
earth--which,induced Steiner to sup
pose he wasabout to make aslanding.
Notso, howev er;.it appears that. he
was. merely skimming along for his
own amusement, and for the purpose
of creating an excitement among the
country people.
AT that time Steiner found be was
gaining an advantage by keeping in
the upper current where he was cours-
ing along with the speed of the wind.
AT tile time GODDARD made his descent
they were within about thirty-fve
miles. of Cincinnati, and he (Steiner)
noticed that. GODDARD soon began to
ascend. when his attention was attrac-
ted to the beautiful panorama below,
upon which he gazedfor u few mo-
ments with admiring eyes. On look
ing up again in the direction where a
few moments before he had seen God
ards balloon, he discovered that it.
was out of sight, nor did he see. it
again. He concluded that he had ia.
ken an under current which took him
a southeast direction.
Steiner passed Dayton at halfpast
SIX o'clock, when he sent down sever
al dispatches, soon after which Day
ton disappeared in the distance. At
about ten o'clock, in consequence of
the fatigue he had undergone during
the day, together with the change of
atmosphere, he fell asleep, when his
balloon, left to itself, descended and
struck tree, capsizing the basket and
spilling him in the netting; fortunate
iy, the basket Immediately rghted,