Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1858-11-06
Balloon Fatalities.

The recently unfortunate and probably "a
tai balloon ascension of Mr.. ThurstOn, which
has created such a painful interest throughout
the country, has also brought out, through the
columns of the newspaper Press, many scraps
of history connected with balloon travelling.
The Providence Journal, has compiled quite
list of fatalities, and adds that it does
not know of one distinguished Eronaut that
has not met with violent death by means of
balloon
Among the first who commenced these voy-
ages were Mr.. Pilatre and M. Roman, of
France They made an assent from Boulogne,
June Is, 1885, with MOntgolfcr Balloon, a
| fire being kindlcd underneath and the bal
| loon ascending by means of rarefed air. At
an amazing height the balloon took fire, burn
| ed the cords by which the car was suspended,
and the unhappy occupants were precipitated
| to the earth, dashing them to pieces in a man.
ner too shocking to mention.
M. Zambeccarri, accompanied by friend,
made an ascent from the same place Sept. 2,
1912. On his descent, the balloon became
entangled in the branches of high tree, and
ere it could be disengaged, caught fire. The
Eronauts jumped out. Zambeccarri was Kill
led on the spot, and NJ. BonOga survived but
| a short time.
About the same time amechanician, named
Bztorf, assembled from Mannheim. At con-
| siderable height, he perceived too late that
his vehicle was damaged He opened the valve,
| descended with great velocity, and was dash
ed to pieces against house.
Madame Blanchard assembled from Tivoli,
1 T,,1x no off of1
| there. At the height of four hundred feet
the balloon caught fire. She was precipitat-
| ed on the pavement and instantly killed.
was killed May Oath, 1924. He went up from
City road, London. AT the height of two
miles he commenced to descend very rapidly,
was precipitatod to the earth and dashed to
| pieces.
| A Mr.. Green assembled from Cardiff, July
| 14th, 1049. His body was found some time
after the Flat-House shoals, in the centre OF
Bristol Channel
NJ. Arban, a celebrated French @ronaut, as
cended from Barcelona in September, 104o.-
| Nothing was heard of him till the middle OF
| November, when his body was found near
| ROsas.
! Lieut. Gale assembled from the Hippodrome
of Vincennes, on Sunday, Sept. eth, 1850
Some days subsequent, the body was found
in clump of ferns, his limbs broken and mu-
tilated, the face completely eaten away by
dogs and other wild animals. He had pre-
| viously met with several narrow escapes.
| James GoulstOn made an ascent in the ev-
ening from the Bellvue Gardens, June Cd
1852. The balloon was new one, forty feet
high, thirty-three feet in diameter, holding
twenty three thousand cubic feet of gas. II
being cloudy at the time, the car was lost tc
view in two minutes. He fell from his vehicle
in attempting to descend at the town Of Lees
a considerable quantity of blood and brains
marked the spot where he struck the earth
Mr.. Knight assembled from Bombay ,Decem
Der 14th, 1852, in the presence ofa large con
| course of natives, amongst whom was the
Rajah of Oar, who promished the @ronaut
two hundred rupees, if he went up and conn
7oaon again, of which the Rajah seemed t.
entertain great doubts. The balloon Travelled
straight out to sea, and Mr.. Knight has mo-
since been heard from.
In September, 1851, NJ. Merle and com
panion were carried off by balloon tina
broke from its moorings. They ascendet
to such height that Meri was frozen to death
and the other descended in the creates
peril.
Mr. Timothy Winchester made an ascen
from Norfolk, Ohio, in August, 1857, starting
in good spirits, and amid the cheers of a large
concourse of people, since which timehe la
not been heard from. He may have gone Oh
an excursion to the North Star, as the las
seen ofhim he was passing rapidly over LAX
| Erie