The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1859-07-19

ter. Prot. VS. theory was, that if the boat
should get swamped, the balloon would still
have momentum and power sufficient to
drag Us TO shore, which happily at this
time appeared in the dim distance. \
propeller called Young America shortly
afterwards bore down upon Us to come to
our relief but We scudied some hundreds
of feet before her bows. and - tha, hope
failed
Finally, after skimming within 80 feet o.
the dark waves, for distance of not .ess
than 90 miles, and perhaps more, we had
the Joy 10 know that we were out Of dan
ger Of drowning but new peril was be
to-e Us. Prot. Wise had been quite right
in his prediction. The hurricane blew us
Immediately s into q dense forest which skir
ted the lake, and threatened to tear Us limb
from limb. Nr. Eager had thrown out the
anchor, heavy iron one with three hooks,
each an inch and a quarter in thickness
80 rapid was our flight that this stood on.
near y straight from the car As the crap
mel swung against tree Of moderate size
the velocity of the balloon and its terrible
strength would tear it down and fling il 10
the ground. One by one the hooks broke
of, and We We're again at the mercy Of the
all-sweeping wind Mr. La Mountain and
| held on to the valve rope, cndeavoring 10
discharge the gas, but we quickly were
compelled to release our grasp, and cling
TO the concentrating hoop to avoid being
thrown out. Ii has been before stated that
the meshes enveloping the silk Q. the At
lantlc had an aggregate strength of l20
tunS. 1t Is not strange that il was some
time before these strong cords were broken
The balloon actually went through n mile
of forest, and, tearing down trees and break
inc branches, pursued It's resiStless course.
da>hing our ear To and fro against trunks
and limbs, until the stout netting had bro
ken little 10y little, and the balloon itself
had 10 longer any protection, when striking
tall tree, the silk was puncturod in a doz
en- places and rent into ribbons leaving the
ear suspended by the net work twenty feet
above the ground The course of the bal.
loon through the woods left path similar
10 that of tornado. Trees half the size
Of mans body We're snapped in twain as
limbs were scattered ike ICayGs IsiTs ant IS sGTP di
fcut to see how any one of the quartees
escaped with his life. 1t happened that
the landing was made within 80 yards Of
a settlement, and the crash was 50 grea,
that the people ran to the spot to see wha:
had happened.
Singular rs it would appear. there wa.
only one of the four injured in the least
Mr.. LaMountain receiving some slight con
tusions about one Of his hips, and the re
mainder escaping without scratch. Whel
we got down, which was done partly by
ropes and partly by means of broken tree
several persons were standing around will
open mouths and eyes, staring in wonder
We then learned that We were landed ol
the place of Truman o. Whitney, nea
Sackett's Harbor, in the township of Hen
derson, Jefferson county, n. Y. BY Mr.
, La Mountains watch. the time was = o'clocl
, and 20 minutes We had been - hour
; and IL minutes travelling distance whicl
: cannot he computed at less than 900 miles
and is said To reach a. much as loo
Oar landing, though SO hazardous, was il
oac important respect 4 fortunate one. mas
mach as We fell among hospitablc people
who treated us in a spirit Of politenes
which might be emulated by persons g
: more gentecl prctcnsions. About twent'
women and young girls surrounded us, an,
had million questions to PROFOUND RELATIVE
to the extraordinary voyage. But we soor
got used to that sort of thing. In the bot
p tom of the ear We found couple of copie
Of the st. Louis Price Current and tn
card Of Fred. kretscramar, candidate fo
l the Office of Clerk of the Criminal Cnur,
which were seized and appropriated a
I once, perhaps for some cabinet of curosi
ties
After the natives had somewhat recover
ed from their surprise, We were besct ol
every side to accompany all Of them hom
: and take "a snack of something to eat.
One elderly lady insisted on our going hom
with her, because she wanted to give US
r good scoldiDg for making such fools of our
, selves as TO undertake trip of the kind
We finally went TO the house Of Mr.. Justu
D Wayne, not a great way off, where the wo
I men folks set about to get up stavIn
frst-rate dinner" And first-rate Dime
1 it was, whcreat we sat DOWN 70 an excellen
/. cup Of tea each, superior bread and butter
lettuce, and other well-prcpared viands, in
3, cluiinr cherry and blackberry ME