Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-10-04
LETTER FROM NEW YORK.
iC"rresionae"ce er' the Richmond Enquirer
New YORK, Oct lst, 1859.

NEW ORR, Uct. ISL, 1907.
The people Of the North are never without
excitement. They cannot live without it
Men love no:oric;y and are pleased to see how
their names look set forth in Roman letters in
news papers. No sooner has one eccentric i'll
divid,iai acquired nntorie,y by some ingenious
exhibition or other than he IS succeeded by a
host of imitator>. This las been Illustrated
bv the number Of rope walkers, divers ami
balloon voyagcrs.
The recent Juror among ;eronauIS has been
the desire to cross the Atlantic in some kind
of arorial continuance.
La Mountain, it is feared, has taken his last
leap into the air, and like some wild conIo:,
has carried off an raifor rih lin. 1t is Won
ierful that knight of the quill should have
become so inflated in his ideas as to be carried
off in mid air from the sight OF men. Mr.. La
Mountain, before his ascension, had advertised
that ne would ascend from Jones Wood early
in October, and authorized his agent in this
CITY 10 engage Mr. \. II. Nicolay, the stock
his monster balloon, THE Atlantic One
seat ought to have been reserved for the auc-
tionccr because he abOundS in so much gas III
may be peculiar TO his proles>ion) that his pre-
sencc might have materially aided thc ascension
capacity of the machine. The last that was
seen of Monsieur In Mountain, with the editOr
of the Watertown Journal" he was being
carried nj II rapid speed due East, and II Is pos.
siblc that they may have been carried out ard
lost at sea. This disappointment Of the fear
less :rronaut induced the auctionecr to post
ponc the sale Of seats, which was to have come
off ut II A. NJ. on the Goth ut.. AT the Mcr-
chants Exchange. \ seat had been Prev.
ously engaged from Mr.. liz Mountain himself
by the Herald for one of its reporters for the
purpose OF bringing down intelligence iroln the
/! upper regions, iar above tue ciod-hcaded and
wirc-pulling politicians and Congressman EN-
gagged in worrying each other OH the vulgar
soil beneath.
! Bat this last Hight 81 poor La Mountain may
Ike the last dive Of Sam Patch. put a danper
on the balloon mania for time, aud cause cdI
tors and their reporters to feel less ambitious
of going up and coming down in balloons as
dead heads.
Still professor Wise has 4 balloon in expert
mental training al Jones Wool, something al!
ter the manner of preparing Fashion for ID
| trot lie has i rope tied 10 windaSS, aS tho
rope is let ont the balloon a>cends until il i:
permitted to rise I" Tie height oI some 90
| feet and then by turning the winlIaS, the rope
is wound up and the balloon brought down.
/ The other DAY the car or basket OF the bal!O0!
was filed with newspaper reporters, who con
! cudcl TO rise nearer Heaven than they hao
ever done before, and what some OF them per
haps might never hope 10 do again. All wa'
ready and away they went towards the clouds
There ;,aS a stiff Western breeze winch catSc'
the balloon to sway from the perpendicular
and stand over cluinp Of tail trees The !o:ct
of the wind was such that the strength of thC
men ut the windlaSs could not wind up TIN
rope so as to bring down the balloon, and, for;
time the lives Of the reporters, As it were
hung BIZ thread. They knew if the iin'
broke. Of which there was great danger, OWN;
TO the straining effects Of the wnd on the bal
loon, they must instantly 20 u sea and DC los
they turned pale and bit their lips. One re
bukcd himself with being an ass to leave teri;
firma, the others wcr. not III II position Il
throw stones at their neighbOrS whit
some yoriicrouSlv hallowcI to the mci
bclow 10 pail them doxn while Thought
less bows below shouted and ianshe'
a: them until they were h0arsc. bob, sal,
one, IL we 90 20 sea- TIE papers will look b!ani
tomorrow. There VIII he no police rcpor
in my paper" SAID another, ''and there is
dcvilish odd case on the dockc, to-day &c
tors and singers will feel aston;shcd 10 lind n
notices of their houses To .,ncryow." Il shou
think" said another ";hat you would 10
Ike TO aliudc to subject regarding who
You have lied so much, in the present dan
ger Of sudden death" III our sins were {;
he brought up against uS, an afraid, 81;
another, That none Of us arc 50 righteous a.
enable us by stretch Of i:ith To- I'LL; on tn
/, water" well" said another, I'VE belong t
profession which builds up regulations ic
newspapers and politicians gives each nam
and rcnown. The first gain; wealth from tn
labor Of our brains and hand>, and the latte
lucrative offices, while the public are poStc
and instructed by our daily and nightly tot
We, however, are unknown 10 the great wcrl
Ur;.trr. :yrantIt,, we sna!l die u.,!alncntcd an
soon be forgotten by all for whose benefit W
have labored.' This speech was loudly az
plaudcd by all. and several thought it 80 goo
speech that they regretted they had not take
ont their notebooks, to have recorded it 81
short hdtd. This diversion was cut short b
an announcement from below, that Il.
men at III" wiadlasS could not wind tlIeI
down, and that there was fear il too mur
force was uscd tie wndlass would break
and they must take hold Of the rupI
and help pul! themselves do~a. No sOonc
was thi; said, than they got hold OF it, and a
hands commenced hauling in line, with tru
sailors ''ohc, he, oh ne no" The balloon q
it descended, would persist IN reaching II
ground through the Aforesaid cunp Of trees
amiis, Which it rapidly fell as it dropped b,
low the force OF the wind by the increased az
ton Of the wndlass. ~ it dashed toward
the earth, the ear was forced through IN
branches %! the trees, ihc limbs Of which IL
fiictcd Sundrv scratches on the hands m
faces Of some Of the reporters who were great
Is alarmed by tie crash, ana, were but to
glad 20 reach the sGil earth again. Thc
were observed 10 hastily feel for their PEI!
ellis and note books. brush ard adjust thei
"HiGs,' look wiStiully at SuEdrv rents in thei
cloths, and then make tracks io: IL
nearest rail road leading TO the city
There was I sort o: taci; understanding
among them, 10 say as little a. possible a5ou
the whole affair, and, were it not for this brio
sketch. the public would have continued i!
ignorance OF what actually happened on tina
memorable OCCASION This balloon maducs
has not been confined to adults, but reachc,
the dcnlZenS of the nursery. Lots O
bladders-shaped red colored, miniature in
latcd balloons were hawked about the streets
"PapaS" would he seen riding home on to-
Of an omnibus, with clusters Of them a5ou
their heads These, after reaching the house
would soon fall into a state of collapse whc!
papa" would try TO refill one from gas burn
or, during which excitement 1t would catch fir
and explode, singeng of the hair from ''paras'
eyebrows head and whiSkcrS filling the h1U>t
with Il peculiar smell, like that from burn
wool Papa would become excited, and dc
clare that balloons were nuisance and Il bore
Careless nurses. amidst the grief and screams
of children would let whole hcyieS Of then
escape from the promenade grounds Of the pub
lie squares. \ pcdlar turning corner with ;
dozen or more, was struck by Squal!, which
tore them from his grasp and sent them flynn: