Litchfield enquirer., 1862-06-26
THE PERILs OF BALLooNING.

Prof. G. w. Brooks, who with his brother. s. M, is to make grand balloon ascension in this city, (Hartford,) on the 4th of July, met with Q perilous adventure at St. Louis in the fall of S57
 while making one of his aerial voyages. He en- countered thunder storm, snow storm, and a whirlwind, and came near losing his own life be- sides, on that occasion. He wrote an account of his adventures for the Missouri Democrat, from which we quote: ...rsf,a .-,.s .,,i,,.s....
 After attaining the altitude of fifteen hundred feet, I cut the cord which held the parachute and dog, they descending very rapidly with an escil- lating motion, until they reached the earth about two minutes after being cut of. The dog was picked up and taken to the park, where he now is enjoying his beef steak as calmly as if he had never made an ascension. Simultaneously with cutting the dog loose, opened the valve to dis charge gas. knowing that so suddenly disposing
 already had, that the balloon would shoot up with fearful rapidity, and the expansion of gasswould burst it. discharged about five hundred cubic feet and still continued to rise, and when at the altitude of one mile, commenced entering a thick cloud, and in six minutes after leaving the park, I was enveloped in thick mist, which was condensed by coming in contact with the balloon, running down upon the side, and drenched me through. Still rising, encountered a lailstorm, and farther up snow storm. My object was to get above the clouds, and probably take another current of air which would have carried me away from the thunder storm which was fastapproach- ing, but the expansion of gas had filled the bal loon and was discharging from the neck down. ward into the car, and knowing that the balloon would collapse if allowed to go much higher, concluded l would come down and run the risk of the storm, which was now at it's highest. The thunder rolling, the lightning flashing, and whiz- zing through the air, the wind blowing with a mournful howl, consplred to render my situation anything but an agreeable one, but the attempt must be made, and pulled the valve rope with a nervous hand, and found that 1t was fast. ] pulled three successive times before it would open and commenced descending, and when emerged from the cloud, the balloon was coated with frozen snow which accounted for the valve not opening before. s a tt..t t,. -tI !.a aao # -7
 After got out of the cloud, 1 encountered a whirlwind which appeared te be between the cloud I had just left and the storm cloud below and it appeared as if the balloon would be torn to atoms.g The balloon and car swayed back and forth in the same manner as the dog and parachute had done before. pulled the valve rope again, and sat down in the car, holding on to the sides, wondering what would meet next 1 After remaining in thls wind about ten minutes
 I succeeded in discharging nearly s thousand feet of gas before commenced descending, the balloon appeared to be fastened to this cur
 rent of air, from which it would be impossible to take it. ,..sr..- a..-.ss
 l Leaving the whirlwind, descended into the storm cloud below. The storm covered an area of about twenty-five miles. The cloud was q dark, heavy mass, resembling the sea in storm. the waves piled mountains high, relling against and piling on each other in one confused mass
 the thunder and lightning rolling and flashing
 rendered it awfully grand; no language can de
 scribe it as I saw it. After descending through the cloud, discovered that was in another fearful wind. and likely to fall in small lake directly ahead of me. I instantly threw over
 board ballast, bag, rope and everything that could spare, and succeeded in passing the lake
 and landed in corn-feld. I came down so rap l idly that in striking the ground was knocked senseless and thrown from the car; my right leg and arm getting entangled in the ropes, was dragged four hundred yards,. sometimes on the balloon and sometimes under it, until ] brought up against large corn stack the net
 ting holding fast, the wind tore the balloon in pieces in less time than it takes to tell it; the gas escaping suddenly, freeing me from further danger. All this was done during the hardest rain lever encountered. < '|'.'"s' 't.