Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1863-07-21
BOmbardIng A BALLOON.


bends and emitting hollow sound. as Of
escaping gas. The basket was made fast
directly. the telescopes tossed into place;
the professor climbed 20 the side. holding
BY the network, and coiled up in rope
at the bottom 81
Stand by your cables = he said, and the
bags OF ballast were at once cut away
Twelve men took each rope in hand and
payed out slowly, letting us glide gently
upward. The earth seemed TO be falling
away and we poised motionless in the blue
ether. The tree-tOps sank downward, the
hills dropped roiselessly through space. and
presently the Chickahominy was visible be
yond us, winding like ribbon of silver
through the ridgy landscape '1
Far and wide stretched the Federal
camps We cav faces turned upwafds
gazing at our ASCENT. and heard clearly as
10 vacuum. the voices of soldiers. A every
second the prospect widened, the belt Of
horizon enlarged. remote farmhouses came
in view; the earth was like perfectly fat
surface, painted with blue woods, and
streaked with pictures of roads, fields, fem
! ces, and streams. As we climbed higher,
the river seemed directly beneath us, the
farms on the opposite bank were plainly
discernlble, and Richmond lay only little
way of, enthronet on it's many hills, with
| the James stretching white ard sinuous
! from lts feet to the HORIZON. We could see
the streets, the suburbs, the bridges, the
outlayiCg roads, nay, the moving masses Of
people. The capitol sat white and colossa !
on Shockoe Hill, the dingy buildings of the
| Tredegar works blackened the riverside
| above, the novels of Rockets clustered at
the hither limits, aud one By one we made
out familiar hotels, public edifces, and
vlcinities. The Notifications we're revealed
10 part only, for they took the hue of the
soil ard blended with it; but may camps
were plainly discernible, and BY means of
the glasses we separated tent from tent and
hut from hut. The CO6federates were seen
running to the cover of woods that we
might not discover their numbers, but We
knew the location oftheir camp-fres by the
smoke that curled towards US.
Guess / got 'em now, lest where want
EN- said Professor Lowe, with a laugh :
jest keep stilI as you mind to, and souint
your eye through my glass, while | make
sketch Of the roads and the cCuutrv.-
Hold hard there and anchor fast he
screamed to the people below. Then be
tell imperturbably to work, sweeping the
country with his hawk eye, and escaping
nothing that could contribute to the COM
pleteDess of his jOtting.
We had been but a few miuutes TINS
poised, when close below, from the edge of
timber stretch, pulled a volume of " bite
smoke. A second afterward the air ouiv.
cred with the peal of a cannon. A third
and we heard the splitting shrek of shell
that passed little to our left, but in exact
range, and burst beyond US in the plough
ed fields heaving up the clay as il explo-
ded.
'Ha! said Lowe, they have got us foul
Haul IN the cables-quickr Re shouted in
fierce tone.
At the same instant the ruff, the reuort
and the shrek were repeated: but this
time the shell burst to our right in mid.air
and scattered fragments around and below
US.
Another shot will do our business said
Lewe, between his teeth; 'it isn't a mile
and they have got the range s'sas -.
Again the puff and the whizzing shock
| closed my eyes and held my breath hard.
The explosion was SO close that the pieces
OF shell seemed driven across my face, and
my ears quivered with the sound look.
ed at Lowe to see if be was struck. He
had sprang to his feet and clutched the cor
dage franticaly.
Are you pulling in there, We men p be
beloved, with loud imprecation.
Puff! bang! whiz-z-z! splut.er broke a
third shell. and my heart was wedged in
my throat.
saw at glimpse the whole bright
landscape again. | heard the voices Ct
soldiers below, and saw them running
across fields, fences, and bitches, to reach
cur anchorage. | saw the waving of signal
tiage. the commotion through the Camps
officers gallOpiug their horsee, teamstsre
whipping their mules. regiments turning
out, drums beaten, and batteries lmbered
up. l remarked, last of ali, the sight of
the battery that alarmed us. aud by a
strange sharpness of sight and sense. belIey
cd that saw the gunners swabing, ram
ming, and aiming the pieces.
Puff bang Whiz z IL shutter !
crash
Putt bang whiz-z-z-z splutter! crashl
My God F! said Lowe, kissing the words
slowly and terribly, they have opened up-
on US from another baueryp
The scene seemed to dissolve. A cold
dew broke from my forehead. grew blind
and deaf. | had tainted
Pitch some water in bis face.' said some.
body. lie amt used to it. Hellue! there
he's come to-
l staggered to my feet. There must
! have been thousand men about us. They
were looking curiously at the aeronant and
me. The balloon lay fuming and struc-
Cling on the clOds.
Three cheers for the Union balloon y
called little fellow at my side.
Hip, bip-hoorooar hourooari hoo.
roOsrP
Tiger r.r--yah whoopp
The balloons were prominent features Of
the two terrible months ensuing. and du.
ring the battles of Hanover, Seven Pines.
and the bloody sixty days struggle before
richmond they were invariably afloat,-
Lowe seldom made ascensions on windy
days, but in the dead June calm of that al.
most tropical cline he had opportunities
tor safe and frequent reconnaissance. MIR.
Phox. OF the PopgUn. one day transcended
his powers by publishing minute descrip-
ton OF the Federal position as seen from
this exalted point, and the commanding
general forbade the balloon to correspond
ents thereafter. So we we're Obliged to re-
celVe the news from the lips Of the 'profes-
sor, and Phox, having no more imagina
ton than old Joe Willett, fell sadly short
In bis reports. Some of us were not SO dis
mayed, and the correspondent of the Hoio-
,tze'' having fertile fancy. protested to
have looked into the Gulf of Mexico, and
solved the mystery of the whereabouts OF
Beauregard.
R@Brougb, Abolition candidate for
Gnvarnnr in Ohin snnnnrLa nrh;traru ar.