The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1865-08-16
A Pcrilous Balloon Adventure.

look place IN ireland, tne termination OF
which was nearly fatal. They gave, how
ever, no particulars. BY means of our
foreign files, we are enabled to lay before
our readers The following highly interest
ing narrative of the whole affair by one of
the mrial adventures. The balloon was
of enormous SIZE, and belonged TO Mr..
Coxwcll, the widely-known English aero
naut, who took part IN the excursion.
The writer Of the account in question
: says:
When Mr.. Coxwell proposed to descend
he gave to us the strictest instruction how
to behave. He told us to sit down at the
bottom of the basket, with our back tow
ards the willow work, and 10 leave our
limbs in an easy, unconstrained position.
lie forewarncd us of the heavy knocks
and bumps we should get, and told us we
must not mind them. On landing, he told
US to get out one by one, and not to let
20 hold Of the car on any account, as the
gas in the balloon was now comparatively
exhausted, and it had but little buoyancy
left In spite of Mr.. Coxwelrs injunc-
tions. some of the passengers could not be
induced to sit down. When the car
struck the ground, and was carried along
with great violence, knocking us about Sc
verely, the excitement got intense
Some prayed aloud, others shouted to Mr.
Coxwell to " let off the gas :" others cried
out, We are all lost, in short, they
behaved in the widest manner, losing
completely their self-control. Several Of
them now pulled at the valve cord vio-
lently, and there appeared to be general
panic. We who sat down, obeying Mr..
Coxwell's command, were trampled upon
| by others, as if it were struggle FOR life
AT last the grapnel caught and the car
| settled down squarely on the ground,
when Mr.. Coxwell gave the word to out
but he repeated his injunctions to leave
the car one by one, and by all means to
hold on to the basket until all were out.
| Instead of that it was a scramble, each
man for himself, the more powerful men
thrusting back the weaker; those getting
ont first abandoning their hold OF the car
as soon rs they reached solid ground
others, among whom was Mr.. Coxwel.
held on, when the balloon, relieved of the
weight of several persons, rose again with
renewed buoyancy.
All this happened in but very few
moments, so that when climbed upon
the basket, the balloon was already at
least fifteen feet high, and | was left with
a single companion, Mr.. lIalferty. Mr.
Coxwell and some Of the passengers tried
TO hold on TO the cable. bnt their strength
was not adequate to the task; the anchor
broke loose, and off we went rising to a
| heighth of about one Thousand feet Nv
/ companion said calmly, ''lhc Lord have
mercy upon lis; our lives are lost. We
had better be resigned" | was looking
out for the valve cord to pull the valve,
but could not find it. At length | dis
covered it cntanglcd in the netting. !
pulled it, but alas it had no longer any
connection with the valve. Ny compan-
ion, who saw me occupied with the cor
dagc, a,kel me whether | understood
the management OF balloon no" |
replied, "but if did it would would be
Of little avail since the valve cord is
| broken About the same time | diScoy-
cred that we wele again falling, so
| called out 10 my cOmrade to cheer, that
we might yet be saved. We were grad
ually coming nearer 10 the earth, and the
anchor was then striking the ground from
time to time. ! looked ont for assist
/ ance but could discover none in the noun
! tain wilderness we were then carecning
over At length | saw several men, to
whom shouted for help, They, how
ever, staring with vacant gaze, stood mo-
tionless, like so many Statues. Onward
we swept. | saw another batch OF men,
to whom made the same appeal, but
with similar result. Some remained
motionlcss; man and a woman ran
away at full speed, and one tall fellow
actually dropped down on his face, struck
/ down by terror. Onward we swept,
then fearful conclusion of the car, the
grapnel had caught. Prepare for a
bump :" ! shouted TO my companion
almost immediately the balloon surged
down, and afterwards the car struck the
ground. Mr.. Halierty was pitched quite
out by the violence OF the shock, whilst |
was thrown against the netting, and fell
back again into the car. tried to scram-
ble through the ropes but was in an
instant again house-high, for the balloon,
relieved Of the weight Of Mr.. Halferty,
rose with renewed vigor. Mr.. Ilalferty,
although he had heavy tumble, did not
lose his self-posseseion, but immediately
caught the cable and tried to secure it,
but his poor strength was of no avail.
The anchor broke loose and away l went.
did not rise high.
The balloon moved on very soon in
horizontal direction, straight towards the
sea, which we were then rapidly nearing,
at the height of about twice the length of
the mooring cable. The thought had
struck me struck me several times to try
by any means to make rent in the bal
loon, fer, although ! had no knife,
might have torn the silk with my teeth.
| climbed a short distance but then it oc-
Cured TO me that as soon as the gas
escaped the anchor would strike the
ground again, and | should not be able TO
support the conclusion while in the net
ting, and 7 was suffering a good deal
! from the shocks J had sustained ] des-
cended therelOle into the ear and found