Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1868-11-03
ABOVE THE WORLD.
observations of Memphis Mans
Balloon Journey.


Mr.. c. Nourse, of Memphis, who accom-
panied Prof. Brooks in his late balloon
journey from that city, gives the following
interesting account of his experience in
the upper regions:
We started up at twenty minutes 10 five
o'clock. The balloon, which has only
made one previous ascension, was filled
with about 10000 cubic feet of gas, at the
corner of jackson aud Third streets, IN
der The direction of the Superintendent of
the Gas Company. The balloon was con-
veyed to the park by thirty men in about
FIVE hOurs. When all was ready got in
the basket, and Professor Brooks stepped
in after me and gave the order TO let go,
which was done with precision. \ small
dog, belonging TO little son of Mr.. Byron,
was suspended to 4 parachute below the
car. We went up like an arrow, but
passed rapidly northward. The earth
rect ded quickly, and in five minutes the
crowd looked like an ant hill, and
the trees no larger than cornstalks.
At an altitude of eight thousand feet Pro-
fessor Brooks let loose the little dog,
Owing to too much handling by the crowd,
the parachute WAS OuL vi OIutIt duu
| collapsed as soon as let loose; hence the
dog went down swiftly, and the Professor
remarked that he thought the dog was
| killed, which subsequently was confirmed.
| After that the balloon shot up more rap
| idly, and We experienced q cooler sensation.
l had been trying to keep cool all the while
and the Professor fattered me that | sue
ceeded pretty we'll A small quantity Of
gas was permitted to escape, and We
| descended rapidly until within two or
three thousand feet of the earth. Then
a few handsfnl of sand were thrown out,
and we went up TO a hight of at least two
miles From this position the city looked
like a dim patch in the autumnal land
scape SO far below, and the Mississippi
river. which was visible for at least two
hundred miles, looking like a winding
strip of silver ribbon. We were
then about ten miles from the park. The
sun, to us, was getting far away into the
gorgeous West, but long, dark shadows,
like funeral plumes, swept over the world
below. 4 strong current carried rs TO-
ward Arkansas, and We had fee prospect
of landing in swamp, to lake tree and
listen to the screech owl and wild cats all
night, or stay up all night in the cool re-
gions Of boundless space until the next
day. At 5:l5 we begun TO descend slowly.
A counter current carried US further east,
and the Professor decided to come down if
he could see good place to drop. At $40
he deserted cornfeld, as it proved to be,
and, ripping open one side of the balloon
by a peculiar continuance, came down like
meteor, whizzing through the air. 1t was
moment of great anxiety, but We quickly
struck the earth, with no great jar, and
we're safe. We alighted on the place of Mr..
J. E. Douglass, a noble gentleman, who
came 10 our assistance, and helped to roll
up the balloon and convey it to the house.
The work was considerable. We passed
two hours at his house, and at eight o'clock
We started with one of his teams, kindly
furnished, for Memphis, and arrived at
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