The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1870-11-19
THE pERILs OF BALLOONING.
FAILURE TO PASS THE ENEMY's LINES
DESCENT UNDER PRUSSIAN FIRE &
THREE HOURS IN MUD AND WATER.

Tours (Oct. ~ Correspondence y y. Tribune
The following letter from Paris, OctO-
Der -, describes an unfortunate trip in
which the acronautic Adventures did
not succeed in escaping from that city:
MY DEAR BROTHER: Doubting
whether my letter of the 9th will have
reached you, and fearing that you may
have heard of the accident which hap
pened to me, to relieve your anxiety, l
write to describe it. Our balloon left
on the same day with that Of Mr.. Gam
BETA. II may have been that the at
mOspheric conditions were unfavorab bic
to the ascension; but in any case, our
balloon was too slightly constructed;
for l now learn from the gas establish
ment, that, although its cubic contents
were only ,O2O metres, it absorbed ,, 100
la fact denOting Il most frightful escape.
The fact is that after mounting rapidly
to the height of 900 yards, and within
a quarter of an hour of our departure
from La Nilcttc, we fell with fearful
rapidity, and, although we threw out
all our ballast, came down at Il quarter
before 3, about three miles northeast of
| the fortress Of st. Denis, only 100 yards
from the Prussian line, and near the
village Of Duguy, where the enemy oc-
cupies an important position in Il wind
mill. While yet in the air we had been
| fired upon, and we heard dozens of
bullets whistling between the car and
the balloon. What Il fright we We're
in! AS our balloon touched the ground
for second time, after Il rebound, L
jumped out and succeeded in holding it
down till my companions, the aeronaut
and young Frederick, escaped. Light
ened of our weight, the balloon sprung
up again, and hope our correspondence
which it carried away may have ulti-
| mately reached its destination. There
were in Il bag all the correspondence of
| the Intendant PcSSier and the Minister
| of War, beside several letters and news
papers, Il revolver and my cloths. The
Prussians opened fire upon us immcdi-
ately. We were in IL cabbage field
! flooded kncc-dccp i'll water. The bull
lets Whistled about us in all directions,
and strewed cabbage stalks at our feet.
| We walked on as fast as we could
through the mire, and tore up letter
which had written to you, and which
! might have compromised me had the
Prussians found it. The fire ccasing
from the windmill, we went on toward
it, as all seemed quiet, but when within
only 40 or so yards we were fired upon
again with VOlleys of 80 or 60 shots ut Il
time. Having heard French spoken in
an opposite direction, we turned round,
| thinking we were saved; but presently
| our own FrancS-tieurS opened upon us,
and we were between two fires. In
| this extremity we laid down under
some willow trees, and not upon the
ground, but in the water. For fully
half an hour we heard bullets WhiStling
over our heads from the PrussianS and
the Francs-tireurs. Presently, the Fort
| de PEST, one of the st. Denis forts,
joined the chorus with its cannon, and
sent 10 shells at the Prussians. Some
| of these projectiles set fire to 4 chateau.
| We suffered Il thousand deaths. l shall
| never forget it. l told my companions
| that our only chance was to lie notion
less. My principal fear was lest our
| limbs should be SO bcnumbeu from the
| wet that we should be unable to move.
We remained in our position fully three
hours and Il half. The Prussians must
| have thought us dead. When night
came on we crept away on all tours,
| and came to 4 ditch ST yards wide and
full of water. My companions could
not swim, and l scarcely know how
they got across it, for before attempting
the passage ! tried the depth at six diff
ferent places, and found it up to my
neck. After two hours difficult march,
ing, we came upon Il post of Francs
| tircurs, who, luckily, did not fire upon
us. We were taken prisoners and taken
to st. Denis, where, the next morning,
we made ourselves known to General
Bellenare, and We're allowed to return
to Paris. will tell you the rest anoth-
err time. At Duguy / buried large
packet of papers, which 1 shall go to
look for whenever the Prussans are
turned out of the place. l shall start
again in another balloon soon.
Kicking the Dead Lion.