The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1870-11-03

battle in the Clo.d.-French and
0ieS.
The following extraordinary statement
appears in a Belgian paper called the Wau-
reties dM Jour, from one Of its correspondents
at the seat Of war, which note was carried TO
Brussels by carrier pigeon:
"PARIs, OFT. /, 1870.
"Nadar returned yesterday to Paris His
return was not effected without much trouble,
although the balloon was favored with a
good wind since his departure from Tours.
But l will narratc the facts in their chrono-
logical order:
'He left Tours at o'clock in the morn
ing, and the the bold aeronaut arrived in
view of Paris at IL o'clock floating about
3, 600 metres above the fort of Clarendon. At
the same time as the Intrepide-which was
the name of Madras ballOOn-appeared, a
second balloon was observed in the horizon.
Nadar was seen to display streamer with
the national cOlOrs. Immediately another
national flag foated from the car of the other
balloon. Vigorous cries of C est Duroufv
proceeding from the garrison of the fort,
greeted the appearance of the two aerOnauts,
whose balloons gradually approached.
'When they were within short distance
of each other. suddenly a loud report was
heard in the air, followed by a series of ex-
plosions. These were at first thought to be
demonstrations or signals of victory, until
Nadar was seen to fling himself into the net
work of his balloon and cling to its sides.
During this time the other arOnaut cOntin-
ued firing shots at Nadar, which weae traced
in the sky BY their luminous effects. The In
trepide descended rapidly, and it appeared to
the spectators below that some incOmprehen-
sible event had taken place above.
'But mark what the French flag in the
neighbOring balloon had come to. 1t had
been removed, and a black and yellow stand
ard was observed to be floating in its place.
Then all was explained. Treason! 1t is
Prussian balloon! He has fired on the In
trcpide! Nadar is LOST were the cries that
burst simultaneously from the French people.
But Nadar was safe; for he was seen to des-
cend rapidly in his car, and the balloon to
nearly reach the earth. lie cast out the bal
last, and reascended, having stopped the hole
made in his balloon by his adversary.
''Tben shots were rapidly fired from the
Intrepide into the Prussian balloon, which
with giddy velocity. A detachment of
OuldIIS WIZ WeIc III tHc pam, ds"A nv hsau
been following the aerial combatants through
out the exciting struggle, rushed forward,
and surrounding the balloon, received their
champion knows in what condition
and then all FASTENED off at full speed to the
Pr,,ssian advanced posts. In the meantime
Nadar descended safely at Clarendon, where
he still remains"
The Echo dx PdrtemcM, commenting upon
this recital, observes:
"While the Nourcllcs du Jour was pub
fishing this extraordinary description of an
aerial combat, we read in the correspondence
addressed from Versailles to the Times Of
September 80:
"'An inexplicablc phenomenon has just
ben received at Versailles. Two balloons at
tached to each other, have been lowering
over Paris, moved by strong east wind in
the direction Of the forest of st. German,
where they disappeared suddenly behind the
trees
"This Journal also states that a smaller
balloon was seen at about the same time
above Neffe, near BastOgne. Its progress
appeared to he very slow, and it seemed to
fall not very far from the latter spot. This
balloon was supposed to have assembled from
the garrison of Metz"