The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1870-02-24
Trip1 "a a Balloon Miraculous. Escape.


4 fphe Augusta Constitutionazist publishes
the following thrilling account OF the.
grial voyage OF Prof King, who made a
successful ascension from thateity on the
9th instant:
MEssRs. EDITORS At fifteen minutes
past, the preparations being all com
plete. the balloon was allowed to swing
bya ysss Single rope, the ballast was adjusted,
and rising clear above the reach OF those
below, the cable was loosed and the voy-
age began. The Wind was high, and |
moved off rapidly, IN a North-easterly d.
rectien. knew by the shouts OF the
people, which were given with will,
that my balloon ascension thus tar had
proved satisfactory, and ! began to look
around on, the grand scene presented TO
my view. The atmosphere was. very
clear, giving nae prospect bounded, only
blythe horizon which was sharply defn-
ed, and which presented a line unbroken
/. by any m mountainous. projections around,
it's entire circumference. The whole face
ofsthe country appeared exceedingly lew
el, though occasionally | saw some hills,
but the general appearance was that OF a
vast plain. IFhad a fine view of the city
just at;the start, but in consequence of
moving away 80 fast, / could but notice
its general appearance of regularity and
neatness. Hearing a train, of cars be-
meath, looked down, and found that /
had overtaken the Charleston train, and
was having a lively race with them.
They tried hard, as / have since learned,
to keep up with me, but in,vain. 1cross-
, ed the road diagonally, and left them
away behind. At half.past4 4, 1had reach
edsthe height of one mile, and feeling a
little chilly, put on nay oyer:coat. To the
left of myscourse, saw three villages
-theys were Graniteyile, Aiken and
Blaekville. The general appearance of
the country was as if the whole face of it
had been once complete forest, and
spaces made here and there by clearing
off the timber, thus leaving the great
mass of.swoods, and dotting the country
over with plantations. Occasionally l
came low enough to hear voices of per-
sons below, but though tried repeatedly
to get some information of my where
abouts, I failed to elicit any response to
my questions. AsI passed over one house,
Ifelt quite sure the dwelers therein had
received g terrible scare, for the women
were screaming in. terrible manner,
aided by single male voice. The wind
bore me rapidly by the place, and I had
my quiet langh at their expense, when L
saw fash near the door of the house,
followed by the report of gun. l have
no doubt the shot was intendedfor the bal
loon, but was out of the reach of any
ordinary gun, and so had another laugh
to myself: Asa sail on the water is a
good appetizer, SO is voyage in the air,
and this was no exception. Being we'll
provisioned, Ipartook of hearty sup
per, stopping occasionally to observe the
movements of the balloon, and to put out
little sand occasionally, for the sun was
getting lower, and the gas that had been
warmed by its rays cooling and corden.
sing, thus gradually losing a portion of
its buoyancy. Night was approaching,
and though j felt sure that it should be
moonlight, 1 looked in vain for the sill
very yorb. Thinking I must be mistaken,
/ thought of landing without further de-
lay, and looking below found that the
was still shining on the balloon; in pas
sing over some water almost directly be-
meath me, the reflection Of the moon on
its surface, bright as the original, caught
my eye; the balloon had hidden it from
me, so continued on my journey. Du-
ring the daylight, had noticed smoke
curling up from the woods in many places,
but. now all over the country near and far
the fires could be seen, fairly sprinking
the earth with lights; in some places they
were so numerous and near together, that
they gave in the distance the exact ap-
pearance of large city, with its thous-
ands of gas-lights. I thought at the time,
however, that no matter how fine to look
upon, they would be dangerous places to
come in contact with when landing. l
! looked at my compass occasionally, and
sometimes found myself going North OF
East and sometimes Southeast, the.upper
current carrying me in the latter direc
,;on. I did not know my exact where
abouts, but hoped L was nearing Charles,
ton, and this caused me to continue the
voyage longer than | otherwise should
have done. The moon did me good scr.
vice in the reflections given as | passed
along, showing the exact nature of the
ground, whether swamps or dry land. II
was past 7 o'clock, when suddenly LETT
behind me all signs of cultivation, ano
started into what seemed to me to be the
beginning of district bearing charac.
ter entirely different from anything that
had come under my observation before,
knew must be approaching the Atlantic
and thought could make it outin the dis
sance, and it now struck me that possibly
I-mght have nothing better before me
than that which was now under me-
had struck the swamps in the vicinity Of
the Santee River, and hcing overfowed