The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1870-02-23

| N'Si1 thdI HO matter
now iino to look upon, they would
Do dangerous places to come in
contact with when landing. l
looked at my compass occasional
~, and sometimes found myself
going North of East and some.
times Southeast, tho upper cur
rent carrying me in the latter d.
rectlon. l did not know my OK.
act whereabouts, but hoped 1 was
nearing Charleston, and this caused
mo to continue tho voyage longer
than l otherwise should have
done, Tho moon did mo good
service in the reflections given as
l passed along, showing tho exact
nature Of tho ground, whether
swamps or dry land. 1t was past
z o'clock, when suddenly l left be-
hind mo all signs of cultivation,
and started into what seemed to
mo TO be the beginning Of q dis
trlct bearing character entirely
different from anything that had
como under my observation before.
l knew l must be approaching tho
Atlantic, and thought l could
mako it out in the distance, and it
now struck mo that possibly
might have nothing better before
me than that which was now un-
der me. I~had struck the swamps
in the vicinity Of tho Santec Riv-
er, and being ovcrtlowcd by the
river, they presented for miles tho
most uninviting prospect for a
landing over bchcld, and my re-
lief can be imagined when | passed
again to dry land.
/ now allowed tho balloon to
settle gradually, with the Wow Of
landing as soon rs an opportunity
offered. floatcd along for somc
time, however, before clearing
came in my way; when this came
at last in the shape of a field walled
around hy thick wood. The
ratio of speed at which I was
travelling and the uncertainty with
which height is measured by the
"yo in tho absence Of daylight,
showed mo tho difficulty of land
ing under such circumstances
The attempt was made, however,
but without success, just touching
the trcc-tops on tho opposite side
of tho lot. ! had one bag Of bal
last left. 1t was Immediately
thrown over and kept tho balloon
out of the trees for n while, but it
soon settled again and brushtd tho
tops Of five or six pines, causing it
to rebound from fifty to an hun
drcd feet. This brought to view
another field just ahead, on which
were number Of naked dead
pines. TO havo tho balloon i'm
palod on ono Of these, is probably
tho most dangerous position in
which tho mronaut could be placed,
and 1 would much rather have
taken tho chances among tho
green pinos, but my ballast was
gone. quickly let 60 my drag
rope, hoping to clear them by let
ting the ropo drag, instead Of car
rying its dead weight in tho bas-
kot, but it was not enough, and in
another moment, tho "Hyperion"
dashed broadsido against ono of
tho tallest of thcso fiondish-look-
ing skeletons and was fastened in
its arms; the sudden escape of all
tho gas must, of course, follow,
and what then ? I jumped on to
tho edge Of tho basket, seized tho
drag rope with my hands, took n
turn around ono leg, and tho ncxt
moment would havo been safo up.
on the ground; but tho gas had
escaped in less time than it took
mo to mako my preparations, land
with crash, the rotten limbs gave
way, and the whole mass fell TO-
gcther. Tho distance from tho
ground must have been from fifty
to sixty feet, and how 1 escaped
with whole bones, seems to mo, at
this moment, q miracle. The
shock was terrible. Iaroso immo.
diatoly to my feet, staggering
about like drunken man, and yot
astonishcd that I was ablo to do
so much. lsoon regaincd strength,
however, sufficient to enablo mo
to roach a house near by, whcro l