The Shasta courier., 1871-12-02
Thrilling Incident of 1853.

One pleasant afternoon, in the month of
September, 1858, we found ourself on the
Oakland boat, in company with large del
egation, on our way over to Oakland for the
purpose of witnessing balloon ascension
which was advertised to take place from
that city. Upon arriving at tha PlaeO of
the contemplated ascension, We found the
balloon in process of inRation but the ap-
paratus for the manufacture OF the gas was
defective, and the imitation Of the balloon
correspondinglJ tedious. 1t was cold, and
the afternoon was already far gone, and the
crowd, as is usual at such places, was be-
coming impatient Finally, as the sun was
rapidly nearing the horizon, the proprietor
made the announcement that he did not
think that he had gas enough in his balloon
for successful ascension, and as he could
not possibly make any more, still ne would
make an effort to ascend. He accordingly
seated himself in the basket and cut the
cord, the Office of which was to hold the
balloon to terra frma; but, to the utter
disgust of the crowd, it set as still as an
old lumber wagon in a potato patch. He
threw out his ballast, but still it would not
rise. He then stepped out of the car him
self, but it refused to depart for the skies
even then. Now, it simply consisted of the
balloon. with the ropes encircling it, ard
extending some feet below AT this juno
ture, believing that it would not go up un-
der any circumstances, he carelessly relin-
quished his authority over it, and allowed
it to get into the hands of some boys, who
began to experiment by throwing pieces Of
boards across the ropes and testing it in
that way At last an orange boy threw a
narrow piece of board across the ropes, not
more than four inches in width, and jump
ed on it, when to the amazement of all
present, it shot up like rocket, and before
any one could render him assistance he was
beyond reach. The string for opening the
valve and allowing the gas to escape had
been broken during the melee, and the boy
was at the mercy of circumstances over
which he had no control. It was an awful
moment, but scene Of sublime grandeur
There was little boy suspended in mid
heaven, with nothing but a board four inches
in width to sit on and a string to hold to.
As he found himself going he yelled to his
partner, "Jim, take care of my oranges !"
But little did any one who saw that spec
tacle believe that he would have any further
use for oranges. Up, up, up, higher and
higher and higher did he ascend, gradually
floating oceanward, until he hovered, a mere
spect to view, over the city Of San Francis
co, VIXEN all at once counter current of
atmosphere struck him and rapidly carried
him over the Contra Costa range of noun
tains. He kept on ascending higher until
lost to view. We watched him in the
most breathless state of suspense that ever
mortals experienced-expecting every min
ute to see him tumble to earth, for no ono
supposed that he could long retain his seat
on the narrow board, to say nothing of the
benumbing effect of cold upon him. There
was bitter feeling toward the owner Of the
balloon for his carelessness, and there were
not wanting those who freely canvassed
the propriety of lynching him. But when
the Sacramento steamer came in the follow
ing evening, to the amazement of every
body in San Francisco, the orange boy was
on it The balloon took course over
Martinez, crossed the bay, or straits, and
finally came down in the Suisun Valley
when he went to a farmhouse and remained
over night, and on the following day footed
it to Benicia and took passage on the steam
er enroute to San Francisco. His account
Of his voyage was more than thrilling 1t
was horrifying He says that after tying
the board on which he sat to the rope, sc
that it would Eot fall out, he actually
climbed the rope to the balloon, distance
of ten or twelve feet, and with his knife
punctured it, in the hope that the gas woulc
escape and so descend to the earth. Bu
of course he could only puncture it at the
bottom, where the gas could not escape
He said the view, as he passed over th,
mountains, was grand beyond description
San Francisco, Suisun, Sacramento, Marys
vile, Stockton, San Jose, and, in fact, al
the towns within hundreds of miles, looked
as fthey were all huddled together beneath
him. He said !: GAS | was passing owe
Martinez l took an orange out of my pocke
and dropped it, but didn't stop to SCI
whether they got it or not Had the bal
loon have descendeda little sooner he woult
have been drowned in the straits. TakeI
altogether, his preservation was the mos
marvellous escape from terrible fate tina
We had ever had any knowledge of.-Pet
aiuma Crescent