Elizabeth daily monitor. [volume] (Elizabeth, N.J.) 1868-1880, 1873-10-02
FALL.Ne FROM THE CLOUDS.

WAPEnLo, Iowa, September 26.-The
managers of the agricultural fair now
being held at this place extensively adj
vertised an extraneous attraction in two
balloon ascensions by Prof. J. II. Bo-
ley, the original date for the first being
the oath. The professor was practical
aeronaut, living at Aledo, ILL.,, but
spending the summer months each year
in making ascensions at Western state
and county fairs. On the appointed
day heavy rain enforced postpone
ment, but yesterday was bright and
clear, and arrangement for the event
proceeded under the eyes of a vast at
tendance. The balloon used was not
filled with gas, but was a large Mongol-
fer, consisting of bag for holding hot
air, to which was attached by ropes a
light trapeze. These balloons are re-
garded by aeronauts as extremely dam
gerous, because of their aptitude for
catching fire or making too rapid de-
scents when the air in the bag cools too
suddenly. None but reckless operators
use them. A wind sprang up IN the
afternoon, and threatened to necessltate
another adjournment, but at four o'clock
it had so nearly subsidized that, unwill-
ing to disappoint the spectators, Boley
prepared to make the ascension. The
folds of the balloon were distended over
brisk fire, and as the air in it became
rarifed it began to tug at the ropes
which held it to the ground. Then
these ropes were tied to the trapeze,
and all was ready at twenty minutes
past five.
Prof. Boley grasped the bar of the
trapeze, the last guy was cnt, and he
was carried up like a rocket. He sat
coolly on his frail perch, bowling in re-
Spouse to the plaudits of the crowd, I'M
til those plaudits suddenly changed to
cries of CONSERVATION. The balloon
was on fire. 1t had caught from the
flame used to initiate it, and the rash
upward through the air had the effect of
q tremendous draft, sending the jets of
fire down the ropes which held the ira
peze. The doomed man instantly saw
his peril but could do nothing. Hot
air balloons are not furnished with
valves, or with any apparatus for regu-
lating their flight. They rise until the
air within them cools, and then drop
more or less rapidly, the speed depend
ing upon the state Of the outside at
mosphere. Boley was not more than
three hundred feet from the ground
when the flames were discovered, and
the breeze was carrying him to the
northeast. The heat of the flames SEEM
ed to send the balloon higher with in
creasing rapidity, until an altitude of
not less than twelve hundred feet was
reached. To avoid falling while per-
forming his usual gymnastic feats on the
trapeze, he had attached strap from
his belt to the bar. Upon first discov-
ering his terrible plight he had appar-
emily tried to disengage himself from
this, intending probably to drop to the
ground but, before he had got himself
loose from the strap, the balloon had
reached such height that fall would
have been more certain death than to
cling to the balloon,
Meantime the balloon was being IA.
pidly consumed. One of the ropes from
which the trapeze was suspended burned
off, but Boley still held on. Then the
other gave way and he fell. He strug-
gled impotently at first in his frightful
descent, but kept nearly erect posi-
ton. Then he turned on his side, but
piece of the burning canvas still hang
ing to the piece of rope and presenting
sort of resistance to the atmosphere,
he was Strengthened up again as he
chung to it, Although he struck more
than half mile away from the starting
place the spectators, now breathlessly
silent, distinctly heard the thud as his
body struck the ground. A stampede
to the spot ensued, which was joined in
by the @ronaut's wife, who had been a
Mortified witness of the ascension and
its end. The body was found driven to
the knees in the ground, having struck
squarely on its face. The leg bones
were broken off and driven into the
body, and scarcely bone of any kind
remained unfractured The body was
like a mass of jelly, SO terrible had been
the conclusion. Several men who
reached the spot Immediately after the
fall, having followed the course OF the
balloon on horseback, say that no signs
of life were then visible.
Mrs. Boley started for home this
morning with the body,
-.