Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1874-09-24

panoramic effects when the jaws of
death seem TO be yawRing for US. To
the possession OF what is ordinarily
termed presence of mind" on the oc-
casion ] disdainfully decline to lay
claim What did in the matter OF the
grapnel and the ballast was done me-
Chemically and well-nigh unconsciously;
and was desperately and mortaliy ter
flied. A few days after the accident
met the aeronauts assistant, and j had
the curiosity to sound him as TO my de-
meanor during the fall Sir" he very
candidly replied, you kept your mouth
wide open, and you nere as btue as your
breeeIes" had been clad at the time in
light summer attire. And youy" Icon
tinued. "Well out of it," quoth the
aeronaut's assistant, who was seemingly
philosopher; and so went his way.
Mcanwhile-the term Is well-nigh inap-
propriate, since there was scarcely any
/" while TO be " mean'--the aeronaut,
who looked like sailor, had not lost his
presence of mind, and had not been idle.
He saw at glance--ihis brave little old
man-although he had been forgetful in
the matter of the slip-knottcd handker-
wherein our only chance Of safety
lay He jumped up into the shrouds Of
the balloon, cut the cords which at
tached the neck of the machine TO the
hoop, and away to the very top OF the
netting flew the whole of the exhausted
silk body of the sausage. Then it formed
cupola of the approved umbrella pat
tern--a Turned n parachute! II steadied
instantly. There was no collapse, and
down we came swiftly but easily, in a
slantiDg direction, alighting among the
cabbages In market garden, Fulham
Fields. The car struck the elastic earth
with violence, and rebounded, clearing
hedge distance of some twenty feet.
Then the silk, and the netting, and the
hoop, and the car itself fell atop of us
among the cabbages. We were dragged
forth from the ruins Of the Sausage only
to be hustled and robbed Of all the money
in our pockets by ruffianly crew OF
working market gardeners; and the pro.
prietor of the light cart who consented
to drive me from Fulham to Kcnsington
Gore demanded a guinea as his fare, on
the ground that balloons didn't
fall every day" He was far from
complimentary too about the accident it,
self, remarking ironically that this "wos
cum Of carrying up lot of dogs and
monkeys" This ingenious but MERGE
nary person had mistaken our windbag
dragons and fishes swaling through the
air, when we assembled, for living ami
mails.
will omit any account of the congrat-
ulations which were INDUCED in on our
return to Gore House; yet | cannot. con
cludc this paper without notinga preg
nant but somewhat strongly-worded re-
mark made by the little old aeronaut.
While everybody was grasping his hands
and paying him well-deserved compli-
ments on his intrepidity, he suddenly
drew on one side, folded his arms and
sternly inquired: VIE piN say mono that
you cunt came do,on in a 7,aracltutew The
manner Of putting the query was irrev-
erent, but the matter thereof was cogent.
Three and-twenty years after the event
! have narrated | find myself forcibly
imbued with the conviction that it Is
posstble to descend In safety from any
height by means of parachute, but that
there are ten thousand chances to one
against the man who tries the venture
surviving to tell the tale. And please TO
that had no intention Of
coming down in parachute. i con-
tracted to come down in a Sausage bal
loon; but / will do the inventor the
justice to mention that he never asked
me for my share Of the expenses.