Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-05-14
Fatal Ba. IOnIng.

Fatal Ba coming.
Full particulars ha,s been received by
mail of the terrible balloOning disaster in
France last month, which was briefly re-
ported by telegraph. The party consisted
of NM. Tissandier, Croce-Spinelli and Sivel,
all of them experienced balloonists. NJ.
Sivel was of the party simply to manage the
balloon, he having already made one hun
dred and fifty-one ascents. The start was
made in the balloon Zenith, from the gas
works of La Villette, near Paris, on the
| 18th April, at half-past eleven. As the as
cent was made for scientific purposes, and as
it was intended to reach great altitude, the
party was provided amply with instruments
ANA with bags of oxygen to be breathed
when the air should become too rare to sup
port life The incidents OF the voyage have
been graphically described by the sole sur
vivor Of the expedition. NJ Tissander, in
minutes kept by him during the ascent, and
| in a report made to the French AerOnautical
Society.
At one O'Clock the balloon had reached a
height of 5000 metres, or something more
than three miles The balloonists - felt
happy and actively occupied themselves in
|. making scientific observations. They CON
tinued to ascend, and at twenty
minutes after one were at a height
OF : 900 metres. Although pallid and weak
they agreed to throw ont more ballast and
ascend still further But already they had
passed the point where they could pursue
their scientific inquiries. The following ex
tract from NJ. Tis,andier : notes. the last he
was able to write, shows that it was already
time for them to descend
Nov the height Is 650o metres. A little oppres-
s.ye-.- Hands slightly frozen go We are better go
Hands frozen. Croce pants. We iuhAle the OXy zen
n the hag siyel and Croce shut their eyes.--.Ihey
are pale....A little better, even gay. Croce saws
to me. Laughing. " You blow Ikea porpolse.' 41.
We are -uu1 metres. siVel seems drowsy IS vel
and Croce are pale---.7ioo. Sleepy. 800 SiNel
still throws out ba!last--.. Syel throws out bal
last.
As they rose after this last emptying Of
the bags, the narrator became powerless
He could not turn his head To look at his
companions lie could not raise his arm to
take hold of the oxygen tube. His eyes re
maned fixed on the Barometer, and he tried
to say that the height reached was 5000 me-
TRES. Uul Ills LNlEAt ltAu>tl 10 4hNNCs anu AlN
fell Scnseless. Ihi, wa- at halt-past one
Consciousness returned for moment about
forty minutes later The balloon was rapid
ly descending, and TiSSandier had strength
to cut of one of the bags of ballast to stay
the descent, 10 observe that the height was
about 300 metres, 10 notice that his com
plnious were lying IN a faint at the bottom
uf the ear, and 10 write a briet note OF the
situation. Then he lainted again. soon
after he was awakened by Croce shaking
his arm, and noticed that he wa, throwing
out ballast, but again fell into a trance. Not
until quartcr-rast three did he become con-
>ciou~ again. Then he awokc to fiGd the
balloon descending with frightful rapidity
Siyel and Coocc were huddlei up in the ear,
their faces black ;hc.r mouths covered with
blood. lie tried u rouse them, but 1t was
not possible. Gathering his strength he
threw out two bags OF ballast, A. the balloon
was rapidly nearing the earth. By last
effort he succeeded in finding his knife and
cut loose the anchor. The shock when the
earth WAS touched was very violent, but the
anchor did not hold. and the balloon glidcd
alou. on the earth. the ear touching the
ground, and the bodies OF Crocc and Slvel
were shaken from side to side. At last
Tis>andior managed To seize the rope Of the
escapc-yalge and let out the gas the bal
loon crashed up against a tree and came 10 a
stop, and at four O'Clock one only of the
three came alive out Of the car. Croce and
Siyel were dead.
Ii cannot, Of course. be known what
height was reached by the Zenith, no one
being conscious at a greater distance from
the earth than 5000 metres. Still it i not
probable that the extreme altitude exceeded
$500 metres, or say - 900 feet. Although
this seems a great height, being over five
miles. it l. not - great as many other aero
nauts have reached and returned safely. An
ascent was made in 1862 to the height Of
81 900 feet, On which occasion the persons
in the balloon suffered from similar symp-
toms as those described by NJ. Tissandier,
bat in les degree. This has led some per-
sons to doubt whether il was the rarefaction
of the air that caused the death Of MN.
Crocc-S Spinelii and Svel. Mr.. Simmons,
who last year made the ascent with " the
flying man, VI. de Grooi, who lost his life in
the descent, believes they were sufi0cated by
Gas. Ii l. little curious that the survivor
of this expedition had the weakest constitu-
tion of the three