The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1875-08-26
PsRILOUs BALLOON IO7GG-.
Narrow Escape from Destruction OI
Professor King. ..

Professor Samuel A. King, the
Cleveland aerOnsut. who succeeded
Donaldson AS tile balloOnist Of Bar
NUNS Hippodrome, made an ascen-
sion alone in the Cloud Nymph at
Burlington, Iowa, un the 5tn. Pro-
fessOr King furnished the Hunk eVs
with the following account Of the
trip:
l assembled from Burlington at 4:SO
p. NJ, taking u northeast direction.
In few moments / had crossed dag
Onaily the Mississippi River aud
was sailing in the direction OF some
wild bottom lands. I had intended
to make landing at the first Opp0r-
tunity, but the poor prospect present.
ed just then determined me to con-
tinue the voyage. An ugly-IOOking
storm cloud lay directly in front of
me, the low, ragged edges Of which
betokened wind as well as rain. I
knew j bad business before me, but
hardly realized the strange and terri
bic experience | was about to pass
through. l had hardly left the ground
before l heard the rumbling thunder,
and in a very few minutes I was
Immersed in the clcud-that is, what
appeared to be the superior portion of
it. thought that at the time I dis
appeared from the sight Of the crowd
in front of Barnum's HipprOdrOme I
was about three-qIartsrs of mile
high. There seems to be nothing un-
usual about the cloud as entered Il,
it being simply dense fog, through
which arose calmly enough for
some minutes. l had heard the thun-
der from the first, and seemed to be
getti ng near the sound, when sudden
ly there came an electric discharge in
my immediate vicinity at the same
moment the balloon seemed to have
been seized by some extraordinary
force, and hurled through the inter
vening space in the direction Of the
flash. The gas in the balloon ex-
panded with such force "a To drive il
down through the open neck IN a solid
stream, and for a moment | was fear
ful OF being suffOcated. / opened the
valve at the top Of the balloon to give
it vent, aud did my best TO get out Of
the way OF the escaping gas below.
following quickly came another dis
charge in another direction, and the
balloon was again seizsd aud thrown
with fearful velocity in that direction
and this WAS repeated over and over
again, the lightning blazing arOUn1
me, and | looked auxiously at the
escaping vOlums OF gas once or
twice when the balloon gave such
terrific lunges / thought it had been
struck with the fluid, for it did not
seem possible to escape. / had been
pitched and tossed about in this man
ner for about twenty minutes without
even reaching the top of the cloud,
when all at once 8 torrent Of rain be-
gan to fall from above (; It seemed to
eleave the air almost in a mas the
fog around me presented the appasF-
ance OF white horse tails as the falling
water pierced through it, dragging IL
along. The weight Of water showed
its effects on the balloon too, and /
confess il was with q sense OF relief
that | saw tie lower portion OF the
balloon drawn upward In parachute
shape, which indicated to q certainty
that it was descending. / had now
another danger ahead, which must be
met with care and resolution. ]
could see nothing below as yet all
" as lug duAi ram lurEc catle Ill H.
stant | was dashing through their
tops, tearing off limbs and crashing
along q fearful rate. The collapsing
cord was in my hand threw my
weight upon it, the gas escaped, the
balloon and net work spread itself
over the trees, letting the car down
through them almost 10 the ground,
allowing me to alight in safety. The
balloon was badly damaged, bot not,
I hope, beyond repair. A tramp
through corn fields thres-quarters Of
a mile OF more brought me to a houss
and soon T found willing hands to
assist me in getting nay balloon out
of the woods. l had alighted about
two miles southeast from Oleua, in
Henderson county, Illinois, in what
Is known az Campbell's timber. The
duration of the voyage was not over
three quarters Of an hour, and by the
direction in which the drag-rODe lay
across the trees after the descent /
found that I was returning ia aim Jst
8 direct line to Burlington.