The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1875-05-13
Philadelphia Telegraph ofFriday.l
THE BOLD LER0XABT.
His Statement of Ills flight ever and
Fali in Jersey-H0W the CaHard rs
i, 70 HIS Death was Sfartea.

His statement OF Ills flight ever an
] Fall in Jersey-HOW The CaHard a
| 70 HIS Death was Siartea.
Prof. Donaldson, who was roporte
as having been instantly killed nea
Ateo, y. J., by an accident 10 hi
balloon on Wednesday, arrived ii
this city yesterday morning. Con
eerning his peTilous journey over ant
iall in Jersey be tells the folIOwint
interesting story: u
i When 1 bad reached an altitude q
nVe hundred feet found the bsske
swaying great deal-decidedIy IN
steady-even for me. let out tn
rope its full length, and found that
steadied the car. The balloon con.
tlnued TO ascend with remarkabl,
speed, and the earth rapidly reeeded
When | had been up some. twenty.
1--we minutes found, on eonsultins
my barometer, that had reached al
altitude of over 5000 feet. 1t was in,
tensely cold. have in nv time
reached far greater attitudes, bat re.
member none where I experienced
the cold more keenly than Yesterday,
was chilled through, aud could
scarcely move my limbs and hands
they were so benumbed.
AT this elevation l desired a drink,
and turned to bottle of mineral wa
ter, two of which had taken up with
me, and found both frozen solid,
now passed over Gloucester, ara was
making my way rapidly toward the
ocean, which could see in the dim
distance, between Atlantic City and
Cape May. Thought it about time
to come down, but, to my surprise
and dismay, l found the valve ropes
gone.
You may rest assured that this
worried me; could only account for
1t on the ground that by some power
ful suction they had been drawn into
the neck of the balloon. Before nv
ascension had them in my hand,
and was certain they were within
reach, and was stunned to learn nv
mistake.
III my hands had not been so thor
oughiy paralyzed with the cold, I
might, by going up on the netting,
have arranged other ropes to work
but this was now impossible There
was slight lull in the wind, and I let
out all my rope, with the anchor at
t2ched, and this brought down the
balloon. The point where 1 COM
menced to land was about twenty
miles.northwest of Camden, and when
l reached the height of 100 feet above
the earth, had gone about six miles
beyond the town of Atco, which is
about twenty-five miles beyond Cam
den. My anchor caught in a tree, and
seemed to hold fast. The balloon, un-
der a freshening wind, pulled at it
like giant, and there [ was between
the two, not knowing whether to
trust myself to the rope beneath or to
take my chances in the balloon. My
fear was that the rope would not hold.
and | knew that If l went up again
should probably come down with
nothing better than water to rest up
on. / certainly would have got into
the ocean. In this extremity heard
the swapping of the net, and knowing
that some of the meshes had pre-
v1ously given way, / made up nv
mind not to trust myself any longer
with the balloon. So 1 out with my
jack-knife and cut the ropes which
held il to the concentrating ring, and
in moment the balloon was going
of to Europe, and 1 and the basket
were milling to the earth. / fell a
distance, think, of seventy-five feet,
but dropping with the basket, my fall
was broken somewhat, and / escaped
with only some severe bruises. / was
stunned and lay there some time, l
guess, when a number of people came
running up. Some stayed, while a
few put off to the town, and sent
in the dispatches about my hav-
ing been dashed to pieces. That
was a kind fellow who wanted
to know what to do with my
body. / would like to see him.
When / recoverd, which was very
soon, put off with a wagon to the
nearest station, went to Berlin, and
stopped at a hotel over night, and
arrived here (Philadelphia) this
inorning, with nothing but-tbe,.bas--
ket in q baggage wagon. I didn't
feel IS happy as might, b1t under
the circumstances, it is perhaps as.
well that was able to bring the bas-
ket back. Pm ready for the next as
censiOn in Newark. I've always been
in the habit of managing nay balloons.
| don't like them to manage me.
This fellow was new, and perhaps 1t
was owing to his having never been
broken in, that he acted in such
skittish manner (This Donaldson got
off in a very dry, mineral-water man
ner.) This is the first balloon that ever
got away from me. have had them
tear, but Pve always brought back
some of the pieces. This went off
only some baggage behind. 1
expect in a day or so to hear of its ar.
rival at Lisbon, or some point on the
northwest African Coast.
The following dispatch, received,
yesterday, explains how the hoax
Donaldson's death was
started
ATCo, n. j.. April D
Last evening . strange man came
to this place, visited the telegraph Of
flee in great excitement, and gave
out report that Mr.. Donaldson, the
aeronaut, had fallen from his balloon
a short distance below here, and had
been instantly killed. A number of
our citizens visited the spot and dis
covered the whole affair to be q cruel
hoax.
A number of kilograms received
from Philadelphia are here awaiting
]. A. Spencer, NJ. D., the name sign
ed to the bogus telegram. The Off
GERS of the telegraph company have
failed to find him, he having dissp-
peared shortly after creating the
alarm.