, 1875-05-29
DYING ABOVE THE CLOUDS.
Terrible Fate of French seroun.rts.


! President of the Aerial Navigation Society,
| thus describes the voyage in which the ex-
perienced aeronauts, Captain SIyel and Mr..
| Croce-SpineIli, lost their lives. One Of then
| objects was 10 try experiments OF the effect
upon human lungs of an extremely high at
/ mosphere. Mr.. Croce-Spinelh also proposed
/ to continue those spectroscopic observations
| by which be has already proved that no wa
/ tery vapor exist in the suns atmosphere.
/ Mr.. Tissandier was to analyze the upper AIR,
while Captain Sivel attended TO the balloon
| CIRoS, Inlrel April 10th, 1875.
MONSIEUR "A telegram, sent officially Y,
/ Will have informed you OF the sad misfortune
which has befallen us Sivel and Croce-
Spinelli are no more They succumbed to
I asphyxia in the high regions Of the air to
| which We had ascended. | viii relate to you
what l know of this sad drama. for. during
/ two consecutive hours, l was IL a state OF
| complete Inconsistencies.
- The ascension from the gas works at La
! Villettd WAS accomplished favorably. AT
/ one in the afternoon we were already at more
than 1900 yards Of altitude pressure 400.
! We had passed air into the potassium tubes,
! felt our pulses, measured the interior temper
ature Of the balloon, which WAS more than %
/ c. ,6S Fahr. ) while the exterior air was less
| than D c. al Fahr.) Sivel had trimmed the
car Crocg had used his spectroscope, and we
were all in high spirits.
J "Sivel threw out ballast and we ascendei,
breathing oxygen, which produced an excel
| lent effect.
! =" At H. 20n. the barometer marked $50
nm; we were over 1000 yards high, and the
! temperature was less than 10 C. 90 F4hr.
! Ny companions were pale felt weak, bat
! l inhaled little Of the gas, which somewhat
revived me. We still a>ceuded. Sigel turned
| toward me and said: we have a large
quantity If ballast shall throw some out :
DO As YOU please He then put the same
! question 10 our friend, who nodded enerseti-
| cally in token Of approval. We had five
sacks with Us, each weighing twenty-five
kilos, and at least four more were hung out
! side the car.
| " Sivel took his knife and successfully cut
! three cords The bags Were emptied, and we
mounted rapidly. All at once I found myself
30 feeble that I could not even turn my head
| to Look Mt nay companions, who | believe
were seated. l desired 70 obtain the oxygen
tube, but could not lit my arm, but my mind
was still quite lucid. had my eyes ON the
! barometer, and SAW the needle pas over the
| figure of pressure 200 mrl., then 2S0, which 1t
went beyond. l wanted to exelaim, 'We'r
at 5000 ! but my tongue seemed paralyZed.
! All at once my eyes closed, and l fell inert,
entirely losing all recollection. The time
was then about l:;I0
! - | TO-. n ..,......
balloon was descending rapidly. was able
to cut sack Of ballast to slacken the speed,
and to write On my register the following
lines, which l copy:
1--WE are descending. Temperature, s c.
! (l1.6 Eahr.] | am throwing out ballast
Elevation 3I5. Siyel and CrUce sill iusensi.
ble at the bottom Of the car,
d" bad scarcely written these lines when q
sort Of trembling; f. seized me, AID I sank
down faiu;ing for the second time. wa,
conscious ot Il violent wind, indicating very
rapid descent \ few moments after felt
myself shaken by the arms, and recognized
Croce, who had revived. Throw out ballast,
sand he, we are gong down. But ! could
hardly open my eyes, and did not motto,
whether SIvei was aroused. | remember thai
Croce dniasteEed the aspirator and threw j
| ont, rs well as some ballast. extra wraps, ant
the like. All this Is an extremely confuse5
recollection, which was quickly extinguished
for | relapSed into insensihility more thor
oughly than before, and | felt as if | wa
gong OFT INTO an eternal SlUmber. VIVA
happened then | suppose that the balloon
being hghtened, impermeabie as it was, ant
very warm, shot up once more into the uppel
! regions. At about 3:lj o'clock recpened
nay eyes, feeling giddy and weak. but my
eonscIou-r:e7s return,d. The balloon wa!
rushing downward with frightful velocity.
The ear swayed violently from side TO side
and described great oscillations. / raised
myself on my knees, and pulled nay eompan.
ions by the arm. 'SIvel, CrOce = I cried
rouse yourselves' They were both cruuched
down in the car, with their heads concealed
IN their cloaks. | summoned up all my
strength, and rndeavured to lift them up
Sivel's face was black, his eyes dull, month
wida open and full Of blood. Croce-Spiaell
had his eyes closed, and his mouth blood
stained also.
To relate what occurred then Is quitf
beyond my power. | noricel a tremendous
wind from upward. We were still IN an alti
tude OF 5000 metres There were still in th,
ear two bags Of ballast, which cast out
Soon We neared the earth, and sought my
knife in order tc cut the attachment Of III,
anchor, but I could not find il.
- was distracted, and kept calling out
"Sivel Sivel u Fortunately laid my hand
on a knife, and WAS enabled to free tn
grapnel III time. The shock Of the fall We
extremely violent. The balloon appeared t,
aatten itself out completely, and thought /
would 50 remain But there was i stror.
wind, which carried it along. The grapue
did not hold firmly, and the car was draggeJ
across the nelds. The dead bodies OF my
unfortunate friends were jerked about, and
feared at each moment that they would fal
out of the car. Meanwhile | succeeded il
graspins the cord OF the valve, and the bal
loon was quickly emptiei, and was fnall,
exhausted against q tree. This was abou
four o'clock.
son getting ont Of the car was attacket
by a feverish excitement Of the most violen
kind, and yeEy soon fell exhausted, and BE-
came Lvid. / thought that I was about t
JOIN my companions IN the next world
Nevertheless, l gradually recovered IN,
senses. | examined my poor comrades an
found them cold auf stiff. I had their corr
ses transported to the shelter of a neighborin
farm. sobbed u sutfOcation, and even ye
have not recovered.
u am at Ciron, near LIE Blame, where
I have been received with boundless hospitality
, - have oeen feverish all the night.
| have not yet been able TO eat anything what
, ever, and teel constantly very weak.
, GASTON TISs4NDIER.
BARRIsTER to witnessl-Sow, sis, wha
c Ia the character Of the plaintiff in this suit
. Witness-Her character Is slightly matrimC