Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1875-08-27
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journalistic profession, and had he lived
he would no doubt have been sue.
cessful humorist and essayist in literature
His last words among his assembled
associates in the Journal Office on the
afternoon of the day he assembled in the
balloon were jovial, and he was unusually
full of good spirits He was twenty two
years of age in February last, and was en-
gagged to be married to a lady in Lockport,
Ill. His aged father, Mr.. William Grim
wood, of Kendall County, H., is In the
city to-day, sadly awaiting the arrival of
the body of his mourned son."
TIE HOUR OF THE DISASTER.
In regard to the time of the fatal acci-
dent the Journal of the Goth SAYS:
In specializing upon the probable time
the balloon went into the water, the watch
found on the body of Grimwood NAV
furnish very valuable asssieto1aoe, If ;aslexsi
the testimony 1t gives is not almost abso-
lutely conclusive. Though dumb, it still
speaks; and though it has become rusty
by lying five weeks in the water and on
the shore, still it reveals the secrets of the
last fearful hour and the struggle with
death, upon which so much has
been said and written. 1t is a small,
lady's gold watch, and when found the
crystal was gone. The breaking of the
crystal, in all probability, occurred at a
period subsequent to its going into the
water, and quite likely while the body
was drifting toward the place where it
was found upon the shore. The hands
remain undisturbed, and point to twenty
minutes past eleven. Was that the fatal
moment when, struck and overcome by
the gale, ballast all out, the balloon re-
fused longer to carry its load of human
freight, and gave them over to helpless
and unequal struggle with the waves
The watch was received at this office
in exactly the condition it was
when taken from the pocket of Grim
wood. 1t is important to know, in
order to determine the value of the evil
dence, whether it was run down, and if it
was then but little or nothing is deter
mined by it. This question was deter
mined this morning by an examination by
Mr. j. III. Allison, the experienced watch
maker at the establishment of Matson &
20. He opened the watch, the first time
1t had been opened since it was closed by
Grlmwood himself in the balloon. The
examination revealed that the watch had
certainly not run more than five hours and
twenty minutes after it was wound up.
MI. Allison states, what accords With rea-
son and the belief of everyone, that the
watch would stop almost instantaneously
after going into the water. The cases he
found somewhat loose, which would
readily admit the water to the works. Five
hours and twenty minutes before itstopped
would be six O'Clock, the time when it
must have been wound up. The time
when the balloon went up, as observed by
a Journal man, was eleven minutes to five.
So the watch must have been wound while
they were in the clouds. The time indi-
Gated by the watch corresponds to the
time they would meet the squall The
gale that night is a known fact. The tes-
timony Of the watch confirms the theory of
the disaster generally accepted by the peo-
pie, which is, describing all far-fetched
and fne-spun theories, that the balloon
and its passengers were swept into the lake
before the fury of the blast"