American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-09-04

l
dropped his basket. The ascension was
considered most satisfactory by all who
| witnessed it, but in a very few moments
he was out OF sight.
And now we let him tell his own story ::
"After cutting the basket loose the bal
loon darted up very rapidly. l pulled
| the valve-rope and opened the valve, but
the gas escaped too slowly. l was then
almost to the waters edge, and going at
the rate of a mile a minute. Quick work
must be done or watery grave. l had
either to cut a hole in the balloon OF go to
sea, and, as there were no boats or vessels
in sight, chose the lesser evil. Selling
three of the cords l swung out of the rim
into the netting, the balloon careening on
her side. climbed halfway up the net
ting, opened my knife with my teeth, and
cut hole about two feet long The in
slant cut the hole the gas rushed out so
fast that could scarcely get back to the
ring. came near being suffocated, but
l managed to get back to the ring, though
half stupefied. After reaching the ring 1
dashed myself fast to- it with a rope
While was cutting the hole in the side
Of the balloon my cap fell off, and SO fast
down l caught up with and passed the
cap. Continuing to descend, struck the
ground in a large corn-field, and was
dragged nearly thousand feet, the wind
blowing perfect gale. Crashing against
a rail fence, was rendered insensible.
When 1 came to l found myself hanging
to one side of tree, and the balloon to the
other side, ripped to shreds. could have
thrown a stone into the ocean from where
landed, and the tree on which I was
hanging was the last one on the land
After resting myself concluded to climb
the tree and get the fragments of my bal
loon, but on attempting this feat one of
the limbs of the tree broke, and had
fall of about fifteen feet, knocking the
breath out of me.
Son this trip traversed ten miles in
seven minutes; the balloon was emphati
cally in ribbons" s -
"My ninth ascension was from Chilli
Gothic, Ohio, April 90, 1872, and this was
the first time l used my new balloon, the
Magenta On this occasion l went two
miles high and travelled sixty-two miles in
one hour and forty five minutes. When at
my highest elevation the thermometer
stood at twenty six degrees, and after land
ing it stood at sixty four degrees. At one
time, while was in bright sunlight above
the clouds, I could see the miniature
shadow of the balloon, like dark disk,
on the bosom of the clouds beneath, sur
rounded completely by ring of prismatic
cOlOrs, circular rainbow, of which the
shadow of the balloon was the center. 1t
was indescribably beautiful, and some
thing that never had the good fortune to
see before. My landing was very rough,
as had forgotten my rope and anchor.
On this occasion used the trapeze only.
made my tenth ascension from Chill
licothe on April 90, 1872. Before I started
told the parties holding the balloon to
take it back, but for some reason they did
not. When the balloon was loosened
saw that it would strike against the wall
of Lansing's drug store, and put my feet
out; they struck the building with great
violence. After striking the balloon rose,
then the ring struck the wall anu was al
was dragged over the chimney, tearing off
sixteen layers of brick. 1 was almost
instantly hurled against second CHM
ney, tearing a number of bricks from that
also. thought once l would let loose
and drop, but concluded to hold on, as
there were no more objects for me to come
in contact with. rose to the height of a
mile or over. Finding myself much ex-
hausted and bruised, l was not in a con
dition to go through my performance on
the trapeZe. 1 therefore concluded that
for my own safety I had better descend. In
looking for the valve-rope to enable me to
do this was disappointed in finding it |
out of my reach, and it was with difficulty |
could climb to the concentrating ring to |
reach it. I finally succeeded, however,
and, pulling the rope, descended rapidly,
landing in field belonging to Mr.. Bon |
ner. The landing was very rough, and I |
rebounded three times, striking first a
stone wall, then a tree, and then a fence,
to which last l succeeded in fastening my |
trapeze rope. was then driven in car
rage to the Emmitt House, physicians
were called, and upon examination they
found that my ankle was sprained, my leg
scratched and bruised, and my shoulder
badly injured. My injuries not being of
a serious character was able to be out in
a few days. ''-Cincinnatt Enquirer.