The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1875-08-19
THE LOST BALLOONISTS.
Faint Hopes that they are Still Alive, and
Will be Heard From.

Will be Heard HfOMs
From the Chicago Inter-Ocean.l
Hereabouts people have long since set
tied down into the conviction that Don
aldson and Grimwood are lost beyond
peradventure. It seems rather odd,
therefore, to see all at once springing up
in the far East arguments to prove that
the two voyagers are still alive. Nothing
could show the depth of feeling regard
ing the fate of these men more strongly
than the fact that, Notwithstanding the
length of time that has elapsed since
they sailed away on their mysterious voy-
age, hope is still alive, and interest scarce
undated. There is strange fascination
about the story of their loss, their prob
able fate, their possible safety, that at
tracts everybody. Nothing in the way
of news or adventure has created such
universal interest, has been read SO
greedlly, or been circulated so widely.
Scarcely anewspaper in the United States
has failed to advance a theory regarding
them, while It's correspondents have had
twice as many more. That the discus
sion should break forth afresh now,
simply shows the hold which the suiect
has taken OF the people.
Commenting on q report, absurd en-
ough in itself that Donaldson has been
seen alive in a Michigan town, an Allen
town (Pa. paper, with knowledge OF
the mans character and career, says that
it has long been his cherished plan to
make an ascension with newspaper
writer, disappear for time, and then
publish story Of the voyage. The
Philadelphia Times adds "The trick is
in every way worthy of him, and if sue
cessfully carried out would certainly re-
suit in his profit. A week in the clouds /;
thrilling adventures in the atmosphere /;
narrow escapes in the lake perilous acct
dents in the forest, and that sort of thing,
work up splendidly" Giving the above
for what it is worth, which we imagine to
be no great deal, we come to somewhat
similar theory by the New York Graphic,
which editorially expresses itself as
follows
eve publish elsewhere letter from gen.
tleman who has a theory that Donaldson's bal
loon was struck by lightning. Not only is there
not the slightest evidence that such was the
case, but there in not on record single instance
in which q balloon has been struck by lightning
although aeronauts have made ascensions in
another column an account of the voyage of
the French balloon Vile dOrleans. This bal
loon, which held 900 feet of gas, and carried
two persons, was of very nearly the same size
and weight of Donaldson's balloon which held
70, 900 feet of gas. 1t left Paris at 11:40 at
night and landed 1900 miles away in Norway
at 2:25 on the afternoon of the next day. Now,
Donaldson would have reached the forests of
Michigan after drifting only 200 miles, and
there is no reason to suppose that the balloon
was not capable of a much longer voyage.
Had it been struck by lightning, OF wrecked in
any other way on the lake. some fragments OF
it ought to have been long ago found. We still
cling to the hope that Donaldson and his young
companion are yet in the Canadian woods, and
will emerge before long in safety"
Though there are few who share the
hope of the Graphic, it is not impossl-
BILE that the aeronauts are still alive, and
will be heard from. That they were lost
in the lake seems now most improbable,
and as their descent in any part of the
country, save the gigantic forests OF
Canada or Michigan, would have been
almost surely noticed or discovered, it
would appear quite plain that, dead or
alive, they are in some uninhabited re-
gion, far from any settlement. That
there should yet be a hope OF their re-
turn, will, no doubt, seem vain and with
out reason to many, but the fact that it
is entertained in intelligent quarters will
revive the interest surrounding them,
and give fresh lease to that expectation
which had settled into despair.