The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1875-07-23
TheH @aiig Argns,
TheIost Aeronauts.

return OF OOL,7auu we are Hut WItHout |
hope that they will yet be heard from, c
the universal interest in their fate, and :
the expressions of regret at their tragic
talking of, if it is such, is a credit to the
hearts of the pubH.. The interest mani
| tested in these v0yagers, however, is not
all born of personal admiration, nor are
the regrets expressed prompted alone by
sense Of the loss which society has met
In the death of the persons concerned. S
1t is the uncertainty that attracts; the
strange and unusual manner of their dis
appearance which keeps alive the interest
SO intense and almost painful. Had
Donaldson died in his bed at a hotel, the
announcement would have boen read and
noted simply, and the busyworld would
passed on. The death of the same man
dashed to the earth from a balloon, or
dragged by the blind fury of the winds
through lonely forest whose strong
branches reached out cruel arms to tear
him in pieces. would hold community
! almost breathless while they read and
shuddered, And so with his companion.
A week ago his death would have been re-
Igarded only in the small circle where he
was personally known. To-day the whole
country awaits with deep concern the de-
tails Of his destruction or escape, and his |
name is known from one end of the land to |
the other. Of course it is to speculate OF
the manner in which the two arouauts met |
their fate-whether by drowning in the |
lake, by being dashed to death amid forest
trees, or by being precipitated headlong
from fearful height by the collapsing OF
the air ship. Either is fearful enough to
contemplate, but there is something about
the fall from great height that appall>
aud sickens the imagination. We can
imagine the agoniZing moments preceding
the catastrophe They knew the danger.
The tornado bnffets the huge ball above
them as though it were play
thing batted by the hands of giants
Z Every stroke strains the frail can
vas and cracks the slight cords
which hold them suspended. Below all is
bIackness-a profound and bottomless
K gulf into which they may be hurled with
out pity, helpless and hopeless. Above
g and around the victims the lurid lightning
= CLEANS and plays as if hooking ere it de-
X stroyed them, A sudden and more fearful
es blow, a sharp crack above them. a second
of suspense, and then the huge bubble
bursts, and into that black void beneath
ut down-down-two forms are plunging to
o eternity.
IN The actual pangs of death vary little,
night leap from the clouds upon the unrec-
v ognizable earth beneath has a dread be-
yond expression. Whether in this man
ner Donaldson and his companion met
ng their fate, or whether they died more
re. lingering but less appalling death in the
\ water or the forests, can only be surmissed.
10 There is yet another theory regarding
them which we have not yet seen men
II toned, but which it seems to US deserves
- attention. Suppose as has been intimat
-: ed, they descended in the night time il
one of the great forests of Michigan OF
Wisconsin Would they not be lost il
those wilds, and would they not run thu
u risk of meeting by starvation the deatf
in they had escaped by storm and water
i'm, Not infrequently we hear of persons com
i iaI parativey familiar with those forests bein
ng lost in their recesses, and year or 8
tn, the since gentleman living in close proximi
ins ty to one of them became bewlldered Will
hen hunting, and for week was sought by hi
so =, neighbors, and finally discovered in hall
The famished condition, after ne had himsel
red abandoned all hope. What is there to saw
,uth Donaldson and his companion from llk
'sed q worse fate? Ought not means be EN-
ployed to aid the aeronauts if any such az
- cident has befallen them? Unless tlding
re- are received before tits appears in print,
Nv is useless to hope that they haye lande
in any place whence egress in safety is
all probable. The chance remains tn;
a Y they have been picked up by some on
w. ward bound vessel, but every hour lesser
this possibility. If they were drowned
'shS the lake, the debris of the balloon won
:. very likely have been discovered ere thi
Go, IF they were thrown out by accident al
ia of the balloon. relieved OF their weight, e
/. capped, it would have come down in ;
ASS. probability before now in some access ib
region, and have been heard from.
,..ss nothing is known this morning, therefor
- from either of the yoyagers or the balloo
we submit it to be probable that tn
have descended in some vast forest, when
80 they require help to be extricated.
~ would rebound to Mr.. Barnum's pra
roc were he to take such steps as may be pr
l& sible to render what may yet be timely
sistance.
The attaches Of the Hippodrome are n
BRO urally in deep gloom over the fate of tn
sleeD companion, and we can but think that
xcite. Idispatchiug of the second balloon OIL S
IS s. are Iurday was an unnecessary exercise OF hd
iound [ity to advertised promises. 1t was no
90 per that no enthusiasm greeted the perfor
lef'' ance, and the solmnity of the upturI
faces was reflected in the countenance
orter Mr.. Thomas, who made the ascent.
and waved his hat, but there was no respons
cheer. A single farewell that seen
BEST rude and ominous was waited to him
,, ever some one in the crowd; but the fates W
ceived propitious, and he descended in safety.
United is now reported that Donaldson was reb
ed for his tame voyage of Wednesday,
,~upbt that he remarked to some friends that
light to would make trip next time that the ia
,porter erJor mould rap,amhar RI tho Last dox
rah A. uuuvL "oGiu ~ WV W '
ed that his life. neither TINS is true or not,
'ithout eventful trip has been made, and, tho
a. All All it may not prove in the end to have B
ey viii last and fatal one, it is certainly one
o rneys y to be long remembered.-Inter- Oc'
Monday morning.
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