Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-08-27

journalistic profession, and had he lived
he would no doubt have been a sue
cessiul humorist and essayist in Literature.
His last words among his assembled
associates in the JouTR0t 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-five
years of age in February last, and was en-
gagged to be married to a lady in Lockport,
III. 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 mournod son"
THE HOUR OF THE DISASTER.
In regard to the time of the fatal acci-
dent the Journal Of the goth says:
p" In Specializing upon the probable time
the balloon went into the water, the watch
found on the body of Grimwood may
furnish very valuable assistance, If indeed
the testimony IL gives is not almost abso.
lutely conclusive. Though dumb, il still
speaks; and though 1t has become rusty
D,y lylng nve weeks in the water and on
ihe snore, still 1t reveals the secrets of the
iast iear1ul hour and the struggle with
ueath, upon which so much has
lRtn said and written. Il is smalI
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 Il
was found upon the shore. The hands
remain undisturbed, and point TO twenty
minutes past eleven. Was that the fatal
moment wnen, struck and overcome by
the gale, ballast all out, the balloon re-
iused longer to carry its load of human
freight, and gave them over to helpless
and unequal struggle with the waves?
Inc 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 evi-
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 &
90. He opened the watch, the first time
II mad 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-
9Oh Gnu INC Dellel OF everyone, JnaL Jne
watch would stop almost instantaneously
alter 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 il stopped
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 known fact The tes-
timony of the watch confirms the theory of
the disaster generally accepted by the peo-
pie, which is, discarding all far-fetched
and fine-spun theories, that the balloon
and its passengers were swept into the lake
before the fury of the blast"