Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1875-05-14
The Fatal Balloon Ascension In France.

The Paris correspondent of the New
York Times gives detailed account of
the fatal accident which befel the aero
nauts Capt. Sivel and M. .Croce-Spinelli,
who, few weeks ago, made an ascen-
sion, for scientific purposes. in the bal
loon Zenith. The third member of the
party who made the ascension, NJ. Gas
ton Tissandier, and who narrowly es-
capped a like fate with his companions,
tells his story as follows, in letter to
the President of the Aerial Navigation
Society:
/. OIL 1F C1RoN (Indral, April Is.
MONSIEUR: A telegram, sent officially,
will have Informed you of the sad mis-
fortune which has befallen us. Sivel
and Croce-Spinelli are no more. They
succumbed to asphyxia in the high
regions of the air to which we. had as
cended.. / will relate to you what Il
know of this sad drama, for during two
consecutive hours / was in state of
complete unconsciousness. sg St
The ascension from the gas.works at
La Villette was accomplished favorably.
At one in the afternoon we were already
at more than 5000 yards of altitude
(pressure 400). We had passed air into
the potassium tubes, felt our pulses,
measured the interior temperature of the
balloon, which was more than 90 c. (6S
Fahr.), while the exterior air was less
than G. al Fahr.). Sivel had trimmed
the car; Croce had used his spectroscepe,
and we were all in high spirits.
Sivel threw out ballast and we ascend
ed, breathing oxygen, which produced
an excellent effect.
AT In. 20m. the barometer marked 800
mm.; we were over 1000 yards high, and
the temperature was less than 10 G. $50
Fahr.). My companions were pale; |
felt weak, but inhaled little of the
gas, which somewhat revived me. We
still assembled. Sivel turned toward me
and said: "We have a large quantity
of ballast; shall / throw some out?" /
replied: "Do as you please" He put the
same question to our friend, who nodded
energetically in token of approval. We
had five sacks with us, each weighing
twenty-five kilos, and at least four more
were hung outside the car.
Sivel took his knife and success1vely
cut three cords. The bags we're emptied,
found myself so feeble that could not
even turn my head to look at my COM
panions, who, believe, were seated.
could not lift my arm, but my mind was
still quite lucid. I had my eyes on the
barometer, and saw the needle pass
over the figure of pressure 260 mm., then
2S0, which it went beyond. | wanted to
exclaim: eve are at 5000 yards!o but
my tongue seemed paralyzed. All at
once my eyes closed and Ifell inert, en-
tirely losing all recollection; the time
was then about | 30
At :52 revived for moment. The
balloon was descending rapidly; / was
able to cut a sack of ballast to slacken
the speed and to write on my register
the following lines, which copy:
'IWe are descending. Temperature
s G. (17.G Fahrenheit). / am throwing
out ballast. Elevation, 315. Sivel and
Corce still insensible at the bottom of
the car. Descending very rapidly"
I had scarcely written these lines when
a sort of trembling fit seized me and
sank down fainting for the second time.
] was conscious of violent wind, indi-
eating a very rapid descent. A few
moments later felt myself shaken by
the arms and recognized Croce, who had
revived "Throw out ballast" said he,
"we are going down" But could
hardly open my eyes, and did not notice
whether Sivel was aroused. / remember
that Croce unfastened the aspirator and
threw it out, as we'll as some ballast, ex-
ira wraps and the like. All this is an
extremely confused recollection, which
was quickly extinguished, for | relapsed
into insensibility more thoroughly than
before, and / felt as if j was going off
into an eternal slumber. What happened
then? / suppose that the balloon, being
lightened, impermeable as st was and
very warm, shot up once more into the
upper regions. At about 3;15 o'clock |
reopened my eyes, feeling giddy and
weak, but my consciousness returned.
The balloon was rushing downward with
frightfuI velocity. $50
4 The car swayed violently from side to
side and described great oscillations. !
raised myself on my knees and pulled
my companions by the arms. Sivel.
Croce!" | cried, 'rouse yourselves" They
were both crouched down in the car with
their heads concealed in their cloaks. l
summoned up all my strength and en-
deavored to lift them up. Sivel's face
was black, his eyes dull, mouth wide
open and full of blood. Croce-Spinelli
had his ewes closed andhis mouth blood
stained also. 1913
To relate what occurred then is quite
beyond nv power. noticed tremen-
dous wind from below upward We were
still at an altitude of 5000 metres There
were still in the car two. bags of ballast,
which / cast out. Soon we neared the
earth; and sought for my knife In order
to cut the attachment of the anchor, but
| could not find it.
| was distracted, and kept calling out:
"Sivel! Sivel!" Fortunately | laid my
hand on knife, and was enabled to free
the grapnel in time. The Shock OF the
fall was extremely violent. The balloon
appeared to fatten itself out completely,
and thought it would so remain. But
there was strong wind which carried it
along. The grapnel did not hold firmly,
and the car was dragged across the fields.
The dead bodies of my unfortunate
friends were jerked about, and [ feared
at each moment that they would fall out
of the car. Meanwhile succeeded in
grasping the cord of the valve, and the
balloon was quickly emptied, and was
finally exhausted against tree. This
was about four o'clock.
On getting out of the car was at
tackled by a feverish excitement of the
most yiolept kind, and very soon fell ex-
nausted, and became liyid. l thought
that was about to rejoin mycompanlon
in the next world.
Nevertheless, | gradually recovered
nv senses. / examined my poor com
rades and found them cold and stiff. /
had their corpses transported to the
shelter of a neighboring farm. ] sobbed
to suffocation, and even yet have not re-
covered
am at Ciron, near LIE Blanc, where /
have been received with boundless hos
pitality.
have been feverish all the night. /