The crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1877-1878, 1878-06-20
Pcrils Of BallOOning-NarrOw Escape
Of IN AerOnaut and n Journalist.

PcriIs of BaIlOoning-Narrow Escape
of an AerOnaut and n Journalist.
From the San Francisco Call,
Prof. Martin, the aeronaut, made his
fourth ascension from Woodward's Gar.
den yesterday afternoon, accompanied
by Cornelius A. Mahoney, a journalist
Nearly $4,000 persons witnessed the as,
cent from the gardens, which was effect
ed with some difficulty, the wind driv.
ing the balloon to the ground three
times before the rope was severed. In
order to escape striking the windmill
it was necessary to discharge a whole
bag Of sand, which so lightened the bal
loon that it shot up to height of 5000
feet ina very few minutes. There was very
little movement in the atmosphere at
this height, and the balloon foated very
slowly to the southwark for some time
At about 4 o'clock the balloonist dis
cerned the Industrial School about
B 800 feet below them. From this
point they descended slowly, and soon
found themselves drifting toward the
ocean. Several vessels could be seen
standing on and off shore, evidently on
the alert opick upthe aeronauts, should
they descend in the water, which ap-
peared very probable at one time. Prof.
Martin decided that his only chance was
to get into lower current and take the
chances Of being driven inland again or
landing on the beach. He accordingly
pulled the valve cord and fortunately
found a westerly wind, but it soon be-
came apparent that the balloonists, were
being driventoo rapidly toward the bay,
and unless a decent was made, would
find themselves in the water on that
side of the peninsula. Having been
compelled to sacrifice considerable bal
last at the start, they did not have
enough left to insure their keeping up
long enough to cross the bay, and the
the Professor therefore lowered his
grapnel and held the valve wide open.
The balloon descended with great We.
locity, and, when within about 500 feet
of the ground, the valve was closed and
the last bag of ballast thrown out to
check the fall. The grapncl tore along
the ground, failing to catch in the
hedges, as the Professor had calculated
but finally caught in a board fence
near the railroad track, about two miles
north of San Bruno. The fence failed
to hold the balloon, and the grapnel
next caught the telegraph wire, sliding
along until it struck pole. The check
given to the balloon was so sudden that
the concentric ring was snapped, and
the balloon struck the ground on its
side. A rebound carried it some forty
feet IN the air, when the Professor
seeing that another such. would result
in dashing himself and companion tc
pieces, pulled the collapsing cord and
ripped the bag open its entire length
OF course the gas escaped instantly
and the whole concern fell to the ground
with great force, throwing the two
aeronauts out of the basket and nearly
stunning them. AS soon as they re
covered consciousness. Mr.. Martir
and Mr.. Mahoney felt themselves al
over, and finding no bones broken
proceeded to gather up the wreck as
best they could and pack them to the
nearest station. They returned to the
city at S p. m. considerably shaken, Mr.
Mahoney being bruised the more seri
ously of the two.