The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1879-07-15
DuCkED IN A BALLOON.
nlew some Ensbusiassie ssaIrosnists
Went Down in BOSTON Nay.
From the Boston Globe.

George A. Rogers, the aeronaut; MI
X. III. Cook, a gentleman who ha'
never been above the world; Mr.. Pay
son Bradlee; Mr.. Charles III. Baldwin
of the Water Department land he go
all OF certain portion Of that depart
ment that he wanted befo,e he landed)
Mr.. j. jay Donahoe, and your humbl
aud quakipg correspondent. Tha
constituted the cargo. The owner o
the two-gallon can is not known; th
mug, It is believed, was owned by tia
city, as also may have been the flags
the ballast belonged To the balloon
the circulars To some enterprisinl
tradesman; the field.glasses and on,
life preserver to Mr.. Bradlee, the 9th
er life-preseryer aud lunch to Mr.
Baldwin; the overcoat took care OF 10
self, and whoever the owner was, b,
paid very little attention to il. Al
that your correspondent had was hi
heart in his mouth, aud he had verl
hard work to keep il there. As STATED
before, the start was "A successful one
the balloon rose ia the air without
motion perceptible TO the occupants o
the basket, and it seemed very mucl
as IL the earth was slipping down out
Of sight, instead Of the air-ship rising
Up, up she went. until the people be
low looked like the minutest points oI
a colored map, and the city below wal
like the toy village which the chils
spreads out before him on three squar,
inches Of the nursery carpet.
THE SCENE WAS A MOST BEAUTIFUL ONE
as it ever il when spread out thousandi
of feet below the beholder. The cities
and the numberless sail-boats that dot
ted the harbor looked like microscop
ic pictures. while the lines Of the diff.
ferent channels could be seen with
surprising distinctness. The excursion
steamers, with their freight OF merry
makers, seemed like small bugs that
crawl on the top OF the water, leaving
behind them tiny wake Of !oam. Tn,
sounds from the busy, independence
celebrating world below were heard
with wonderful distinctness, and the
white circulars went floating down Oh
the tiny world below like some white
winged messengers, carrying tidings
from those who were so far above them
with nothing save the frail willow bas
ket between them and the awful space
below. But while all this was being
enjoyed by five people in the basket
the balloon was sailing swiftly out to
sea, and the watchful eyes Of her navi-
gator were observing every motion. -
10 L.w A.
Mr.. Rogers gave the orders to clear
and let ont the grapple and guide rope
very many were the thoughts as u
whether one Of the islands would be
our landing place, or whether We
should plump down into the damp,
yielding element below, which is SO
good for baths; but such poor, wet
place TO step out Of balloon into.
JUST OVER APPLE ISLAND
the monster hung for few moments
as II trying To decide whether she
would land her passengers there or not,
and then, as il having finally settled
the question, she started of down the
harhor. Look ont for that grapple,
and hold on all hands, shouted Rog-
ers, and the next instant We were sail
ing swiftly by the monument. Before
there was time for a single thought,
the cold-and il was very cold-water
had come into the basket, and it did
not require TO be told that we had
landed, aud in the voter As matter
OF fact IL is not pleasant thing to
start from the common in all the glory
Of Fourth Of July suit of clothes,
with n nice little button-hole bouquet
in the coat, and TO land in the water
ten miles from the regular excursion
pier. At first the water was only up 10
ones knees, but each one held on 10
the hoop as il they would avoid wet
ting themselves any more. One Of
the party had buckled OF his life-pre-
server when the water was 2, 900 feet
below, and when az last lac did reach
the element for which he was SO we'll
provided, he seemed TO lose faith in
tho preseryer, aud clutched hastily the
milk can as an additional security when
he should "get over his head. The
other gentleman who owned life-pre-
server made very hasty movements to-
ward initiating il with air, and in few
moments he stood on the edge OF the
basket fully prepared for any emergen-
CIV. Meanwhile the huge bag OF gas
was dragging the basket out 10 sea,
aud the water was getting deeper and
deeper in the cabin Of the ship.
AT LAST THE BASKET SANK BELOW THT
WATER,
- III Io,1. ,....a agon1fru ou tbo
edge, clinging t9 the hoop for dear
life. Mr.. Rogers was quito az cool as
il he had been on land, aud il would
not have been surprising had he burst
forth in song, using the words OF an
English air. For | am the Captain
OF the pinafOre,' and "A night good
Captain he was, too. Jimmie Donahot
would have played little Buttercup,
aud the gentleman who owned the
lunch would have made a suberb Hebe,
save that he was little wet about the
lower extremities. Deeper into the
water went the basket, and now al
hands scanned the horizon for a sail as
eagerly as ever Enoch Arden did. Or
the right-that is IL there is a side 10 {
round object, but at least on the right
Of the particular edge where your cor
respondent hung by the arms and nos,
was the Portland steamer, making nC
signs of coming TO the rescue; dead
ahead was lnmber-laden schooner
aud a yacht, while behind, some dis
tance away, could been seen two tug
coming directly toward US. On thu
left was Nahant-and how those We
balloonists would have rejoiced 10 hay,
been there at that particular moment
Out toward the beautiful sea went th,
air ship with a velocity which seemed
to mock the speed Of the tugs. whos'
smokc-stacks we're sending out dens'
volumes OF black smoke. showing tina
they were crowding on all steam. How
slowly they seemed to move, aud hov
swiftly we were going through the wa
ter, dragging both the guide-rOpe an'
the grapple. The overcoat and circu
lars we're floating around Just within
the ropes, The milk-can was hel,
firmly aloft, aud the American flag
we're trailing in the water. The stream
er was cut adrift, and as there we're M
masts 10 nail the flags to they were IA
ken in. After about an hour, aud tha
hour seemed at least 1900 minute
long, the yacht Magic came mp, an'
how beautiful she looked. Her cap
tain made every effort 30 fasten the no
wieldly monster 90 his tractable craft
but il was not until the boat was low
cred, and our guide-rope picked mp
that he succeeded. by this time Oh
auarantine tuo samuel Little arrive
about two leng hs ahead Of the tug ca
milla, who had on board an excursio
party.