The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1879-12-05
miscellaneous.
Wrecked Amidst Darkness.

THE APPALLING FATE OF TWO BALLooNIsTs
ON LAKE ONTARIO.
James Hale, who made balloon ascension
with Prof II. J. Kane in the balloon City of
Boston, twenty years ago at Canandaigua, N.
Y, and who had thrilling experience-Kane
never after being heard of-thus recalls the
dreadful night, to Chicago reporter:
The sky of an inexpressibly tender blue, was
thick with stars that really did "globe them
selves in heaven" The whole unlimited ex-
panse was filled with glowing worlds, round
and effulgent, near and far. The greater
bodies burned as it looked close upon us and
between them stretched infinite depths filled
up with other stars. There we hung, separate
and alone, out of the only world we knew,
intruders upon silence and eternity!
1t was the gradual sinking into the cloud
sea, or a gradual rising of its waves around
us, that brought me to feeling of my own
identity. was really glad when their fleecy
moonlit folds covered us from the majesty OF
the night The professor, to whom it was no
new experience, was the first to speak.
I'm going down little" said he II think
we've risen too far, and taken wrong drec-
ton" And down we went, into pitchy black
ness don't know how long we continued
to fall, but at last we heard the clank of cow
bell below lis.
over farms yet | was afraid of striking east
for John Browns tract"
He began to tumble in satchel that lay be-
tween us, and then to swear. | ventured to
ask what was the trouble.
INV PHOSPHORUS bottle" said he. give
forgotten it, and here we are in the dark"
/ suggested rising again, and with much
grumbling he emptied couple of ballast-bags
over the side, and up we went, but not SO
rapidly as before. With an impatient excla-
nation the professor emptied more ballast,
and our rate of ascent was perceptibly accel-
Grated The cow-bell clanked fainter, and
finally was no longer heard. The events of
the afternoon, the excitement, and the quiet
of the air combined to make me sleepy, and
imperceptibly dozed off, the last thing re-
member being the figure of the professor in
black silhouette against the almost mpercepti-
bly, lighter color of the night.
don't know to this hour how long slept,
but was awakened by the professor roughly
shaking my shoulder.
"Halep said he, and there was something
in his voice that made my blood bound, "Hale
listen What do you hear? Tell mequick p
listened intently for second or two.
heard dull and sullen rumble that hardly
died away before it was succeeded by another
sound Just like it.
"What do you hear?" he demanded, impa.
tiently.
81 hear something like distant discharges
of cannon" said /.
"Cannon cannon you fool l wish il
were cannon Hale, we are over the shore o.
| Lake Ontario, and this balloon is sinkingw
My heart was in my throat "For Gods
sake throw over what you have"
"The ballast is all gone. While you were
| a. I to- lnat t,an t,N,Nc
"What are going to do~
"What What indeed! The wind has
changed on us, / can't control the balloon, anG
we are drifting out to death The balloon
won't live an hour. The breeze is strong
enough to carry us across if she would live
that long, but she won't"
"ThrOw over your satchel," said /.
| "You throw that rug over, and anything
else you have about you that weighs ar
ounce"
| If two men ever worked quick we did,
The car was emptied of everything it contain
ed excepting ourselves in less than half min
ute, and the noise of the breakers grew less
You can never know with what anxiety we
watched the silvering edge that told where the
moon would emerge from behind q heavy
cloud that covered half the sky. Would hel
light show us the cold bosom of Ontario clos,
beneath US, or the dull, grateful color of firm
ground? TWAS question upon the solution
of which hung life and death. When at las
as with bound the cloud was cleared W,
stood looking over the edge of the car, frozeI
with fright for there, directly below us anC
not thousand feet away, lay the crawling
surface of the lake, the black and misty shore
line stretching hopelessly along the view t,
the south and fading every instant. 1t re
quired very little time to show us that tn
balloon was going down with slow but fata
certainty.
Hale" said the professor looking at m
fiXedly, "do you know how far it is to tn
Canadian shore?"
/ said that did not.
"rll tell you" said he. ave are about tel
miles off the New York shore, and as nearl
as can judge by that light, opposite the poi
of Charlotte. From Charlotte to the Cana
dian shore is sixty miles. conclude, there
fore, that we have got to make this thing So
fifty miles, or one or both of us must drown.
said nothing in answer to this. was i
no case to talk. The professor on the contrs
ny seemed perfectly cool and at ease, but h
said nothing more for several minutes, unit
like ghost sweeping upon the borders of n
land, sail swept by us, lacking to the soutl
Then he shouted, and l Joined him in the CRY
. We heard an answering shout from the vess,
and sound of feet upon the deck, and the
she was gone and we were alone again.
"Didyou notice." asked the professor, "ho'
near we came to raking the top of her mast