The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1879-10-31

TAIN AND WISE OVER LAKE ONTARIO.
The loss of Prof. Wise and his COM
! panion, George 7. Burr, of st. Louis,
/ recalls the last serial voyage of Prof
/ Donaldson, a noted American ballOOnist.
/ Donaldson was originally a tight-rope
performer, and took up ballOOning about
/ the year 1870. Between that time and
/ 1875 he made 139 successful ascensions,
and had many hair-breadth escapes. His
! 139th and last ascension was made at
! Chicago, on July 18th, 1875. The bal
/ loon was the p I. Barnum. She car
/ ried So, 600 cubic feet of gas and 800
/ pounds of sand. Mr. GrimWOod, of the
Journal, and Mr.. Maitland of the Post,
were TO go with Mr.. Donaldson.
Mr.. E. E. Wood, a brother reporter,
approached Mr.. GrimwOOd a few mo-
ments before he entered the basket. Il
only care to go this once, just for the eX-
! peTience, - said Mr. GrimwOOd.
''The winds unfavorable, but per-
haps an upper current will make that all
right" Mr.. Wood remarked.
GrimwOod laughed. 1t won't work, -
he said, with a shake of the head They
are trying to frighten the reporters by
saying that Donaldson expects to be
carried into Michigan, with the chances
of being gone two or three days. It
won t work"
''Wen," " replied Mr. Wood, what S
the difference? If you should fly over
to Michigan the trip would be all the
more interesting, and you'd have a
chance to spread in the Journal
That's so, - said GrimwOod "COme
to think of it I'd like to land in Michi-
gan. But if I'm going so far from home
l ought to have more money!
He borrowed, a $40 bill from a Mr..
Adams, another reporter, saying, i
guess that'l do
Mr. Wood then gave GTimwOOd field
glass to aid his observations while in
mid-air. a life-preserver was thrown
into the car. GrimwOOd said IF l
should see that we're settling into the
lake, IN pull off my boots, and slap on
the life-preserver. I'm a good swimmer,
and can stand a good deal. -
The two reporters stepped into the
basket. Donaldson followed. The bal
loon was Overburdened, and he said that
only one reporter could accompany him.
He called for a volunteer to remain be-
/ hind. Neither reporter moved. Matt
land pulled a copper from his pocket
and tipped it in the air, and GrimwOOd
shouted 'head . Maitland won. and
/ GrimwOOd was reluctantlyc crawling from
the car when Mr.. Donaldson s agent in
terfered Gentlemen - said he .'the
lots must be cast in the usual way. un-
der my direction" He wrote First
choice and Second choice on slips of
paper, and shook them in police officers
hat. The hat was held aIOft, and the
officer drew the decisive slip. 1t was
| GrimwOOd's death-warrant. He stepped
back into the basket with Donaldson,
and Maitland despOndently withdrew.
/ The balloon rose gracefully to an al
titude of about 5000 feet and flOated
| steadily to the northeast. out over Lake
Michigan, and in direction that would
[ if followed, take them near Grand
/ Haven, Mich, 12O miles distant. Thou
sands of uptuTned eyes watched the Bar
mum as it moved steadily before the
/ breeze at a rate of about fifteen miles an
hour. AT 81, one hour and half from
/ the time of starting, many eyes were yet
| fastened upon the balloon.
/ At :. p. m. the Little Guide, a small
craft standing out some thirty miles
from the Illinois shore, sighted the bal
/ loon. 1t was then occasionally dipping
/ its basket III the lake, only a mile and a
( half away. The schooner headed for it,
| but before It could Overtake it there
! seemed to be a sudden tightening of the
! car, and the balloon shot upward to a
great height. and soon disappeared.
/ This was the last ever seen of the bal
/ loon. That night a terrific storm swept
/ down upon the lake. How the two men
met their fate was never known 4; but on
/ the 10Th Of August the body of Grim
/ wood was found on the east shore Of
I Lake Michigan, near Stony creek. The
/ body was fully Identified 1t was COM
/ pletely clothed, except that the hat and
boots were missing, and around the body
hrg,l 70 n
/ papers, letters, fruit-knife, a certificate
/ of membership in the Chicago Public
Library, and the field glass that was so
kindly furnished by Mr.. Wood were also
found npon his body
Nothing has been heard of Donaldson.
nor have any remains of the balloon
been discovered. The finding of Grim
woods body. however, established the
fact tLat they lost their lives in the lake.
There was nothing to indicateas to how
death was met; whether the balloon
was struck by lightning and collapsed
in mid-air whether the balloon struck
the water and was burst, leaving the
men to battle with the waves, only at
last to be drowned. From Donaldsons
knowledge of gas, and his mode of man
/ aging his balloon. we might infer thai
he found that he must trail upon the
/ water. as be was compelled to do but {
few weeks before on Lake Ontario. anC
that they prepared for the worst b.
throwing out all ballast. then their boots
aud to meet the last they put on thei
life-pTeservers. The basket, coming
down into the water, filed, and wa
virtually at anchor The hurricane ant
furious wind would soon tear the bal
loon to pieces, and the two men. left q
the mercy of the angry waves, mus
soon have succumbed to a watery grave
The great aerial voyage from the Mis-
siSsippi to the Atlantic coast began OF
July /. 1859. 1t was the longest triI
ever made in a balloon. The advent
I urers were John La Mountain. nOte'
/ prOnant. O. n eager, John Wise ant
1 VIM. Hyde, of the St. Louis Republican
Mr.. Hyde described the trip in Ion.
letter to his journal. He said that the.
J left st. Louis at 62 p. m. The caTg
consisted OF 800 pounds of sand, in bags
/ aIarge quantity of cold chickens. tongues
potted meats. sandwiches, ETC.; NJ
merous dark-colored, long-necked YES
sells, containing champagne, cherry
sparkling Catawba, claret, Madeira
brandy and porter a plentiful supply c
Overcoats, shawls, blankets and fu
gloves a couple OF three carpet-bags
a pail of iced lemonade and a bucket c
water a compass, barometer, thermC
meter and chart bundles OF the priI
cipal st. Louis newspapers !; an expires
package. directed to New I Ork city
cards of candidates for cleTkships
several of the courts tumblers, cup:
knives and other articles.
The balloon, the Atlantic, with ii
fOuT D9SSpnupTS sailed off i'm 2 uOTf !