St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-11-19
FAILING A MILE.
AStartiing Adventure in a BaIIoon-A Dan
gerOus JOurney-Dropping like
shot From the Clouds to
the Earth

gerOus JOurney-Dropping like
shot From the Clouds to
the Earth.
Monday a startling experience Of Messrs
CASTOR Tissandier and Frederick Cover hus-
band Of Nordiea, the American prim4-donua,
showed that the practical dangers Of balloon
ing are still far from being surmounted how
ever well actual disaster may be avoided by
GOODNESS and skill. These two gentleman
assembled from the Tissandier establishment
4 Auieuil about l O'Clock, to continue a.
series Of scientific experiments upon certain
theories advanced bp NJ. Cover. They
sailed s!o--ly across Paris to the southeast at
height OF about |, 500 feet, and disappeared
in the direction Of Vincennes. In answer to
an inquiry OF Morning Nelrs representative
VI. Cover relates what befel the voysgers
afterward.
''We we're at a height of 5000 feet shove
the village Of Fontenay. A fete was going
on there, and the faint echo Of drums, min
gled with the cries Of children and the bark
ing OF dogs, just reached our ears amid the
awful silence OF the heavens. We were
among the clouds OF the lower stratum, aud
hAA oNAbAN Jul NHtn AuE elEE-
tacle OF their formation. The forces of ma
ture moved them to and fro in a kind Of
sulen majesty, now piling them into a
noun tain just above our heads, and then. as
the mass toppled to its fall, dispensing it sud-
denly, as by blow from the ham mer of
some invisible Titan making riffs through
which we saw the fair green lands, aud then
quickly closing them as the vaporOus mon
sters rolled into fresh combinations. IL was
the inner temple Of creative power, perhaps
the grandest sight revealed 10 human eyes,
and we stood entranced in silent admir-
alton.
suddenly we felt breath of cold and
biting air, though the earth had revolved
beneath US aud brought US over the pole.
At the same moment, the needle upon q YER
ticle scale (from which had been reading
indications Of leveD began TO travel with a
startling speed. A sound like the roar of
surf filed our ears for an instant, and then
gave place to the noise Of the fete which had
now swelled into cry, as it seemed, from
every living thing below. Tissandier threw
out sand, and the sand few up in our faces.
Our breath came short and hard, aud we
felt the rushing air as on steamer against
the wind. We we're falling. suddenly, ga
bnoA-h AuN llNAb EAVhE anOhG OlI ntAuN ldu
given way Yet nothing visible had hap
penei save that the undersurface OF the en-
yeiope had al at once grown hollow and
wrinkled, like the face OF an aged man.
The clouds were gone, as by magic, and the
earth was rushing at US, with its thousand
voices in full cry. Tissandier stood cool
and firm, dealing out ballast with steady
hand and counting the bags that re
manned.
. Stand by the anchor he said, quietly,
AS If at his study-table, and be ready to cut
away when tell you
'Down we went; the drag-rope touched
the earth-trailed across the fields with
scarcely preceptibe difference in our fall.
The ground seemed alive with men hurry
ing from every side, with here and there
horseman among them. meadow was
just beneath, and a quick glance beyond
showed the edge of forest. The balloon
trembled as from a blow, and our speed
across the field was suddenly doubled. We
had fallen into a squat.
. Cut awav,' said the steady voice Of the
aeronaut, and the anchor fell. Over went n
bag OF ballast, too, and thus suddenly light
ened by thirty pounds the balloon Tegaiued
its poiss at City feet above the ground, and
our fell OF = mile through the air was safely
ended.
''Neyer was sound precept more quickly
followed by practical illustration. Less than
an hour before rssandieT had been dwell
ing upon the need OF reserving ballast as a
precaution. There are in the air. said be,
occasional rarefactions into which balloon
can fan without the slightest warning
When you are near the ground il does not
much matter. But no prudent aeronaut at
. height OF = thousand metres or more will
q loT his ballast to become even nearly ex-
hausted. And this was precisely what our
own case showed so shortly afterward. We
encountered partial vacuum, verita5le pit
in the air, where the lifting-pOwer of gas
suddenly fell 10 almost nothing. Air, was
o. course, on the way from some area of a
greater density to restore the normal pres
sure, and of tlis We had an ample evidence
upon reaching the ground. The anchor
struck the soft earth in the most favorable
position, buried half its fiukes in the soil,
and was snatchcd out by scarcely an effort
by the flying car. Again and again the
heavy iron bounded ifty feet into the air.
an il was only when a score of stout labor
ers had laid hold OF the drag rope lat cost
of a few tumbles) that the gambols of our
playful monster were brought TO an end
An then Tissandier, while obliging hands
folded and packed the balloon, produced =
notebook and his map, and calmly CON-
p.eted his record OF the excursion