New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-11-03
3In a Balloon in astorm.

In a. Balloon In agtorm.
EGcrrespon dence Hartford tinas.
ssOneofthe .Winsted people and noy
The least Notable one, perhaps lis
Captain AZ Moore, aneathusiast in
b.-,]ooning. Captain Moore never !
mada s.more dangerous. ourney than
:thatsof which now telLyou. He was
',withdtheeyeteran Prof.!E. M. Brooks,
who has made more ascensions than
4anyother aeronaut, and. the time ad-
tvertised to start was / o'clock b. M,
@butycowing ito. the appearance Of a Sc
:Heresthunderstorm cona.ng up from
the west, they decided toago earlier, in
nordep 60 keep ahead ofs<bhe shower.
Overwhelmingly for the, voyagers.
their, calculations for keeping ahead
of ssthe> storm failed. Within fifteen
minutes they found themselves
mile sboveS the earth, 1.-THE midst
rof s:thick clouds and .ssa, terrific
hurricane. The account~of their ex-
.periencei is certainly thrilling. After
entering the cloud they could not see
ten.feet in any direction. The rain was
pouring in torrents, the wind blowing
"a gale, al d constant flashes of light.
ming all alb out them, wer esaecompan.
led byi5r emendous crashes Df .close-at.
hand thunder. The blind ingsfash close
by them was all one with tho crash
mo interval between the flash and it's
report. ! They. were in tbe,hene and
.pathspf the lightning itself. y At times
the balloon and car withs;its occu-
.pants were whirled around like a top;
then, suddenly the monster.als vessel
,would t,be, blown over Oh ats side,
1throwingits passengers On tostae low
yer ~side,ef the car, where the network
covering alone kept them fra1n being
dashed $to the. invisible eartAtss mile
below. l1a. a moment more haaMeight
,of the scsr;, and it's occupants would
drop it sSadd enly down the length Of
THE ropesfwith a force that seemed as
eif ,they lmust break and let them fall
to the ground. Even the
veteran *.eaoud voyager, Brooks,
was for ,,once as pele las
deatla-as Ht2e constant flashes showed
:-.and sso,lit, was afterward Learned,
was Moore. No word was sp@ken;e in
.deed r6alking. even if they wereGnclina
to talk, ;woull: have been difficult tia
th&t .situatiGn. with the deafening
crashes eof thunder following each
either so constantly. To douole. the
danger, the 1heayy fall of rain had
thoroughly saturated the balloon
which, .0t, course, increased it's weight
and put1thensisl danger OF being dash
ed to the earth. Occasionally they
were Obliged toeNpen, by pulling down
the Valwe:attthe; top, in order to. let
down the water which had collected
there SO heavily las ito sag down the
balloons top. !1EAais, Of course, would
empty the water down through the
balloon AND intofthe basket-not on
ly drersehing the: aeRonauts, but near
~ strangbing them nwith the gas it
brought down with lit. In this way,
amidst frightsul tempest, and feeling
the imminent pes.l OF the light
ssaing, to say natping of the
gale, they we've swept on their
trackless path through darkness
illuminated omlg by 1.-THE constant
ligh thing flashes, at q terrible rate of
>speed and at height unknown, but
believed to be mile above the earth.
Sometimes the balloon caught in con-
shicting currents, would be whirled
.+arQpMd in a large circle; hhen it would
dash straight ahead. After what
sseemea an eternity in this bowling
5Phlegethon of the Inferno a.ansported
10 a. still blacker than its NATIVE realm
hat above, instead of beneath, the
= earth where mankind dwelt-a period
OF probably about forty minutes, dur
ing which they both expected every
nla7nent to be wrecked and lost-they
noticed iby the barometer that they
weas, descending, and at q tremendous
rate. Zone sGndbag after another was
hastily threwn out, until all their
ballast WAS expended, without mate
:, rally diminishing the speed of their
= frighnaul descent. The weight of the
waterasQ aked balloon still took them
down. They ttllrew out everything
portasNtes, even TO part OF their wa
ter-soaMe5l clothing. Still they fell, to
use Captain Mcore's own language
almost as swift BIS the drops of rain. !"
=, Suddenly. when they were at height
of only 500 feet, tthe earth came jim
sight-a revelation Ghrough the open
ing OF the storm. INSTANTLY the an-
Choir was thasown out. But it did not
catch, and they were carried along at
a tearing rste eover feaces, stonewalls
land bushes, sometimes striking the
ground then bounding up forty or
aifty feet in tho air In this way they
went almost half mile, expecting
every moment TO he annihilated. AS
coon as an opportunity occurred in
their bounding and knocking about
they pulled the npaord, which instant
" parted the balloon from topto bot
tom, letting them drop to the ground.
They were badly bruised and scratch
ed, :but fortunately NOT seriously hurt.
The 'halloon was a. total wreck Prot.
Brooks says in all OF his ITO .ascen-
sioas he never has witnessed such
nd h.c,aoss