Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-05-11
UP In A BALLOON.
oeeuous ACCIDENT TO AN ENGLISH
AERONAUT.
Five Miles from Terra Firma in a Snow
storm and His Parachute
frondon Standard

| Cront excitement was caused NJ CrOvdOn
IN saturday afternoon in connection with
the ascent from the old Fairfield Of Profess
49, HIGGINS. the parnchutist, and for seve
raj hours doubts were entertained as to his
safety. The balloon, which had that day
! boon named The Dukes Motto" and
which was Of the capacity of 1000 cubic
feet was fully charged by o'clock. Hig-
/ gins said the direction of the wind. which
Vas northeast, would nccessitate his ira
Yelling a considerable height, but he
I boned TO return 10 the field in about
| half an hour. When he gave the sig
nel TO the attendants TO LET go,n
/ fine machine gradually rose and appeared
/ "a 90 IN the direction Of Norwood. Upon
/ reaching an altitude of something ike
! 4 OOO feet. the parachute became detached
/ from the net OF the balloon. which was
/ evidently proceeding upwards at q gr ut
rate. as the parachute was July expanded.
although inverted. 1t was now evident
| tint something was wrong with the appa-
/ rafus. and amid GREATNESS excitement the
parachute dropped from the balloon and
| fell into garden in East Croydon. The
balloon rapidly disappeared in the clouds.
/ n hen darkness set IN and no news had
hean received Of the parachutlst, much
| anxiety was evinced as to his fate. Shortly
| after o'clock. however, all fear was dis
/ Delled by the receipt of a telegram stating
| HAT Higgins had landed safely near Iun-
/ bridge. HIGGINS aud his balloon arrived
| at Last Croydon 10y the 9.20 train.
In an interview with a correspondent
| Higgins stated that he had experienced the
| most wonderful of oil his aerial vO} ages.
! When he had reached height Of 1905 feet
/ he BEGAN to get into n strong current and
| tie balloon twisted right round. The cur
rent Their caught his parachute. causing
| the wooden ring of it to catch him very
| tightly under the arms. The test-cord
which held the parachute then broke.
Directly that happened he saw that the
parachute was hanging below him fully
| inflated and the pressure on him was so
great that it was impossible for him 70
| descend into the middle Of the town with
ANYTHING Ike safety. He therefore opened
| his pen-knfe with his teeth and cut the
parachute away. This caused the balloon
| 10 shoot up 5000 feet higher, and on
reaching that altitude lie met another cur
rent which brought him back and he saw
nothing until he passed through some
sleet and snow. He could hear. however,
| the sound of trains All OF a sudden he
| found himself in darkness. caused, he pre-
sumed, by snow and the thick atmosphere.
He was IN this snow-storm for AZ least ten
minutes and when he had passed through
il the sun was shining beautifully. Below
him he could see what appeared TO be
snowy mountains rising up and down Tor
miles He could see a distance OF some
forty clear miles and was able to discern
the sun glstening on the water at Brighton.
1t was evident TO him that he was going
towards TunbIidge Wells. He found the
air getting very sharp and keen lcicles
were hanging from his mOustache, and
he had no sooner rubbed them of than
others formed. For few minutes he was
quite deaf. He now seemed 10 be descend
ing on the mountains OF snow, and he
thought he was getting near Hastings or
Brighton. He could smell the sea. Think
ing b. was coming down, he took hold OF
four of his guy ropes and pulled the bal
loon partly over on one side TO allow some
of the gas TO escape at the mouth. Inc
balloon then turned round three times,
and he felt he was descending. He did
nothing more TO the balloon, merely sitting
on his trapeze watching for terra Jrmd,
which he q d not see for some time. At
length he saw some ploughed fields, and
close by there was what he took TO be
large park, with white roads across II.
lie then travelled about five or six
miles Mt a very rapid pace, and saw
more ploughed fields, which he thought
would be a suitable place to land on.
When he was about 1000 feet from the
earth he prepared to descend by hanging
bv one arm on 10 his trlpeZe rope as II he
were using his parachute. When his feet
touched the ground the balloon, which
wa, in front OF him, dragged him for ten
wards and then rebOuuded some sixty feet
10 the air between two trees. Two labor
ers ran from opposite directions and in re-
spouse to his signals they arrived lust as
he came down the second time and held
the balloon until he let out the gas. He
found that he had landed on q farm IN the
occupation Of Mr. Nash. of Penshurst,
about thirty miles from Croydon. In re-
ply TO questions be d that at one time he
must have been fec miles above the earth,
the highest he had ever been. lie added
that the balloon had no escape-valye.