The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-08-12
BALLOONING IN CHINA.
Oriental Inaitators Of en- American
AerOnaut.
Amusing Incidents of Prof. EaitiNf1s
Exhibitions Among the Mon
gOlians Pigtails In
hn Ir


Exhibitions Among the Mon
golians - PigtaIls In
tho Air.
I. s. Baldwin, the aelonaut who re-
Gently returned from various oriental
countries, succeeded In thoroughly u.s.
toaishing the Monaghan race by his
exhibitions, says the San Francisco
Chronicle.
The aeronnut's experiences were gem
orally of the most pleasant kind, for
the pigtailed patrons responded cnthu-
siastically and the novel amusement SET
oil Chino agog. The attendance at
some OF the exhibitions in tho largo
seaport cities 'was enormous Tho sero-
naut found some difficulty In obtaining
suitnblc places for absorbing the cash
OF the native populace, for fenced
grounds are not to be had, and In most
places the Enclosure WIS made by u rope
and the assistance Of tho native police.
The Mongolian dcadhead has n moro
wholesome dread Of the official guard
Ion of the peace than his American con-
f1ere, and few persons ventured inside
tho roped circle without paying the adj
mission fee. This was ten cents for
tho outer circle, twenty cents for the
intermediate, and two dollars for the
inner ring. The aeronaut found the
eVeu Chinese perfectly willing to pay
this stiff tax The only trouble was that
every pigtalled swell brought retinue
OF servants with him, ind when big
mandarin strutted In to see the show
the army OF rctainers, from his teapot
bearer to his grand high chamberlain.
took mp most of the dress circle.
Baldwin gave his first exhibition at
Hong Kong, and the native shouts and
y'ells that greeted his ascent wcrc only
cHcclled by the roar Of amnzcmcnt that
met his brother when he came flying
back to earth with parachute In all
the towns the balloon proved tho great
est attraction ever brought to the Coles
Nal land by the bearded white devils
from foreign ports.
Having soon disabtlaed their minds OF
any lurking belief that the white balloon
lists were possessed of supernatural
powers, tho Chinese set themselves to
work to initiate him Several adven-
furious Mongolians broke various por-
lions of their anatomy from their necks
to their legs by trying TO descend from
lofty temples and tall trees with poro-
chutes constructed out OF native UNI
brellas- Toy balloons, constructed with
greet skill and attention to detail by pa
ttves, became part of the stock of the
bazaars.
At Foo Chow native genius con-
structed a mammoth hotuir balloon,
with flaming dragon head and greet
paper wings, and made an ascension
which will be long remembered by his
townsmen- Baldwin gave all his ex-
hibitions with hot-nlr-inflated balloons.
that style of imitation being cheapest,
quickest and otherwise most nccepta bic
to skilled aeronnut for such work as
was there needed. The simple method
of expanding the balloon pleased tho
native imitators, end the Foo Chow
genius copied everything to nicely,
except the very important point of how
to cut loose ut the proper moment with
out accident The result was that the
balloon, which was of enormous size,
shot up with such terrific and unex-
pected velocity that it carried with it a
score or SO of the Mongolians who werc
steadying it with the guy ropes while
tho aeronaut was getting ready TO out
loose.
Tho great bag Of cir kept scattering
Sfongolians over the suburbs of Foo
Chow until it turned regular flip-Nap,
being improperly balanced, and fell
into one of the large ponds In the OUT
skirts Of the city. This adventure had
o very depressing effect on the native
aspirants, but the mania had taken too
firm hold to be eradicated by an or
binary 1pcreuse of the mortality rate,
and when MIR. Baldwin left China for
Japan pigtailed neronauts were regu-
larly soaring through space in various
sections of the Celestial empire.
The Japanese took almost US enthusi-
astically to the sport as the Chinese, and
nntirc initators also appeared In u short
time.