Daily Yellowstone journal., 1891-11-11
IN PERIL IN THE AIR.
Feelings That Occupied an A~eronaut's
Mind During a Sudden FAN.

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Feelings That Occupied an Aeronaut's
Mind During a sudden FaII.
There is some kind of a fatality pur-
suing me" remarked Professor Bar
thOlomew to a reporter. First, Cole
was hurt, by his own folly, however.
in monkeying on his parachute when
he was coming down; then Hogan was
killed; Miss Carmo drops within ten
feet Of an unfathomable abyss of mud
in a sulphur marsh, and today | have
met a man who witnessed the most
narrow escape from death | ever had.
THE incident referred { occurred
two years g at Terre Haute, Ind. l
shall never forget my experience on
that day. A number Of outsiders held
the ropes Of the balloon while it was
being inflated, and one of the men
amused himself by tying a big knot in
his guy. / did not realize the danger
from that knot until it came near be-
ing the cause of my death. Ny ascent
was unusually high on that day. and it
was the means of saving my life.
Il straddled the bar of my parachute
and launched myself oil. l felt the cord
which held the parachute to the balloon
snap, and a second later there was an
ether tug from above. / looked up
and there vas that knot on the guy
swung around six of the parachute
cords, forming as neat a half hitch as
you ever saw in your life and holding
me to the balloon You have noticed
that there is a W .ght attached to the
tOpof the balloon which turns the bag
upside down O. il is released of the
the weight of { e aeronaut.
The guy r.. (which was halfhitched
around the S ings of my parachute.
was also fast led 10 the top of the bal I
loon, and III latter turned up and be-
gan dischar ng the hot air instantly as
1 jumped. The air escaped gradually. F.
and Of course my parachute descended
very gradually at first and not initiating.
Down J kept coming. the guy rope
preventing the parachute from infiat-
ing. and | gave myself up as lost; |
wound my legs around the ropes Of the
parachute trapeze and shut my teeth. 4
The speed commenced to be fearfully
accelerated, and / was sure that / had
to die, but | was cool and retained my
senses.
"Soon the balloon had emptied itself
and commenced tapping its huge tail
IN the air with awful swishes. The
balloon weighed W 200 pounds. and
was also pulled down by the 60 pound
sand bag. 1t anne down past me-. and
as the knotted guy rope slipped down
the lines the parachute opeLed with
such a fierce snap that it seemed as if
the ropes which supported me would
give way. The spreading Of the para
chute saved my life, for the 200 pound
balloon kept on down and broke the
six cords held captive by the guy rope
as if they had been pack threads. IL
takes a long time TO tell the story, but
it all happened in half a minute.
was within 400 feet Of the ground when
the balloon tore away. but my fall was
checked and landed all right.
Everybody thought / was a goner
that day, and a more excited crowd
than had gathered around where | was
TO have fallen you never saw. There
IS no mistake about my being scared
hat day, but ] folded my parachute
and balloon as coo!ly as if nothing had
happened and went 70 bed for the re-
nainder Of the week. detroit Free ,
Press. .