The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1891-11-10
DEvoURED BY a MAN-EATER.
THE HORRIBLE FATE OF AERONAUT
VAN TASSEL WHEN BE LAND
ED IN THE SEA.

IL ~ A1At- '-'@-hH
CHICAGO, November 3d. Clarence
Ashford, Attorney-G General of Homo
lulu, was in the city last evening and
toldthe story of the horrible fate of
the aeronaut known as Van passel on
the 18th of this month. Evan TasSel
made a balloon ascension and para
chute leap" said Mr.Ashford ''When
he was carried up into the air the
conditions were such that all thought
he would alight on land. When he
was being carried to the clouds he
shouted: "Pll not land more than a
quarter of a mile from the standing
point.n To a height of about 1000 feet
the balloon asce1ded steadily. Then
the fatal upper current blowing sea-
ward took the air-ship over the water.
When the balloon was carried over
the bay the natives were quivering
with fear The excited people crowd
ing around the sea had telescopes and
glasses, and prOpounded all sorts OF
questions. Suddenly the parachute
was let loose and the bag of gas shot
up in the air like u well-regulated
umbrella the parachute opened and
the man descended gracefully toward
the earth, nearly a mile from shore.
When about 100 feet from the surface
of the bay a concerted, weird shrek
was given by the hundreds Of natives.
Their keen eyes had discovered some
danger in the water where the man
would land. 1t was a school Of sharks.
Just before Van Tassel struck the
water two of the mammoth man
eaters rolled over on their backs and
opened their huge jaws. One of the
sharks grabbed Van Tassel almost
before he touched the water and in a
couple of gulps the man was swallow
ed. No sooner had he left his car than
a crew from the steamer Healandia
started out to pick him up. They had
to pull some distance and arrived at
the spot only to see the poor man
eaten alive. The heavy parachute
went to the bottom at once and
nothing was left of the unlucky
aeronaut save small piece Of cloth
from his coat sleeve and one OF his
thumbs. Itwas the most awful sight
/ ever witnessed"
Another example of this class OF
fabrications, for effect, take from an
article by Ruth Ward, in the June
number of the Popular Science News,
for June, 1891, purporting to give an
account of personal observations on
''ant life in Honolulu"
zone day, as / was passing through
Thomas Square," the writer says, ~
noticed the leaves of an algerOba (sic)
falling in a shower. As the day was
perfectly calm l began to investigate,
and found several companies of ants
diligently saving at the foot stalk of
the leaves, while others seized the
leaves as they fell and cut them into
circular pieces. AS they trudged to
their homes bearing the fruits of their
toll they looked like animated leaves
moving along; and no doubt it is from
this appearance that they obtained
the name of parasol ants. With these
leaves they s1feltp the dOmes of their |
nests, some of which are three feet in
height. thus rendering them imper-
vio1s to even the tropical rains
This is all interesting, and no doubt |
gains local color from the mention |
of Thomas Square and algeroba trees
which it would not have had IT taken !
verbatim from the encyclopaedia:
passage in the article Is still |
more audaciousIy mendacious:
~ was fortunate enough to discover |
a species of ant here that | had been |
seeking for months without success"
.diligent student of entomology that
she is la species that is incapable
of supplying its own food or of feeding
itself if provided. They are known
to scientific men as slave-making |
amazon ants. They depend on their |
slaves, which are of another species, |
to feed and clean them, nurse their |
Young and build their nests. In my |
experiments | furnished them honey, |
hut they would merely smear their |
legs with it and die of starvation. Ii