Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-12-02

FeoIinqs That Occupied an Aeronant'
Mind Daring a Sudden Fall


Feelings That ocoupied an Aeronaut's
Mind Daring a Sudden Fall
.sTbere is some kind of fatality pur-
suine me-" remarked Professor Bar
tbolomew to a reporter First, Cole
was hurt, by his own folly, however,
in monkeying on his parachute when
ne 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 n man who witnessed the most
narrow escape from death ever had.
sT1Ie incident referred to occurred
two years ago 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 big knot in
his guy. did not realize the danger
from that knot until it came near be-
ing the cause of my death. My ascent
was unusually high on that day, and it
was the means of saving my life.
81 straddled the bar of my parachute
and launched myself off. l felt the cord
which held the parachute to the balloon
snap. and a second later there was an
other tug from above. l looked up
and there was 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 weight attached to the
top of the balloon which turns the bag
upside down as it is released of the
the weight of the aeronaut.
1.-THE guy rope, which was half hitched
around the strings of my parachute,
was also fastened to the top of the bal
loon, and the latter turned up and be-
gan discharging the hot air instantly as
jumped. The air escaped gradually,
and of course my parachute descended
very gradually at first and not initiating.
Down / kept coming, the guy rope
preventing the parachute from infat-
ing, and gave myself up as lost; l
wound my legs around the ropes of the
parachute trapeze and shut my teeth.
The speed commenced to be fearfully
accelerated, and l 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 over 200 pounds, and
was also pulled down by the 60 pound
sand bag. 1t came down past me, and
as the knotted guy rope slipped down
the lines the parachute opened with
such 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. 1t
takes long time to tell the story, but
it all happened in half minute. /
was within 400 feet of the ground when
the balloon tore away, but my fall was
checked and landed all right.
Everybody thought l 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
that day, but l folded my parachute
and balloon as coolly as if nothing had
happened and went to bed for the re-
mainder of the week. Detroit Free
Press.