Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-08-05
BALL00NING.
MANY AERIAL TRIPS THAT HAD
FATAL RESULTS.
Feelings of Aeronauts at Dizzy
Heights-One Would Not Raise
a Finger to Prevent Death
A Remarkable Escape.
Z REGISTER of death from bal.

4 a
III Comaschi, who, in 1915, as.
. cended from Constantinople
before the gaze of ae cheering crowd and
disappeared forever. In the same way
Ledet left St. Petersburg in a balloon in
1S47 and was never seen again. On The
Sth OF September, 1850, Gale rose from
Bordeaux with horse for ballast and
descended at Cestas at seven o'clock in
the evening. The horse was removed by
peasants and the balloon rose with in
credible rapidity. The aeronaut was
found in Gascony the next morning suf-
focated by hydrogen gas. The same
year Arban made his last ascension in
Spain. He was carried away by Sc
vcrc wind aud fell among the SHOWS of
the Pyrenees or iuto the sea and was
never seen again.
On September Is, 1851, Tardini left
Copenhagen, accompanied by his wife
and son. He descended on the island OF
Seeland, and, starting again alone, was
never heard from. September 24,
Merle made an ascension at Chalons sur
Marne, and died asphyxiated by gas.
His assistant, hunchback, received no
injury.
A Asingular accident occurred at Buenos
Ayres May ~, 1859. The aeronaut,
Baraille, rose from the centre Of the city,
hovered over it, and descended in
roadstead. A number of boats and
steamboat hastened to save him from
drowning. The steamboats, smoke
stack set fire to the gas, and an explo.
sion destroyed the balloon and the steam
boat. The crew and oarsmen were
thrown into the air; eight were killed
and twenty-five wounded.
At the time Of the memorable siege OF
Paris, from September, 1870, to Feb
ruary 1871, the organizers Of the aerial
post conceived the unfortunate plan of
having the balloons start at II o'clock
in the evening to avoid the enemies OBJ
servation. The same end would have
been obtained by starting at o'clock IN
the morning, while starting in the mid
die Of the night there was great risk of
reaching the sea before daylight. The
unwise plan cost the lives Of two aero
nauts, and might easily have caused the
loss of many more. On the 30th Of
November sailor named Prince started
from the Orleans railway station, which
had become an aerial station; there was
no moon and the wind blew violently.
The aerostat was driven westward rap.
idly, and at dawn fishermen saw it dis
appear, swallowed by the waves. Prince
must have been drowned
The same night, half an hour later,
second balloon was sent up from the
Station du Nord, and it also reached the
ocean at sunrise. 1t seems that the COM
mission, after determining the rate of the
land breeze, gave the sailor aeronaut
strict orders to remain in the air eight
hours. But the balloon carried sec
ond passenger When they had reached
the ocean and the balloon was passing
over Belle Isle, the passenger, disregard
ing the command, opened the valve. II
another moment had elapsed, the second
balloon would have shared the fate of
the first.
On January 81, 1871, at the time OF
the armistice, the last but one OF the bal
looms used during the siege left the Sta.
tion du Nord commanded by sailor,
Lacaze, and was lost in the sea of La
Rochelle.
1t seems miraculous that the balloon
which left the Orleans Station on No.
vember 21st was not lost in the sea. II
started at II o'clock in the evening, AMI
in fifteen hours was driven by tempest
across the North Sea and beyond Chris
tiana in Norway. The aeronaut, Roller,
and his companion believed themselves
absolutely lost during long hours of
agony, and owed their deliverance Only
to their courageous perseverance and to
the geographical contour of the Nor.
wegian coast. As they passed over a
mountain OF fir trees the anchor was cast
from the car and they were saved. OF
the sixty-fouI post balloons sent out
during the siege, two were lost at sea
and four others barely escaped a similar
fate.
On July 4tb, 1873, another aerial
shipwreck occurred at Iouia, Micj. The
aeronaut, La Montaln, who the year be-
fore had very nearly heen drowned in
Lake Erie, conceived the fatal idea of
suspending his car, not to a net enyelop-
ing the aerial globe, but to series of |
Independent ropes fastened to a circle of
wood placed above a MontgolGer. The
ascent was very rapid It was noticed
that the car did not remain in vertical
position; the cords slipped, little by
little, and uniting on one side set the
balloon free. The Car fell like stone,
while the unfortunate man, cIinging con-
to it, retained suffic ent pres
euce OF mind to attempt to turn himself
head downward and make the car serve
as a parachute. When thirty yards from
the earth he lost his hold, and bis body