Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1893-01-17


hurled it directly upon the tower. There
was crash as the electric light globe
smashed. The aeronaut found herself for
moment tangled in an electric light
burner. When she succeeded in extricat-
ing herself she was hanging by her hands
She hung there in mid air a second and
then loosened her hold and fell.
When they reached her she was still
breathing, but In few seconds all was
over. The rest may be left to the imagina-
ton. She was but twenty-five years old, .
native of Germany, and her true name
was Margaret Clausen. The saddest feat
ure OF the case is that her parents arrived
at Detroit that evening to visit her, whom
they had not seen for three years. They
found only her mangled corpse and weep
ing sister.
The spirit of aeronauts is necessarily
that of extreme daring, and the record OF
tragedies among them is appalling. The
singular fact is, however, that the earliest
aeronauts were most successful in landing,
and as late as 1870 a historian of the art as
serted that down to that time only twenty
five persons had lost their lives in balloon
accidents. Certainly twice that many
have since been killed
The first balloon of which we have q GER
tain record was sent up by Stephen and
Joseph MontgoIfier, June 5, 1888. They
used hot air. Only five months later Pr
latre de Rozier and the Marquis d. Arlan-
DIES made the first ascent, rising 5000 feet.
The world went wild over it, and before
the close Of l7s4 nearly 100 ascents were
made. The next year Blanchard, the
greatest balloonist of the age, with DR..
John Jeffries of Boston, crossed over the
channel from England to France, and soon
after occurred the first accident. Pilatre
de Rozier and Romaine Laine tried to
cross the channel by a combination of by
drogen gas and hot air. Their 'Montgol-
tiere." as it was called, or heater to sup
ply the hot air as fast as it was exhausted,
set the gas on fire and they fell 5000 feet,
striking on rock on the French cost.
Blanchard died in 1909 and his wife, who
bad often assembled with him, made many
daring ascents alone. At length in 1919
she attempted to go up from the Tivoli
garden in Paris with fireworks exploding
below the car rs she arose. The wind car
ried the fire into the globe; it exploded and
the brave lady was dashed to pieces on
housetop. Green, the eminent English
aeronaut, made 400 ascents in thirty-six
Wise, the American aeronaut, passed from
St. Louis to Henderson, N. Y.-l,l50 miles
lin little over nineteen hours, or very
nearly mile per minute. In 1904 Gay
Lussac outdid all his predecessors by rising
5000 feet, and little later reached 5000
feet; but in 1867 Messrs. Glaisher and Cox
WELL for the Royal society, outdid all be-
fore and after them by rising 81, 600 feet or
seven miles above the earth. Birds thrown
out of the car fell like stones, and must
have gone down nearly six miles before
reaching sustaining atmosphere.
In 1860 Mr.. Thurston was carried up
from Adrian, Mich, while holding to the
ropes of balloon, and what was thought
to be his skeleton was afterward found in
the northern woods. Since the parachute
descent and the trapeze have been added
the accidents have been very numerous,
yet the number who will venture increases
rapidly. There is a wild fascination. The
case of Grimwood, the Chicago journalist
who was lost with Professor Donaldson, Is
still fresh in the public memory. Pretty
and daring Gertie Carmo is but the last OF
many, the brave and the rash who have
found death in the air.