Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1893-06-08
IN WOMAN'S BEHALF.
AN ENGLISH AERoNAuT.
Her Experiences May BE Interesting to
Momankind the World Over.

Her Experiences May BE Interesting to
Womaukind the World over.
Among the lady parachutists" of
London, where the occupation seems to
be somewhat in vogue IS Mime. Craw-
ford. Her remarks as TO what first led
her TO choose this profession and its va
rlous attractions and drawbacks. are
interesting and instructive, even 10
that portion of womankind that does
not expect TO earn its living by midair
1eats
Il don't know. said the lady, what
impelled me To become an aeronaut
just my uncomfortable passion for adj
venture, I suppose. Ii was two years
ago when the desire seized me and /
haven't rid myself of it yet"
Nine Crawford's experiences would
have cuPed most of her sex Of any wild
desire for adventure. She has made one
hundred ascensionS has had three ribs
broken, and her spine injured. But the
passion for parachuting burns as
strongly yet as did the renowned Sam
Patchs for leaping, and if the expert
ence Ct all past persistent parachutists
goes for anything is likely to end as
disastrously.
The only stock required to begin the
business, Nine Crawford said is nerve.
She modestly remarks that she has
never vet had the feeling known as
fear, and even goes so far as to wish
she might experience il. ut would be
such an entirely new sensation to me.
she says. However, she adds that if
cbn hn ifrIaf hon
sion as to the result she viii not make
the ascent, though multitude be wait
ing
She has never made an ascent of less
than 5000 feet, and has gone as high
as II. coo She uses the hot-air balloon,
which whizzes her up into the air fast
er than the average trains bear their
passengers over the surface of the earth.
She travels faster in the descent-more
than a mile a minute. When the earth
has disappeared from view, even with a
telescope, she knows that she is 1000
feet above it. The air is very cold, her
ears and fingers Jingle, and any flowers
with which She may have been adorned
with when she began her ascent are
frozen. i he air is so thin that it is diff
ficult to breath. She is jerked through
a cloud and comes out on the other side
numbed and moist. The air in the bal
loon is also chilled, and a lurch of the
machine downward tells her it is time
to cut the rope that binds the par
achute to the balloon. She shoots
downward for several hundred feet
with great rapidity, and sufficient air is
y J., n, 90
parachute to spread it like an umbrella.
Then Nine. Crawford closes her eyes,
bites more closely on the little stick
she keeps in her mouth to prevent her
opening it, and spins downward. When
the air tells her she is near the earth
She opens her eyes, steers about any
trees, roofs or other obstacles, swings
from the cross-bar by her hands and
drops upon her feet
That is the programme when every
thing goes well. When, however, the
air beneath the folds of the parachute
is sufficient to turn it inside out the re-
suit is DISASTROUS Nine. Crawford de-
scribes one such experience. The ropes
got tangled with her feet and jerked
her hold from the bar Il plunged vio-
lently down ward says the lady, Il
saw huge tree directly under me and
reached out my hand to catch limb,
but ] missed it and struck the ground
fairly upon my feet, fell over and faint
ed away"
Nine. Crawford, however, having so
far escaped with only the trifing inju-
ries mentioned, doesn't regard the dan
gers Of her aerial profession as sufficient
to interfere seriously with its pleasures
N. Y. World.