The record-union., 1893-07-07
UP IN A BALLOON.
Two AerOnauts' Experience With ar
Insane Companion.
Fight With Maniac Up Above the
Clouds-A Desperate Strug- ~
gle for Life.

y gentleman from Canada, who is
making tour of the coast, recently re-
lated the following thrilling story to
'Beselena," the Reconnaissance fair
correspondent at Seattle, and a group of
interested ladies and gentlemen:
at was several years ago." he began.
while l was making a tour through
Canada in the interest Of paper with
which l was connected. One beautiful
moonlight night L arrived at a little viii
lage, and before returning to nv room
stroIIed forth to drink in the beauties of
the calm summer evening. In nv wan
derlngs l found myself before the little
village square, around which were con-
gregated great crowd of people. Push
ing my way to the front, l saw the ex-
| citement was occasioned by balloon
ascension which was about to take place.
Before entering the cage the balloonist
invited any one to enter and make the
ascent with him. l accepted the pro-
posal, when, just as we were about to
enter, man closely buttoned uD in
frock coat. although the night was warm.
stepped forward and expressed a desire
to make the trip with US. Soon we were
going up and up. higher and higher. un-
til the village looked like a mere speck
and the people were not even distin-
guishable.
Shall we go higher?' queried the bal
loonist. Before l could reply the man in
the trock coat spoke up, and said inpa-
tiently:
Yes, yes, we are not near high enough
yetr
"Thereupon one of the sand-baps was
thrown out. One after another they were
thrown out, until not one remained, and
| the balloonlst announced that we could
go no further. 1t was getting yerv cold
and dark. We seemed 10 be sailing
through the clouds. The announcement
that we could go no further seemed to
irritate the stranger.
1--WE must go higher-we must 90 IN
the moonp
''At these words it flashed across our
minds that we were in company with n
lunatic! What were we to do? Farun
among the clouds, miles and miles away
from help, the situation was awful. Both
the balloonist and myself fully realized
that we were face to lace with death. and
death in most horrible form. unless
something could be speedily done.
I'VE sat spellbound. The lunatic. not
| hndlng any more sandbags, began
throwing out instruments. until NOTHING
remained, Then he turned to me, with a
most diabolical look, and said: You
must go neXtr
with these words he seized me bv the
throat. Aided by the balloonist, fought
desperately, but TO no purpose. I was
covered with blood from several wounds
inflicted by the madman's murderous
pocketknite. L was weak and exhausted
from the loss of blood, when the lunatic
turned his attention for moment from
me TO the balloonist, and with one power
iul, well-directed blow knocked MIN
senseless at the other end OF the cage.
Then he seized me by the throat and
thrust me half out OF the cage. Exhausted
nature could stand no more, and tainted
away. How do you think we escaped ?"
we were ask ed lat this critical period. How
should we know? We were all sitting
on the extreme edge OF our chairs, in
breathless expectation.
WELL" he continued, with q wicked
twinkle in his eye, II didn't 90 up in a
balloon at all; had been TO a political
dinner that night, and had dreamed the
whole thingr'
There was dead silence for a minute.
while we tried to realize how we had
| been fooled by this little foreigner. Then
the Major said:
by jove, the next time you spring one
of your blood-curdling tales on lot Of
law-abiding Americans we will put you
out; yes, sir, we will 20
Then we all laughed again and sepa-
rated for the night.