Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1894-05-03
THE IERRoRS OF BALLooNING.
A woman's Exciting Fall Through Space
and Escape From Death.

u oP0SO
and Escape From Death.
Mrs. Carl E. Myers, the parachute
jumper, told of an exciting experience
of hers at the fair grounds at Ottawa
that, as she said, began like COM
edy and nearly ended in a tragedy:
1T was the narrowest escape I've
ever had, and incidentally and acci-
dentally the first parachute descent
ever made in America. 1t wasn't a
regular parachute either, but I'll tell
you about that when l come to it.
The occasion was a big fair, and the
grounds were packed with people,
the biggest and most uncomfortable
crowd l have ever seen. We had
funny time getting the balloon to the
place 1t was brought up on the
other side of the river in tow of To-
comotive and was to be towed across
by inc of canoes padded by In
dians. We got it fastened to the ca
noes, and it lifted the first three into
the air, spilling their occupants out.
That was too much, even for aborig-
inal stolidity. The other Indians de-
camped i'll haste.
They afterward said that if they
had to go upward to the Great Spirit
they preferred to die first and have
the benefit of decent burial. The next
move was to fasten the balloons guy
rope to the stern of a small steam
tug The tug started up, a puff of
wind lifted the balloon a little, and
up came the stern of the boat out of
the water. The tug kept on putting,
the screw revolved wildly, and the
crowd howled with laughter. 1t was
too ridiculous! 1t reminded me of a
kitten held up in the air by the tail
and wildly scratching to get a foot
hold on the floor beneath.
Finally, a bigger boat got the big
gas bag over safely, but so densely
packed was the crowd that 1 had to
walk ON the shoulders of the people
to the balloon. In their eagerness to
get up close the people broke the
concentrating ring, which gathers the
balloon ropes before they are fasten-
ed to the basket, and also tore a big
hole in the bag. In view of this, Mr..
Myers wanted me to give up the trip,
but | insisted on going, and finally
fastened the ropes to the basket. The
rapidity with which l shot up was
alarming, and was three miles high
before 1 stopped. Then / began to
drop pretty fast, but l knew / could
stop that when l wanted to, and !
felt better Suddenly heard a ire
mendous ripping and tearing sound
The air pressing up as / fell had start
ed the hole made by the crowd and
had torn three great rents clear to
the top of the bag.
| Il began to drop with frightful
rapidity, and for a minute gave my
self up for lost and sank down in the
basket. Then it flashed into my mind
| that still had chance if could so
turn the balloon as to bring the torn
parts underneath, and thus keep some
of the gas in the bag. 1t was a case
of working against time, for every
second was bringing me nearer to q
terrible death. In the one glance
that / took downward / could see the
earth leaping up, as it seemed, to
meet me. quickly shifted all my
sand bags, and to my joy the balloon
turned so as to form a sort of para
chute, and the speed was greatly de
creased i was still dropping at q
dangerous rate, however.
Looking down below, saw not
far distant a patch of spruce trees
Toward this directed my fall and
managed to land there. Right
through the trees / went, breaking
every branch that touched, but the
trees saved me, for landed on the
ground badly shaken, but unhurt.
had travelled an actual distance of 1:
miles horizontally and three miles
downward in five minutes. My fal
had been slanting. That was the
only time that ever gave up hops
even for a moment. New Yorl
Sun