Tensas gazette., 1894-08-03
TRAVELLING BY KITE.
An English Aeronaut's Unpleasant
Adventure
The Singular Accident Which Was an
Outcome OF n Peculiar Mania
for Aeronautics In
England.

among aeronauts, who believed that
carriages drawn by kites would super-
sede railways to considerable extent.
Among those who followed this fascin-
ating study, says Answers" was DR..
Pocock, an uncle of w. g. Grace, the
champion cricketer of England. DR..
Pocock made many journeys from Bris
tol to London in little carriage drawn
by couple of large kites flying a quar-
ter OF mile or SD In the air, and he
often attained a speed Of twenty miles
an hour 1t sras thought, too. that
kites would supersede sails for ships,
and. in fact, for some time scientific
England went kite mad. In order to
thoroughly understand the action Of
these gigantic kites tsome of them were
a. large as a ships mainsail) a certain in
trepId John Fahrenheit-no relation to
the famous chemist of that name-made
several voyages in a basket, an ordi-
nary wickerwork affair, such as is used
by laundresses, tied TO kite. On one
occasion the kite was started at Rom
ford. in Essex. II was attached to a
pony chaise. which was so constructed
as TO be easily steered by means of ham
dies, such as those on old-fashioned tri-
cycles In the chaise sat two men, one
q brother of the kite traveller, the other
. gentleman who spent a considerable
fortune in experiments of this descrip-
ton. The party waited until suita-
Ole day came and at length they arose
one morning at four o'clock with the
pleasing Intelligence that half gale
was blowing from the west Every
thing had been IN readiness for some
time, and. after a hasty breakfast, the
kite was unrolled stretched on its gil
gantic bamboo frame and held in the
roadway by couple of laborers.
Fahrenheit seated himself in the
basket The three stout lines with
which the kite was held and controlled
were carefully examined, and after con-
sideraole maneuvering the enormous
spread OF canvas was waited upward,
with its human cargo seated calmly and
nonchalantly in the basket. For a long
time 1t looked as though the kite would
not ascend properly, and the lines fire.
quently hung slack, but at6:3O the wind
had increased to such an extent that it
was thought expedient to pay out"
more line, and the three travellers seated
themselves in the chaise, which began
10 move along the main road at a brisk
pace. Once in motion the speed in
creased, and the difficulty of steering
the chaise and looking after the guide
ropes was SO great that it was thought
expedient to bring the experiment to a
hasty conclusion. This, however, was
easier said than done AS they passed
q milestone they determined to time
their speed. and found to their surprise
that they had covered a mile in $50.
Three miles out of Chelmsford rain be
gan to fall in torrents and violent tugs
were felt at the guide ropes. 1t had
been previously arranged that they
should form the signal for an imme-
diate descent. and. taking advantage of
somewhat steep incline, when the
rate of progression would naturally be
diminished, the brakes were applied.
Fahrenheit was observed making vio-
lent signals with his hands. and the
kite was found to be falling with alarm
ing rapidty So great, indeed, had the
speed become that it was evident that
Fahrenheit's doom was sealed unless
some immediate effort could be made
to stop the fall Mr.. McLennan and
bis two assistants thereupon promptly
determined to take the only possible
step which could save MIN. BY pulling
in the ropes violently the kite would
slightly ascend, and SO, throwing off
their coats. they tuggcd with might
and main In Eve minutes Fahrenheit
was on terra frma 1t appeared that
the rain had thoroughly soaked the
canvas and added pounds to the weight
of the kite, causing it to fall. Had not
prompt measures been taken, there can
be but little doubt that the ponderous
machine would have caused the violent
death of the occupant of the basket.