The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1894-04-17
Tuesday. April II. 1894.
THE reRRoRs OF sALlooNING.
\ Womsn's Exciting Fall Through space
and Escape From Death.

ana Escape rom Deatn.
Mrs. Carl Z. Myers, the parachute
jumper, told of an exciting experience
of hers at the fair grounds at Ottawa
that. as she said, began like a com
edy and nearly ended in a tragedy:
1T was the narrowest escape I've
eve had, and incidentally and acci.
dentally the first parachute descent
sver made in America. 1t wasn't q
regular parachute either, but Ill tell
you about that when / come to it.
The occasion was a big fair. and the
grounds were packed with people.
the biggest and most uncomfortable
crowd / have ever seen. We had Il
funny time getting the balloon to the
place. 1t was brought up or the
other side of the river in tow of a IL.
connective and ' as to be towed aero
by a line of canoes padded by II
dians. We got it fastened to the ca
noes, and it 1 ted the first three into
the air, spill e their occupants out
That was to much, even for aborig
inal stolidit The other Indians de
camped in aste.
They a erward said that if they
had to go pward to the Great Spiri'
they pref red TO die first and have
the benet; of decent burial. The mex
move VIZ to fasten the balloons guy
rope to the stern of a small steal'
tug. The tug started up, a pun O
wind lifted the balloon a little. an
up came the stern of the boat out Q.
the water. The tug kept on putting
the screw ~revolved wildly, and tn,
crowd howled with laughter. 1t wa
too ridiculous! 1t reminded me of {
kitten held up in the air by the tai.
and wildly scratching 70 get a foot
hold on the floor beneath.
Finally, a bigger boat got the biz
gas bag over safely, but so densely
packed was the crowd that l had e
walk on the shoulders of the people
10 the balloon. In their eagerness I.
get up close the people broke the
concentrating ring. which gathers the
balloon ropes before they are fasten
III W Tie Dd-hcl. anu dl-O lDit d VI
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 / shot up was
alarming, and / was three miles high
before l stopped. Then l began T.
drop pretty fast, but l knew l could
stop that when | wanted to. and !
felt better. Suddenly l heard a tire
mendous ripping and tearing sound
The air pressing up as l fell had start
ed the hole made by the crowd and
had torn three great rents clear t.
the top of the bag.
Il began to drop with frightful
x2pidity, and for a minute l gave my
self up for lost and sank down in the
basket. Then it flashed into my mind
that | still had a chance if | could SO
turn the balloon as TO bring the torn
parts underneath. and thus keep some
of the gas in the bag. II was a case
of working against time, for every
second was bringing me nearer TO :
terrible death. Ia the one glanca
that ! took downward / could see the
earth !eaping up, as it seemed, t.
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. / was still dropping at a
dangerous rate, however.
Looking down below, l saw not
far distant a patch of spruce trees
Toward this l 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 -
miles horizontally and three miles
downward in five minutes. My fall
had been slanting. That was the
only time that I ever gave up hope
lvAn for a moment New York