Smyrna times., 1895-02-06
TALKING ON THE AIR
RECORD FOR LONG DISTANCE CON-
VERSATlON WITHOUT A WIRE.

Tales are plenty Of long distances over
which men S voices have been conveyed
by the medium Of placid water. An
Adirondack guide tells Of having talked
In ordinary tones, on very still day,
with a companion y miles distant at
the other end Of lake, and another
guide caps this story with ono Of yells
which were heard and returned near
water extent of thrco miles. These tales
are quite outdone by we'll authcnti-
Gated story told by Carlotta, once the
most famous woman balloonist in the
world. In her story air, instead Of wa
ter, was the medium and the distance
Of the conversation was four miles. 1t
took place above tho outskirts Of ST.
Louis some years ago.
1T was an aerOnautic exhibition,
says CarlOtta in telling the story, "and
a young man named White, who was
inexperienced i'll ballooning, had agreed
to make an ascension. had already
gone up and was quietly drifting east
on an easy air current when he started
out He had had enough experience to
know how to handle the valves and
sandbags, and he intended to 20 up a
mile or so and then descend easily. Now,
the upper air is full of varying currents
You may be going due west at "a half a
mile altitude and when you get up
few hundred yards farther you may
strike a current that carries you duo
east. Mr.. White checked his upward
career i'll west bound draft, SO that
when he finally drited out Of that cur
rent into mine we were a good long dis
tance apart
Il always have apowerful glass with
me when l make an ascension When l
turned this on him, l saw that he was
IN trouble. His balloon had twisted a
little in such a way that | Judged it
was likely to twist more, and he was
clamboring around the ropes trying to
right it, but without much apparent
conception Of what was best to do.
was frightened for him, for when the
bag Of balloon turns too much the gas
begins to escape rapidly, and the results
are likely to be serious. | knew that
voices could be heard a long way in the
air, for had often heard people q mile
below me shouting, SO without know
ing how far the two balloons were apart
l decided to hail the other one. | gath
cred all my breath and shouted:
Hello, hello, hellon
Then 1 turned my glass on the other
balloon again. Up where tho air is 50
clear as it is a mile above the earth one
can see at great distances with wonder
full distincnese. Through my glass
could see Mr.. White start and look all
around him. That was quite awhile aft
er had shouted He didn seem to un-
derstanl where the voice came from.
but finally saw him put his hands to
his mouth, evidently making a speaking
trumpet Of them l waited and waited
and was just about to shout again when
the huge gasbag above me began to
thrill with sounds. They seemed to buzz
along its sides and ditfuso the air, only
to collect and come whiTing and rum
bling down the funnel to be poured into
my ears, and they formed in a tone that
seemed made up of million other
tones:
g Hello! Where-are-you:'
1T was the most peculiar sound ! had
ever heard. When it had scattered itself
into silence, took out my watch, and
timing myself shouted:
Throw out one sandbag. I'll come
to yopp
"Forty seconds later my balloon be-
/ gan to yibrate again, finally forming
the words:
" All right. In troubler
There was method in my telling
! him to throw out the sandbag, as il
was afterward Of use. threw out a
number myself, for l reckoned that i
little above me would find current
to carry me toward Mr. White. This !
did and was soon within "a short dis
tance Of him, aerially considered. The
trouble with his balloon was a slight
disarrangement of the ropes, which
had myself experienced, so | told him
what to do and he was soon all right.
AS explained to him when we reached
the earth, we had been talking over an
aerial telephone the gasbags being the
only material objects up there collecting
all tho sounds and acting as huge recoiv.
ers. "
Well, said he, you got me out Of
a very bad scrape, but never was Sc
scared in my life as when that Voic,
sur. led me thought the balloon
was ,.,king, and that had gone crazy.
9 1t was pretty long talk, said J.
for, allowing the voice to travel five
seconds to mile by my timing, we mus
have been close to four miles apart.
That's simply impossible, said he
" Very well, l said. That's why
told you to drop that sandbag l threw
somo out, too, and we can find out how
far they landed apart.
1T WASH much trouble to find peo
pie who had found the bags and knew
just where they were. Fortunately they
had landed near q railroad track, So th,
distance estimating was mado easy fol
us. Itwas / Il miles guess that is tn,
record up to date for long distance talk
ing without a wire.