Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1895-09-09
FIRST PARACHUTE DROP.
Point of View Different From That of the
Terrestrial Observer.


chute, was tugging at its moorings
upon the broad lawn. | confess that
1t was with some nervousness | took my
seat In the little car behind Joseph Nor
! cross, a skillful aeronaut, who had from
| dizzy heights made many a Hight earth
ward through the air. With this same
balloon he had. during the past year,
safely made sixty-seven ascensions,
and had each time successfully de-
scended with the parachute SO why
should fear?
Norcross smilngly welcomed me. and
as he gave the order to cast loose the
line, and the men on the ground re-
| leased the great aerial traveller, | felt
! myself ailoat in little boat upon an
ether sea There was no sudden Jolt
or Jar about it, SO cleverly was the re-
lease effected Putting my head over
the side of the car, l looked below and
was surprised. for, apparently we were
not ascending. but the great world,
: with all her glory of green and gold,
was dropping from us away down into
| space. | looked in pleased amazement
| upon the wonderful panorama presented
as the earth kept receding. Norcross
smiled.
Then l gazed upward at the great
bird-like balloon soaring triumphantly
| on. Again l looked down, and the
| houses and barns seemed to crouch
| closer to the ground, and the villages
| to cluster together. Streams and lakes
~ ldsl lopkeu IKE mere tHreduS VI pIols
! of silver. Away in the north the range
of mountains looked like an emerald
! wall, while that dark blur on the earth
below was the thriving and populous
| county seat. We We're far from the
| world. Suddenly we were in a cold. driz-
! zltng rain, and the earth was shut from
| view. ] inquiringly looked at Norcross.
I'VE have entered the clouds" was
| his smiling explanation, 'and we are not
| yet mile high"
In hve minutes we emerged into
| beautiful sunshine Beneath lay a
heavy bank of fog. FURNISHED by the
ardent afternoon sunlight, but the
| earth for time was not within sight
Suddenly through a rift in the clouds
| caught glimpse of 1t far. far below.
| So distant was ii that only here and
there could an object on it's surface be
dlscerned. Truly. we We're getting we'll
up in the world. The thought at once
attracted my serious attention to the
balloon. Suppose it should spring a
leak or collapse: what would be the fate
OF the daring sky travellers? Or. on the
other hand, If the valve line failed to
operate, would we go on upward for
ever? The thought disturbed me not a
little. The aeronaut surmised what was
passing in my mind, smiled genially,
and said:
Il have made a thousand ascensions
unharmed. From what height would
you like TO leap"
Make 1t about 1000 feet | replied de-
terminedly.
"All right" Norcross responded, as he
scanned the aerometer and promptly
pulled open the valve, preparatory to de-
scendinS.
Placing my hand out over the side of
the car the rush of cold air against my
down-turned palm indicated that we
were again swiftly journeying earth
ward. Suddenly we We're enveloped
in the fog of cloudbank for
minute or two and then
emerged with the distant earth in view.
The glance at it from my perch there
away up near the clouds only increased
my nervousness.
Look up! Look up"' exclaimed the
aeronaut, "or you'll lose your nerve"
A glance downward when descending
with the parachute might, l knew. turn
my hair white or bring on a stroke of
paralysis, as il had done in the case of
some other men.
"Twenty-iive hundred feet from here
to the ground" exclaimed the smiling
Norcross. Get ready"
He then bound round my body under
the arms a stout rope, the other end of
which was secured to the trapeze bar
in my hand, which bar in turn was at
tached to the parachute that hung at
the bottom of the car.
1t was now rapidly approaching the
time when | should make the leap of
my life, and, grasping the guy ropes of
tne car, l $1,000 upon the seat in rpaIi-
ness, while Norcross gave me his final
instructions.
Leap as far out into the air as pos
sihle and the tightening of the trapeze
line will release the parachute, which
will open its fifteen-foot spread i'm a sec
ond or two" he said; then all you've
got to do is to look up and hang on"
Twelve hundred feet" shouted Nor
cross. / frightened my grasp on the
trapeze bar, looked steadfastly inward
and awaited the word to lean. Ii was
the most trying time of my life, but |
was determined to make the iump.
Coz suddenly exclaimed the aero
naut. Closing my eyes | made n great
leap out into space and could feel nv
self rapidly shooting downward. Then
the trapeze line tautened with a slight
jerk that indicated the release of the
closed parachute, and | looked nm inst
in time to catch a tieeting glimpse of
Norcross' smiling face peering over the
side of the car far above me. But the
parachute did not open. The seconds
passed into a minute and then three,
four five minutes. Would the parachute
never open? Must | be dashed 10 death
ON the ground ! 900 feet below?
Suddenly there came n sharp click
from above, and my speed percentiblv
slackened, All the parachute had
opened, NV life was saved With an
intense feeling of Satisfaction I faIt nv