The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-02-21
TALKING ON THE AIR
RECORD FOR LONG DISTANCE CON.
vER5ATlON WITHOUT A WIRE.

Out of q Fix n Mile Up I'm the Air-He
Voice Reached Over Four Miles-Ga.
bags Acted 40 Receivers.
Tales are plenty of long distances owe
which mems voices have been conveye,
by the medium of placid water. Al
Adirondack guide tells Of having talket
in ordinary tones, on a very still day
with a companion ~ miles distant a
the other end of a lake, and anothe1
guide caps this story with me of yell
which we're heard and returned near {
water extent of three miles. These tale!
are quite outdone by a well authenti
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. II
took place above the outskirts of st.
Louis some years ago.
1T was an aerenautic exhibition, -
says Carlotta in telling the story, land
n young la named White, who was
inexperienced in 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 go up q
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 a
few hundred yards farther you may
strike O current that carries you due
east. Mr.. White checked his upward
career in a west bound draft, SO that
when he finally drited out of that cur
rent into mine we were q good long dis
lance apart.
Il always have powerful glass with
me when make an ascension. When ]
turned this on him, | 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
ciambering 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 a balloon turns too much the gas
begins to escape rapidly, and the results
are likely to be serious. I knew that
voices could be heard a long way in the
air, for had often heard people a mile
below me shouting, 80 without know
ing how far the two balloons were apart
/ decided to hail the other one. | gath
cred all my breath and shouted:
Hello, hello, hellor
"Then l turned my glass ON the other
balloon again Up where the air is SO
clear as it is a mile above the earth one
can see at great distances with wonder
full distinctness. Through my glass l
could see Mr. White start and look all
around him. That was quite awhile aft
er / had shouted. He didn't seem to un.
derstand where the voice came from,
but finally | saw him put his hands to
his mouth, evidently making q speaking
trumpet of them. / 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 diffuse the air, only
to collect and come whirring and rum
bling down the funnel to be poured into
my ears, and they formed in a tone that
seemed made up of q million other
tones:
Hello! Where-are-you?'
1t was the most peculiar sound | had
ever heard. When it had scattered itself
into silence, l took out my watch, and
timing myself shouted:
Throw out one sandbag. ia come
to your
Forty seconds later my balloon be.
gan to vibrate again. finally forming
the words:
"'All right. In troubler -
There was method in my telling
MIN to throw out the sandbag, as it
was afterward of use. | threw ont a
number myself, for | reckoned that "A
little above me would find q current
to carry me toward Mr.. White. This
did and was o within a short dis.
n of him, a~erially considered. The
trouble with his balloon was a slight
Encouragement of the ropes, which |
had myself experienced, so / told him
what to do, and he was soon all right.
As l 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 the sounds and acting as huge receiv.
ers."
WELL, said he, you got me out of
a very bad scrape, but / never was so
scared in my life as when that voice
surrounded me. / thought the balloon
was talking, and that / had gone crazy
II was a pretty long talk, said /.
for, allowing the voice to travel five
seconds to a mile by my timing, we must
have been close to four miles apart.
That's simply impossible, said he.
Very WE'LL / said. That's why /
told you to drop that sandbag. / threw
some out, too, and we can find out how
far they landed apart.
1T wasn't much trouble to find neo.
pie who had found the bags and knew
just where they were. Fortunately thew
had landed near a railroad track. so the
distance estimating was made easy for
us 1t was Al miles. Iguess that is the
record up to date for long distance talk.
ing without q wire"