The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-11-18
STORY OF THE AERONAUT.

It Was About the Disposal of Falling
Bodies Without LittirinE the Earth.
Did you see anything in any of the
papers about a man falling out of
balloon five or six miles high and new
er hitting the ground?" inquired an
old aeronaut of a Star reporter.
What did he hit?" was the inquiring
reply.
Nothing, according to the theory Of
the man making the statement. You
see, it was one of those question-asking
cranks who wants to know everything
He had said that by calculation he had
discovered that if a man fell out of a
balloon at that height he would be
going so fast by the time he got near
the earth he would be vaporized by the
heat from the friction"
That's a fool notion, isn't it?'
''Un-um," hesitated the aeronaut.
81 ouldn't like to say that it was. al
together"
Why not? Did you ever try it?"
''No; but I tried it on a dog once.
Did he hit bottom?"
LET me tell you about it, and you
can answer the question to suit your
self. Twenty years ago 1 had repu-
tation in aeronautics as a high flyer, so
10 speak, and I guess I have been far
Their away from the earth than any
body that is still alive. One day made
an ascension to a distance of over five
miles, and the next day I proposed to
beat my own record, and 1 took a sci
entific chap along as a witness. We
also took along dog weighing about
eight or ten pounds. Well, we went up
for all there was in it, and 1 expect
we might be in heaven by this time;
the professor almost froze to death and
I had to turn back to save his life. At
the point registered highest by our
barometer I let the dog jump out.
spotted the field where he ought to
light with my glass. and watched him
go down as far as could see him. A
couple of hours later we descended and
the balloon grounded within half a
mile of where the dog should have lit,
the wind having changed and swept US
back toward the starting place. We
were interested in the dog and had put
a brass collar on him with our address
on it, so if anybody picked the body up
1t could be sent to us. That is because
we, had no idea of landing anywhere
near where it would light. We looked
the field over carefully, but found no
sign of the dog. Then we made more
careful search, and all at once the pro-
lessor stopped down and came up with
something that looked like a dog collar
that had been through fiery furnace.
1t had exactly the appearance of brass
that had been in the fire, but our tag
was not on it, and we were about to
throw it away when the professor took
another look and found my initials
there, but almost obliterated. That set
tied it. The dog hadn't lit at all. He
had been burned clear out of his collar,
and nothing was left of him Tut va
por, just as the professor said when we
let the dog go. and more pleased man
you never saw than that scientist. 1t
was a notion of his, this vaporizing
theory, and he thought he would
make great name by it."
And did he?"
mo, because he went up with me
again next day with a sheep and he
fell out himself when we were up
about a mile"
WAS he vaporized?'' asked the Star
man with great scientific interest
He was pulverized," smiled the
aerOnaut grimly, and was silent.