Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1895-07-04
CAUGHT ON THE FLY.

Georgetown was going to celebrate the
Fourth of July, and among other attrac-
tions was to have grand balloon ascen-
sion When l, George Bates, heard of
this. made up my mind that ] would
go up in that balloon
Twill say right here that never cared
for the society Of young ladies'; conse-
quently I was called confirmed old
bachelor at the age Of % years. l had
no relatives TO dissuade me from making
such fool Of myself as to wish to go up
in balloon, and no one to care whether
came down again or not / say did
not care for the society of young ladies,
but there was one-Judge Wells daugh-
ter Sallie-who, thought, was the best
looking and altogether the incest girl l
had ever known was not acquainted
with her, however, and never expected
to be, but liked her all the same.
saw the owner of the balloon, Pro-
fessor Sears, and he agreed to carry me
up for 800. As was in good circum-
stances financially did not consider this
price too high. and at once agreed to go
The longed for Fourth of July arrived,
and about O'Clock ] stepped into the
balloon with Professor Sears.
AT just five minutes past 3 the signal
gun was fired, and Professor Sears lean
ed out and cut the cable that held us
As he did so the grapnel slipped out OF
the car. He tried to catch it, but lost his
balance and fell to the ground, leaving
me. as supposed, alone in the balloon
/ was terribly frightened, for l had not
the slightest knowledge of the workings
of the huge gas bag. as had never seen
one closely before
/ looked over the car to see where l
was going. when / noticed that there
was a girl hanging by her clothes to the
grapnel, the line of which was attached
to the car, while the balloon was sailing
rapidly toward the clouds
What was I to do? / made up my
mind in second must draw the child
up into the car. Preached out and caught
hold of the rope. 1 could not move it.
The speed with which the balloon was
going made it impossible to raise it an
inch. There We're some double tackle
blocks in the car, and ! at once thought
of way to get the girl up Hastily rig
ging the blocks, | tied the rope to the one
holding the girl and found that could
hoist her up. had to fasten the rope as
low down as l could reach and then
hoist till the blocks came together. They
were hitched to the ropes that held the
ear to the balloon ON top, and Of course
it was slow work. think it took 15
minutes to get her into the car, when
Judge of my surprise to find that what
/ had supposed to be little girl was
Judge Wells daughter, "a years old. and
the belle Of Georgetown
4 A few moments after / got her into
the car she regained her senses, and her
first words We're, Where am I?'
~ don't exactly know" replied,
"but you are somewhere between heaven
and earth in balloon "
How came here-oh, remember
nowi felt myself suddenly pulled up
into the air, and then guess tainted. :"
II should have thought you would, :"
replied, and then | told her how Pro-
fessor Sears had tried to catch the grap-
mel as it fell and had fallen out in try
ing 10 do SO. and how / got her into the
car.
"Then you have saved my life =
"No; only prolonged it "
"How is that?"
1--WE are going rapidly upward, and
don't know anything about the manage
ment of the balloon We shall both be
killed .
~ don't think that You surely can
find way to stop it Have you tried?"
mo, have been SO busy getting you
into the balloon that | have not thought
of it will try now examined the
different parts, and finally found the
rope that opened the valve The balloon
began to descend very rapidly - too
much so, thought. and found another
rope which would close the valve With
these ropes l regulated the descent very
nicely After getting the thing under
control, / looked down toward the earth.
1t was the first look since had pulled
Miss Wells into the balloon We were a
long way up, but we were over the wa
ter. i told Miss Wells SO. and she look
ed ont.
I'm that case think we had better
go down till we strike different cur
rent of wind. don t your"
Itold her yes, and very soon we struck
a different current and supposed we
were being carried in the direction from
which we came. Then closed the valve,
but the balloon continued to descend l
threw out the bags of sand that were in
the car. but still we Were going down
I'm afraid we are going to land in
the water. " said as gazed out of the
car
Then we must be drowned" she
said.
mo. not necessarily. said "H !