Arizona republican., 1895-08-02
HARD LUCK Attending Nelson and Burke, AerOnautS. The Former Probably Fatally
 Injured.
He Lands on a House and
 Falls to the Ground.
The Other Also Has a Mishap-They Were Determined to Show
 They Were Not Fakirs.

A balloon ascension last night was attended by possibly fatal accident. The parachute leap was made success fully, but the aeronaut, Red" Nelson, alighted on the residence of Joseph Thalheimer. He fell to the ground and was rendered senseless by the fall He was carried to the office of Dr. Purman and examined as closely as his senseless condition would permit. The doctor said he had sustained internal injuries which might terminate fatally.
 This is only the last of series of accidents which have attended Nelson and his partner, Burke, who came here nearly month ago. Either storm or violent winds have interrupted almost every ascent they have attempted to make. There was 8 single break In their bad luck and that was in an exhi- bition at Tempe, which is said to have been an extraordinarily good one, showing that the men understood their business. On account of frequent fall- ures, for which they were not to blame, they were unreasonably accused of being fakirs, and by these accusations were spurred to taking extraordinary chances. The last ascent was made after dark.
 A large crowdatten ded the grounds adjacent to the Salvation Army tent to witness the balloon ascension and par ! ,J, I.I 1 the crowd was lsrge the contributions were small, but as the aeronauts wished to show the people that they were not frauds they determined on making the ascension. The big bal loon was almost inflated when smoke began to issue from the top and small hole burned through. The bal loon was lowered and several dippers of water put out the fire.
 | When the balloon was again inflated Aeronaut Burke took hold of the bar of the parachute and the word given to let go. The balloon shot up and the parachute when at 8 height of about thirty feet from the ground broke loose from the balloon and Burk was thrown heavily to the ground. He was picked up in a semi-unconscious condition and taken to the Opera House drug store, where his injuries were dressed. He said that the acci- dent was mainly due to the excitement of the men holding the balloon, who had unconsciously frightened the cutoff rope and when his weight fell on the parachute the knife severed the rope that attached the parachute to the bal loon. When he realized that he was falling he swung half round in the air and landed on his side. He was badly shaken up and his legs bruised, but otherwise was not injured.
 When the crowd saw that they were disappointed in the ascension they cried out that it was fake without stopping to thing that it was preposter- ous to imagine that man is going to risk his life by taking a thirty-foot fall to the earth.
 After the failure in the afternoon, in which Burke had been crippled, Nelson announced that he would prepare the balloon again and make the ascent him. self, to show that it was really intended to give the crowd show for it's money. When the balloon was nearly ready some one cut rope which supported tall wooden upright at it's side. The upright fell against the balloon, caus- ing partial collapse, which still further delayed the exhibition. At last every- thing was ready and Nelson, bidding the crowd good bye, grasped the para. chute and wss carried up into the grow. ing night. The balloon drifted to the south. At a height of several hundred feet Nelson cut the parachute away. The descent was pretty one, though it seemed that when within hundred feet of the ground the parachute partially turned and shot down. At that point, though, there were no near witnesses, but MT. Thalheimer, who WAS in the house. said Nelson's contact with the roof sounded like cannon shot. It is therefore possible that his injuries were received then rather than in the fall from the roof. The accident is due in part 10 the darkness and in part to the fact that Nelson was already worn out by contin- uous work about the balloon during the afternoon. If Nelson dies 1t will be because a crowd. now regretful, clam ored for $5 which had been paid in anticipation of the afternoon show.