The San Francisco call., 1896-07-05
FELL FROM
THE CLOUDS
The Thrilling Experience of
a French HPtist
Thought He Was Go
ing to a Certain
Doom
EXCITING BHLLOON TRIP
The Clouds Hung Like Colossal
Stalactites, or Like a Vast !,
Forest of Inverted
frees
EXCITING BHLLooN. TRIP

and sculptor. Mr.. Miranda went up in
balloon that collapsed. He luckily es-
capped with his life. The balloon ascent
in which Mr.. Miranda took part was made
by party of French scientists from Paris.
Mr.. Miranda tells something of his own
sensations in the New York World in the
following language:
When l accepted an invitation to be
the artist of NJ. Wilfrid de Fonviele's
| party in the William Tell little thought 1
| was being invited to fall over 5000 feet.
But neither did NJ. de Fopvielle. 1t was
TO me only an unexpected opportunity to
make balloon ascension under the most
favorable auspices and in the very balloon
that carried Gambetta out of Paris during
the siege III 1871. To him it was common
place.
Besides Captain de Fonvielle and his
assistant aeronaut M. Chavautier, there
was M. Bernard, inventor of new
device for measuring the speed of ascent
and descent, and myself. Our purpose
was to take certain scientific observations
and conduct some experiments in electric
conditions at various attitudes.
The ascent was made on a beautiful May
forenoon at La yillette. M. de Fonvielle
had formally invited the special Embassa-
dor of AMMAN, with his suite, who were at
that time at the French capital on diplo-
matte mission. They attended in their
bright national costumes and contributed
a picturesque effect to the occasion.
When all was ready the loud, stern voice
of Captain de Fonvielle cried ''All on
board!' Then l jumped into the willow
| basket. trying to forget in that moment
all my connections on earth. AS every
thing was in order the captains voice was
again heard with the word 'Lachez," or
''Let it GO" and the balloon was free.
The monster balloon sailed majestically
up. The silence around us grew abso-
lutte. The place we left and our friends
became ever smaller and the sweep of our
| vision enlarged proportionately.
| Shortly, in death-like silence, we reached
the lower ends of the clouds at the height
of 4500 feet above the delta formed by
the conjunction of the rivers Seine and
| Marne.
| These floating masses of imposin
grandeur were separated and inde-
pendent, but moving in the same direc-
ton, sometimes separating more or less
and sometimes closing up and uniting
| themselves as immense chips of vast
block.
| This formation impressed me bee ause
we are accustomed to see the clouds
from below, and in consequence we only
see the end behind which is hiding the
whole length of the cloud. To explain
more clearly, the cloud is like a long
stick, the length of which, when pointed
at US. we cannot see.
! As we were ascending between those
gigantic chimneys of vapor and approach
| ing their tops, it was interesting to OBJ
| serve how the vapor became thicker. Soon
| we reached the general level on which
| they were swimming. This was at the
! height of 5000 feet, or as high again as
when we entered their lower ends, which
! would show that the vapory stalactites
were $500 feet long.
The sky was of deep blue the air was
pure and sharp and the sun burned more
than usual. Enormous dark openings,
! like tremendous abysses below, were often
seen on this vast field, produced by the
disintegration of the clouds or masses of
them in tne1r course of floating.
Almost Immediately felt in my ears a
kind of persistent little pain, and l Incl
dentally remarked it to M. de Fonvielle.
lie said that he could not venture to go
higher without risk, as that was a sign of
extreme rarefication Of the atmosphere,
and with that view he opened the valve
| and we commenced our descent.
While in the fog on the descent hap
Dened to notice that the screw of NJ. Ber-
nards device was rotating so fast that L
thought that it was out of order. l called
the attention of the inventor and Captain
de Fonviele to it. The captain ordered
| m ont hall nd
emptied several sandbags, but the flying
sand went up and fell again upon US and
inside of our willow basket. We threw
out some cigarette papers, and up they
went like lightning.
l. / thought that we were lost, and as I
was looking below and observing the hills
and the other objects growing rapidly
larger 1 had a queer, sckly feeling felt
l was going to certain death, and was sur
prised at my own calmness.
Fonvieile was equal to the emergency,
and with perfect GOODNESS ordered all the
ballast we had thrown out, bags, instru-
ments and all, and us to at once climb up
and suspend ourselves from the hoop of
the balloon.
We managed to keep hanging from our
hoop till after Captain de Fonvielle threw
the anchor, which, fortunately, did not
take long to catch. The country people
who had seen us fall came to our assist.
ance.
The rope was pulled by them until the
balloon was drawn down so that we could
Jump out, but in the strong wind the ball
loon was plunging like an imprisoned bull,
and the process of landing was not at all
comfortable. AT last we succeeded in get
| ting upon the solid earth and r on, s,,ro
that 1 was not the last to leave the basket.
We were all sound, except for few
bruises, and we held a consultation on
the probable cause of our fall. 1t appeared
!: that we had neglected the rope which goes
through the balloon for the purpose of
opening the valve, and that it had become
entangled with the other ropes of the
basket.
Thankful to have escaped we took the
train back to Paris, leaving M. Chavautier
| in charge Of the holloon