Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-11-09
PRESENCE OF MIND.
HOW AN AERoNAur SAVED hlMssle
IN THE OPEN AIR.

Long Piece OF Rope and . Nest Calc0.
lafion Preserved the Life Of Professor
Hi wind-But For This the Reporter
Couldn't Tell This Interesting Yarn.
Wind was his name.
Hiram Wind, but he told The Sun
reporter that they called him Hi for
short.
For q long time" said he, with Q
half knavish smile, II didn't like the
Authorization. but when I was 20 and
took TO ballooning as a business it kind
Of sorter seemed as if Providence meant
thai I should have had that name and
no other. Professor Hi Wind" he add
ed with pride, lis name that is bound
to soar through the loftiest realms Of
space.
Ibid you never have an sccident?'
inquired the reporter.
Several, but they have never been
the fault Of the Wind
The professor began to show signs of
succumbing to the pump.
"Of course" he admitted hesitat-
tngly, "a man can't walk the earth ev-
cry day without humping up against
something out Of the ordinary occasion
ally, and the air is no exception. I've
had experiences that you might call
narrow escapes-that is you might, and
then again you mightn't It would de-
pend ON how you looked at things. Some
call 'em narrow and some don't !
don't myself"
1t was plain that the professor under.
stood that good thing was a good
thing when he saw it.
Suppose you narratc one for my
sake" suggested the reporter, land let
me add my testimony to that of your
other admirers.
"Thanks. don't care if do" said
the professor, and there was that in the
tone which recalled the reporter tc
! mans highest duty 10 his fellow man.
After which. sitting at a small table,
the professor continued: Il was out in
Indiana about four years ago. Indiana
is a great state in the season, and had
made an ascent for the benefit of sun.
! day school picnic TO kind of offset goine
up on the Sunday before for lager beel
sociable function. Mighty particular
pious these Sunday school people arc.
and everything was lovely. Ny balloon
was gas balloon, and she fairly kicked
up her heels while had her tethered,
| and when she got away she seemed like
she was heading right for infinity anG
was going the limit CT bust q ham
string.
II guess she must Lave gone up ;
mile and half or two miles when
felt something give way, ard in min
ute or two she began to go hack In,
other way-not fast, you understand
but slow and sure, and i'll a way Il
| make you feel mighty uncomfortable.
! couldn't tail what the matter was, ant
after letting her drop 20 within abou
half mile Of bottom l tossed cut n lit
| tie Of my ballast. Twas short Uu p.,ra
chutes that day. too, as mine was GU
ofwhack. And being careless, l though
| I'd take my chances. About this time
began to wish hadn't, but didn't sa,
a word for Obvious reasons. When lie
the ballast out, the balloon Responded
only little, and the way she did j
convinced me that something serious
was the matter. By this time l had {,
throw cut some more ballast, and j
wasn't minute till there wasn't any
thing left in the basket besides myeel
and about 1000 feet of rope with /,
grapple on the end Of it,"
| 1.-THE balloon had begun to sinl
again. and rapidly. And you may CUES
that this was q time for man to d,
some pretty active thinking if he ex
pected any good results from it, an,
you may be assured was calculating
Every instant now the balloon wa
gathering velocity, the last movement
downward having begun at a poin
about q quarter Of a mile from til,
ground, and / knew that in few sec
onds l was going to be a shapeless mas
that couldn't even be photographed TO
a newspaper unless something hap
pened. There was only enc thing to do
and that was to relieve the balloon @
its weight and send it back up again
The rope and / were heavy enough t
lessen the weight considerably if VI
should get out. and proposed to do
great act. Getting a good hold on m,
clasp knife, waited for the now whizz
ing earthward balloon to get within
about 1000 feet Of the ground. Then
with the rope tied around my waist an
the other end fast to the balloon.
jumped out feet foremost straight fo
the earth. knew that if the balloon
remained stationary would Just abou
reach the ground at the end of the rope
but I figured on a good deal of reac
ton. In fact, Icalculaied the rise of tn
balloon would about meet the fall O
myself at such point as TO make m
fall comparatively light. and then, vine
she began to sink again, l would lie $
near the earth that before she got I
going at breakneck speed l would b
close enough to cut loose and let mysel
down easy. AS it turned out, / NIGH
have had q leg broken OF been shake
up pretty badly, but luck was with me
When / cut loose. l dropped about 2
feet and lit square on top of big stra,
stack where some men were thrashing
As for the balloon. she was 20 neari
exhausted and was coming down so fss
| e,,.% ho lrSS of my