Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-11-29
i, HEADLONG PLUNGE.
.ort,s Leap from Balloon to Aeiv ,,is1ar Amid Blaze of Fireworks.
,o,t without Precedent-"It Was An SA s,a,nly GIorious,' He says-"I Never Dreamed oi Any
 thing Like It."
fcopYR1GHr. ls96.l

.e..s9 9sran the earth, is the marvel that lees K witnessed throughout the .t,a Sites. It is the most astonish # 0A- combination that an aeronaut has Ms ooncaiyed. To be sure, it is fraught 's,tt oreater danger than even the bal - man ordinarily encounters, but to i0s w that makes it the more attractive. ,'',ts- Nat only does the aeronaut appear i'll ,,idst of q, wonderful combination 'l,s s ereworlSs but he dives from great e.4a,b4s into the river, lake or ocean, as 'a1 As he selected, flaming like human l .sreb and leaving 8 trail of fire behind him in his perilous flight.
 r ;s not a mere experiment that Os .ar Norin. the aeronaut who conceived s ssa idea. is to make, the country over. 1le fried his plan q few days ago at a arrate exhibition near New Haven, I fa.n and achieved a distinct success. Norin's apparatus consists of the ordi- .orv balloon and parachute, and some sreworks. When he prepares to make tbe ascension and subsequent dive, he clothes himself in d tight-fitting suit of scarlet, which gives him the appearance of an up-to-date Mephistopheles, minus borns and hoofs. He is . fine-loolSing man withal, and combines something of the appearance of an Apollo with that of his Satanic majesty.
 BuckIed tightly to the waist of the aeronaut is a strong and somewhat pe- culiar looking belt of leather, from which depend numerous leather strings, l snch as are attached to the saddle of inc western eattleman. These are used to tie to the belt a dozen tubes of strange appearance, from which de- pend small fuses.
 So much for Norin's attire. Present. I ly balloon and parachute are reported to he in readiness for the ascent. Norin theFeapon takes his seat on the bar at fached to cables which extend down. ward from the parachute, grasps one of l the ropes firmly, and looks for mo- ment at his audience. Then it is no- l ticed that in each hand he carries a tube similar in appearance to those which hang, fuse downward, from his belt. This is just how the young man looked | when he made his trial ascension as q fireworks display at New Haven. On this occasion, after Norin had seat ed himself upon the parachute bar, he explained to the persons grouped about him just what he intended to accom- plinsh. It WIS, he declared, the fruition of an idea over which he had pond Ased ! for years. He expressed the utmost eon- fdence that he would succeed, because, 1 while the exploit might appear both diff fcult and dangerous to the inexperi- | enced, to the aefonaut, familiar with | the perils of aerial navigation, it seemed | fraught with very little more danger | than that which is ordinarily faced Then Aofin revealed the ute to which | those queer-looking tubes were to be put. They were nothing more nor less than Roman candles, and it was his purpose to fire them off at a certain time during the ascension. The candles | would be lighted before the daring aero- naut made his dive, and the fuses were made long so that plenty of time would elapse between the act of lighting and the moment of firing them. In this man. nef all danger of spark of fire reach Ing tho balloon was avoided.
 After this explanation, the anchor |rope was unreeved, and balloon, para chute and aeronaut began the event iai voyage into space. As the curious E1hrong watched, the trio grew smaller and smaller, until at last they emerged ln one dark blot against the background oi clouds. The blot seemed to remain |statlonary for a minute, then swung Ike the pendulum of an immense aerial c'ock. Soon fair space was visible oetWeen two portions of the blot, and Onls rapidly widened. A second later, |a ||a spark of light shot out from the lower nan of the divided blot Another and |s1A another followed, each brighter snah It's predecessors. Then came |aazzllng blaze of fire, with flaming tail |s.feamlng behind it, like that of a comet |of high degree.
 Nearer and nearer the earth this |s,range sight sped, until about 200 feet EaooYe them and little to one side.
 sose \, who had followed the course of
 cue sne balloon saw the figure of Norin
 se on the bar of an opened para
 es and surrounded by fountain
 \. \, '11e spraying from the throats of the
 -'gLuan y,l, candles attached to his waist. . "Aen the parachute was within 60 l .eee of the river, toward which it was l lailoly descending, the spectators were ,lolliiled by seeing the aeronaut ap- pal en'iy fall from the parachute bar sn winch he had been seated, lunging \; ,.saaiong at fearful speed toward the s,nef' But he had not fallen; that ,as soon apparent. It was a dive al- ,s.os' as daring as that of Steve Brodie snol sroli the Brooklyn bridge, and far more .pee.aeular saees Norin's body as it de- tna snaea seemed almost enveloped in ~ TOT during the entire distance tray rom the parachute bar to the s.sf' fo.., the candles continued to belch
 ' VI streams of sparks and fame. 4