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

Long Piece of Rope and . Nest Calcu.
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 70 and
took to ballooning as business it kind
Of sorter seemed as if Providence meant
thai l 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
did 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 ey-
cry day without humping mp 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. II would de-
pend on how you looked at things Some
call 'em narrow and some don't. I
don't myself"
1t was plain that the professor under
stood that a good thing was a good
thing when he saw il.
Suppose you narratc one for nv
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 to
mans highest duty 10 his fellow man.
After which, sitting at small table,
the professor continued: Il was ont in
Indiana abCut four years ago. Indiana
is great state in the season, and had
made an ascent for the benefit of sun.
day school picnic TO kind of offset going
up on the Sunday before for lager beer
sociable function. Mighty particular
pious these Sunday school people are.
and everything was lovely. Ny balloon
was a gas balloon, and che fairly kicked
mp her heels while had her tethered,
and when she got away she seemed like
She was heading right for infinity and
was going tho limit CIT bust q ham,
string.
Il guess she must Lave gone IN q
mile and half or two miles when !
felt something give way, ard in min.
ute or two she began to go hack the
other way-not fast, you untiers tar:d,
but slow and sure, and i'll Il way to
make you feel mighty uncomfortable. l
couldn't tell what the matter was, and
after letting her drop to within about
half mile of bottom l tossed cut a lit
tie Of my ballast. Was short Oh para
chutes that day. too, az mine was out
otwhack. And being careless, thought
I'd take my chances. About this time
began to wish l hadn't, but didn't say
word for Obvious reasons. When let
the ballast out, the balloon responded
only little, and the way she did it
convinced me that something serious
was the matter. By this time had to
throw cut some more ballast, and il
wasn't a minute till there wasn't any
thing left in the basket besides myself
and about 1000 feet of rope with a
grapple on the end Of il"
1.-The balloon had begun to sink
again. and rapidly. And you may guess
that this was q time for q man to do
some pretty active thinking if he ex-
pected any good results from it, and
you may be assured l was calculating.
Every instant now the balloon was
gathering velocity, the last movement
downward having begun at a point
about quarter Of a mile from tie
ground, and / knew that in q few Sec
onds was going to be a shapeless mass
that couldn't even be photographed for
newspaper unless something hap
pened. There was only enc thing to do,
and that was to relieve the balloon Of
its weight and send it back up again.
The rope and were heavy enough to
lessen the weight considerably if we
should get out. and proposed TO do o
great act Getting a good hold on my
clasp knife, I waited for the now whizz-
ing earthward balloon to get within
about LOCO feet Of the ground. Then.
with the rope tied around my waist and
the other end fast to the balloon,
jumped out feet foremost straight for
the earth. knew that if the balloon
remained stationary l would Just about
reach the ground at the end of the rope,
but figured on a good deal of reac-
ton In fact, I calcula;ed the rise of the
balloon would about meet the fall Of
myself at such point as 10 make nv
fall comparatively light. and then, when
she began to sink again, l would lie so
near the earth that before she got to
going ut breakneck speed would be
close enough to cut loose and let myself
down easy. As it turned ont, / might
have had q leg broken or been shaken
up pretty badly, but luck was with me.
When / cut loose. / dropped about %
feet and lit square on top Of big straw
stack where some men were thrashinR
As for the balloon, she was 20 nearly
exhausted and was coming down so fast
that the loss of my weight only gave