The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-01-18

experience of one Julius Waterbury,
who. having attempncd TO free "A stray
balloon. which had become entangled
with the railing upon the top of the
house where he was lodged. was run
away with by il, andset down upon the
.oof of castle, several miles distant.
At the moment when he alighted, ac-
cording to the same, account, certain
August Won Dunkelheim, of Munich,
who happened 10 be standing upon the
roof of this same castle, sprang into the
balloon and sailed away. and was arrest
ed, several hours later. on the charge of
having stolen the balloon, as he was
climbing down from tree upon which
it had caught-thisstree standingin the
neighborhood of Dusselburg, near
Munich. and being 6stanta u great many
leagues from the aforesaid castle.
August Won Dunkelheim is referred to
in the above accountas being the great
est liar in all Europe. He may have been
so, up to the period when julius
Waterbury wrote this narrative. After
reading the narrative, it seemed TO me
that we must come ,to the conclusion
that there are others.
Now, the facts are thatVon Dunkel-
helm was not the man who was arrest
cd while climbing down'from tree in
the geighborhood of Dusserburg. The
reason why know this, ,is-'that my
self was the man who wns arrested;
and / now propose to give n succinct
and truthful account of the matter; as
well as of certain other more impor-
tant things. which happened afterward.
/ am an American, and my namc is
Stuyvesant Perkins. come, of n very
good family. and, better still. j am pos
sessed of a fair education. AT the death
of my parents, which happened short
1y after had left my studies. inherit
ed some twenty-five thousand dollars,
and. upon the revenue of this moderate
fortune. contrived to live quite COM
fortably until last spring. At that
time i set out upon tour of Europe;
which tour, or perigrination, has been
productive of the mostunforeseen and
consequences.
On the 10th of Last August. being
then at Krayburg, small and ancient
town in the very northern part OF the
thrusts itself wedge-shaped between
the German principality of Andel
and the kingdom of Ba-
varia, received word from my bankers
in Boston that certain manu-
featuring concern, in which / was
had failed, and that
my whole fortune had taken to itself
wings, and had vanished. They also
me. incidentally, that my let
ter of credit was withdrawn and can
ccled. i now found myself In an OBJ
scure and unfrequented part of Europe,
without friends, and with just four
hundred and fifty marks in my pocket
q sum equivalent to about one hundred
dollars Of American money.
The only thing for me to do wns TO re-
turn home. II was to get there at all,
1 must go ut once. and economize in
svery way possible; otherwise, when
arrived at Hamburg, from which port
decided to sail. would not have
money enough left TO pay my passage.
IA SuO hl St yAalO u tiAfC VI tho tohtiu-
sion that it would be better to walk as
much Of the way az possible. there
fore had my luggage sent on ahead to
Hamburg, and set out on foot, bright |
and early ON the morning of the 18th,
meaning to cross the Bavarian frontier,
three or four miles to the north of Kray- |
burg. and to push on from there, some
miles further, to Munich; |
which city hoped to get glimpse of |
before dark.
At eight o'clock had been jogging
along. nt quite n rapid gait, for an hour
ar more, and IL now seemed to me that |
must be in the immediate vicinity Of |
tho frontier; particularly as had just
caught sight. from a piece of rising |
ground. of the towers and spires of the |
Bsvarian town Of Dusselburg. All at |
pnce, through the foliage of "a grove of |
oak trees at my right. got n glimpse of |
which seemed very much |
like balloon. i Immediately pushed |
my way through the hedge, in order
to satisfy my curiosity. When had |
gone about hundred feet, I came TO
SPOT where 1 could get an unintcrrupt-
ed view of the object, and found that |
] was not mistaken; and that il was, in |
truth. balloon. which had caught i'm |
tic branches of great tree.
Its car or basket was swaying back |
and forth, with tho wind, some twenty |
feet from the ground, and, when had |
come quite close TO IL, / saw TO my |
that there was man |
In IL, q gentlemanly appearing person.
who was holding on TO branch of the |
tree, and In this way steadying the |
car, so that he would not be ratified out |
of II by the wabblng of the balloon. |
i at once understood his predicament. |
There was not n branch within his reach \
which would bear his weight. and he |
could not bring himself any closer 10 |
the trunk of the tree; consequently he
was for the present n prisoner. When
he saw IRE he balloced 10 me. and | of
course went at once 20 his assistance.
] found no trouble in climbing the tree,
and by bending a branch here and