The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-09-18
Report of the Sighting of a
Balloon in Arctic Russia
Is Confirmed in Russian Official
Circles.
THINK IT'S ANDREE'S.
The Circumstance is Regarded
as Indicating
That the Explorer Has Failed
to Reach the Pole.

st. Petersburg, Sept. 1S.-The official
messenger confirms today the announce
ment yesterday that on September IA at
II p. m, the inhabitants of the village
OF AntzifrowskOje in the district of
Yeniseisk, Arctic Russia, saw for about
five minutes a balloon believed to be
that of Prof. Andree. The messenger
adds that it is supposed in official cir
cles the balloon is that of the arctic
explorer mentioned.
New York. Sept. 1S-A special to the
Herald from Washington says:
Arctic explorers and scientists here
are much interested in the report that
balloon, supposed to be that of An
dree, the explorer has been seen over
the village of Antzifirowskoje, in the
province of Yeniseisk. Prof. William
Hardness of the Naval observatory
was asked as to the location of this viii
Iage and the significance of the report
lie Sald that he had not been able to To-
cate the village exactly on the maps at
his command but he found on one of
the maps place marked Aniziferovsk,
which he assumed was a different SPELL
ing of the name of the same village
This place is in north latitude about 81
degrees and is about 200 miles west of
north from KraSOoiarsk the town from
which the telegraphic dispatch was
sent announcing that the balloon had
been seen. Prof. Hardness said that as
Andree had started in his balloon from
Danes Island to the north Spitzbergen.
in latitude 19 degrees, so minutes, it was
clear that if his balloon was now at
Aniziferovks he did not succeed in his
project of crossing the polar region and
coming out at some point in the British
territory of North America.
Prof Harkness said if Andree's bal
loon is anywhere in the province of
YeniSeiSk, it is practically certain that
his attempt to cross the pole has been
complete failure and instead of going
north from his point of departure his
general direction since he left TromSOe
has been toward the east and south.
Commodore Melville, U. S. A, the
arctic explorer said: 1T is possible
that Andree's balloon may have been
seen and reported from the Yeniseisk
district of Siberia but L am inclined to
doubt that the explorer ever reached
the vicinity or that the news of his be
ing there could be communicated at
this time to the outside world. l of
the opinion that the balloon never went
very far from Spitzbergen and 1 have
for sometime feared that Andree has al
ready met his death in the Arctic.
though even if he came down on land
in the far north the chances are he
would never be heard from. The re-
gion whence the news of the sighting
of the balloon comes is little Travelled
from April to October and it would be
difficult for the news to be carried to
the nearest telegraph station at this
season and the natives would not know
what the balloon was if they saw it in
the air"
Walter Wellman, the newspaper cor
respondent who has made a special in
vestigation of the practicability of arc
tic ballooning discredits the Siberian
story though he does not coincide with
the prevailing belief that Andree is
lost In his opinion Andree's chances
of safety are about l to 2.
Concerning the latest tidings via st.
Petersburg he said
There is nothing improbable in the
story so far as the geographical posi-
ton of the Siberian village is concern
ed and the distance the balloon must
have Travelled to get there. The dis
tance which the balloon would have
Travelled from the northwestern Spftz-
bergen to the Siberian village assum-
ing that it crossed Franz JosefIand and
then out over the Arctic sea is some
thing like $500 miles"