Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1898-06-17
EATEN BY SHARKS.
TRAGIC FATE OF AN AERoNAUT
IN HAVANA HARBoR.


He Made an Ascension Far Inland But the
Balloon Drifted out to sea-when He
Touched the water the sea-woIvss Tore
Him 20 Pieces in an instant.
Havana harbor is as iammed full
of man-eating sharks as the Upper ORR
noco is of alligators," said a Washing
ton man who lived for several years in
the Cuban capital, "and although it
is a sorry enough thing TO have
to say, l did believe that many
Of the bodies Of the poor fellows
who lost their lives in the Maine
disaster would be cast up on the
beach Aside from the big man-eaters
that infest the harbors of the islands
in the South Pacific, close to the line,
don't believe the waters of the whole
world hold any more ravenous or fero-
cious sharks than those that make sea-
bathing in Havana harbor luxury that
is indulged in only by the most reckless
and foolhardy men. The so-called
man-eaters of northern waters, big and
ugly as they look. are generally as rank
towards of the sea as coyotes are Of
the land, and a whole school of sharks
of the temperate zone will scoot from a
level-headed man who keeps up a
steady kicking and splashing in the
water, like pack OF released
rats scurrying from terrier.
But the sharks Of Havana har-
Dor have got a taste Of human blood
for scarcely a week passes that some
silly Havana man or boy does not get
himself gobbled up by the man-eaters-
and the fact is no longer disputed by
seafaring men that once a shark ac-
quires an appetite for human beings,
he will risk anything after that to ap-
pease that appetite
When the city Of Havana was cele-
brating, six years ago. the anniversary
of the birth Of the young King of
Spain, the next biggest feature of the
blowout after the bull fights was a bal
loon ascension by a Spanish aeronaut
named Ramon Margulies. was spend
ing the holiday on an electric launch
with a party of friends, and in the aft
ernoon we watched for the ascension.
Along about o'clock we saw the bal
loon shoot into the air from one of the
minor plazas with Margulies. dressed
In gymnast's tights. hanging by his
legs from a trapeze suspended beneath
the basket. The air was very still, and
the aeronaut had apparently figured
on making a reasonably high straight
! up ascent, and then, by pulling the es-
cape valve, to descend within the city
or on its outskirts. AS he must have
known how thickly the harbor was in
tested with sharks, he could certainly
not have seriously entertained the
| thought of letting his balloon descend
In the harbor.
"At any rate. when his balloon reach
ed an altitude of about half a mile, we
could see that 1t had swan into a cur
rent of air that plainly began to carry
| 1t over the harbor. With the aid of
our glasses we could perceive the aer-
| onaut climbing from the trapeZe into
| the basket, and, a moment or so after,
he disappeared from view, it became
apparent to us that he had pulled The
escape valve, for the balloon began to
rapidly descend, but by the time the
valve was opened the upper air current
| had carried the balloon well over the
waters of the bay. The engineer of
| our launch, at my direction, started
four bells for the spot in the water
where we figured the balloon would de-
1 scend, for we all knew that the aero
naut would not be long in the water be-
| fore the sharks got after him The
balloon came down too swiftly, howev-
er, for the launch to be of any assist
dred yards away when the basket of
the almost collapsed balloon struck the
water. Just before the basket touched
the water Margulies appeared on its
| edge and dived head first into the har-
Dor, in order, apparently to prevent
his becoming entangled with the bas-
ket netting We saw his head bob up
once. and we put on all power to reach
him with the launch. But when we
saw dozen big man-eaters' fins cleav-
Ing the water straight for the spot
where the unfortunate aeronaut's head
had appeared We knew that it was all
up with him. He did not show at the
surface again, and when we reached
the spot where he had Jumped in
we saw nothing but little eddies
of blood on the surface of the water.
The sharks had torn him to pieces.