Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-05-31
A BALLOON STOWAWAY.
THE REMARKABLE AERIAL ADVEN-
TURE OF A VERMONT FARMER.


TURE OF A VERMONT FARMER.
Eugene McCarthy's Sensational Voyage
to Height of 5000 Feet from the Mad
River Valley Fair; Grounds in 1907
His Experiences While on the Trip.
Eugene Mccarthy, d tall, slender
Irish Yankee, who died recently at
the MOUNTAIN village at Waitsville,
Vermont, made sensational voyage
at the Mad River Valley fair Sept. i;
1897, in hot air balloon: Tangled
in the car ropes; n prisoner BY accS-
dent, lie shot into the dir far above
the bare top Of Bald mountain. He
rose to a height of 5000 feet, and after
struggling and dangling III mid-air
helpless below the car, he returned to
earth, not n corpse; but the same rug
ged Green Mountain farmer.
More than 1000 spectators had as
sembled at the fair grounds in order
to witness the balloon ascension. To
make the ascension as advertised the
professor called to the crowd for vol
unteer workmen. Eugene Mccarthy
responded and took his assigned sta
tion inside the canvas balloon car.
On the outside by this time the huge
bag had been raised and supported
securely by guy ropes Oh all sides. A
fire had been started In tunnel iii
order to furnish the necessary hot air:
Fed by kerosene, the flame ran
through the tunnel and came up in
side the uplifted bag with stream
of sparks. Mccarthy and the pro-
fessor were there to prevent these
sparks from firing the cloth: Gradu-
ally, as the current of hot air swept
into the car, the top part swelled
forth until the airship became rest
less in its attempts to leap heaven
ward. By the faint applause outside
Mccarthy knew that the young wom-
an performer, who had been adver-
tised to make the descent in a para
chute, was ready to start.
At given signal, in order to es-
cape ENHANCEMENT in the ropes fast
ened from the balloon car to the para
chute, Mccarthy jumped to the cen
tire of his small circle of space. But he
caught the hot air from the tunnel
full in his face. Half-blinded by
smoke and fame, he naturally stepped
back, and urintentionally placeda foot
across . raised parachute rope. So,
when the balloon CIR, freed from guy
| ropes, jumped upward, the volunteer
workman felt the rope tighten undcr
his leg. BY natural impulse he
grabbed the rope overhead in order
to keep himself from falling head
downward. He accordingly soon
found himself, not on the ground
where he belonged, but in mid-air,
swinging twenty feet above the para
chute performer and rushing skyward
at express train speed.
In the first confusion of the start
upward the spectators did not recog-
nize Mccarthy in the balloon. They
saw I stranger i'll the rigging dangling
below the big canvas bag, and natur-
ally thought, as everything went up
noisclessly, his presence there an ad-
vertised part of the program. What
| made the double ascension still more in
teresting to them was the everyday APP
pearance of the man. He was dressed,
not in stage ballet costume like the
woman, but in modest farm clothes.
Therefore, when short, thick-set
man suggested yell of approval, the
1000 men, women and children sent
up a mixed cheer to the balloon. In
answer the young woman, who rested
comfortably on trapeze bar, bowed
and threw kiss to her admirers. AS
for the other performer, the man in
shirt sleeves, he seemed frightened.
He neither bowed nor waved his hand
but held on tight and took no notice
of the spectators. They watched him
rise to height of $500 feet, where,
like his companion, he was merely o
dot at the end of Il thread.
Mccarthy, at the start, heard and
obeyed the advice of the professor to
hold on tight. He felt the earth sink
rapidly as il an express elevator in q
tall Office building, and Mt 1000 feet
began to feel himself more at home.
His car then began to go slower and
steadier. SO he examined his posi-
tion in the balloon. For seat, half
way between the hot-a!r bag and par
achute top he had small iron ring,
to which were fastened the ropes Of
the hot-air car and parachute. He at
tempted to look downward, but as the
thought Of falling unnerved him he
grew dizzy. Then he remembered q
faint cheer, and wondered why his
friends seemed so much pleased at
his dangerous position. His musings
in mid-air continued until he heard
the voice of his companion performer.
"Hellor' said she
4 ~