The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-28
%Honesick.
A FAMOUS BALLoONIsT.
Thrilling Events in Henry COXwen's
Career Recalled.
From the London Times.

| Mr.. Henry Tracey CoXwell, whose death
occurred Jan. a Seaford, will be remem~
| bered as one of the most active promot-
ers in his time of that science Of aerosta-
| ton to which he devoted his life, and
more especially perhaps, as one of the
two heroes of what is still to be regarded
| as the highest recorded ascent
He was the son of a naval officer who
| had seen good deal of active service,
! and was born in 1919 at Wouldham, near
| Rochester. At that time balooning was
| still practically in its infancy, the first
aerial voyage in a free balloon having
been made in November, 1873, when Pr
| latre des Rosters and the Marquis OAR
| lands crossed the Seine and a cousidera-
bic part of Paris in a Montgolfer other
| wise a balloon expanded by heated air AS
| a schoolboy Henry CoXweliS interest in
| the new science was greatly excited by
the ascents from Surrey Gardens of Mr..
| Green a famous balloonfst, who made
| something like 1900 ascents, during the
| course of his life Young Coxwell took to
| making Montgolfiers on his own account,
| and at the age of 10 he considered him
| self already proficient in aerostation. His
| taste for balooning became an aIl-absorD
| ing passion, and between his nth year
| and his 20th he saw almost every public
| ascension in or near London. His own
| first ascent was made at the White Con-
| duit Gardens, Pentonville, on Aug. 49, 1874
| in company with Hampton, and in 1877 he
| Joined Lieut.. Gale in numerous ascents
from various public gardens in London
| In that year, too, in company with Mr..
| Gypson, Mr.. Pridmore and Albert Smith,
| he made a night ascent from Nauxhall
Gardens amid a display of fireworks, but
| experienced on that occasion what he aft
erWards described as the most perious de-
| an "a ma A
600 feet high a storm broke, and imme-
diately after a vivid flash of lightning, a
rent sixteen feet long appeared in the bal
loon, which began to fall at a terrible
speed right over the West End of Lon
don. Fortunately, the network caught In
the scaffold poles of some new houses and
the fall was broken. Mr.. Coxwell being
the only one who was hurt. So far. how
ever, was he from being discouraged by
this accident-due, as he showed, not to
the lightning, but to the valve line not
| having been pulled-that the following
| week he assembled with double the guam
tty of fireworks-1O pounds instead of 60
pounds, and on this occasion all went
| well.
Up to 1913 Coxwell was only an amateur
balloonst, and followed the occupation Of
| a dentist; but I'm 1913 he had a balloon of
his own, and commenced a series of pro-
| fessional ascents from a number of differ
ent places on the continent. His first
ascent from the Crystal Palace was in
1859, and two years afterward, when bal
looming in Derbyshire he met with the
first really serious accident that occurred
| to him during the 400 ascents he had made
| up to that time But, though he had been
severely bruised and crippled, his zeal for
| the science burst out with greater ardor
than ever in 1862, when hearing that
| committee of the British Association at
Wolverhampton had been making some I'M
| satisfactory experiments with a Cremorne
balloon, in order to make meteorological
observations in the upper regions, he set
about the construction Of a special balloon
for this purpose, finally producing one
that stood eighty feet from the ground
had diameter of ffty-1ve feet, and was
capable of containing, when fully inflat-
| ed, SO 600 cubic feet of gas. Mr.. James
Glaisher, f. r. S. who had not previously
made an ascent, was to go up with Mr.
| Coxwell and take charge of the observa-
tons, while Mr.. Coxwell himself was to
| attend to the balloon The first of the
| long series of ascents thus carried out
| by them under the auspices of the British
Association took place at WolVerhampton
on July II, 1862, and on that occasion they
| Travelled sixty miles in two hours, and at
tanned hight of four miles; but the de-
scent 20 violent that a number of the
delicately constructed instruments that
Mr. Glaisher took up with him were brok-
en-. II was on Sept. 5, in the same year
: | IndL ll6 PAIR Hldu6 lIt t6tOId journey OI
rising to a hight of no less than seven
miles above the surface of the earth, and
the story of this exciting exploit shows
that the intrepid scientists had a very
narrow esape indeed of their lives.
They reached an elevation of five miles
, in forty-two minutes, and still kept as
cending. After a time, the valve line hav-
ing become entanged, owing to the rotary
motion of the balloon. Mr. Coxwell had to
leave the car and mount TO the ring, but
there was boar frost all around the neck
of the balloon, and the moment his hands
touched the ring they were frost bitten
and rendered useless, so that he had to
put his arms on the ring and in this way
drop back into the car. In the meantime,
Mr. Glaisher, who had observed that they
had attained a hight of 5000 feet, found
, | his sight affected, and soon afterward his
arms fell powerless; then he seemed to
have no limbs at all. his back and neck
| lost all muscular power. and he became
unconscious This was the condition in
whi h Mr.. Coxwel, on reaching the car
again, his own hands powerless, found
| him. Happily, Mr. Coxwell was able to
seize the valve cord with his teeth, and
some vigorous pulls speedily brought
| them into a warmer temperature, when
Mr.. Glaisher recovered, and was himself
able to attend to Mr.. Coxwell by rubbing
, his crippled hands with brandy. In a lead
ing article on the subject of this famous
, evp'oit. The Times of Sept. II, 1862, said
THE aerial voyage just performed by Mr..
Coxwell and Mr. Glaisher deserves to
rank with the greatest feats Of expert
mentalizers, discoveries, and travellers, 4"
, and, though much has since happened the
remark is certainly as true to-day as 1t
was then. The result Of the many ascents
by Mr.. Coxwell and Mr.. Glaisher was the
making of some important contributions
! to the science of meteroogy, and they
, proved, indeed. more clearly than hac
ever been done before, that balloonlng
was not merely a pleasant pastime, but
| might be rendered of great practical util-
/ ity From the same point OF view Mr.
, Coxwell was most pertinacious in urging
the advantages of employing balloons in
times OF war, and he wrote. in his volume
of recoilections. II had hammered away
in the Times for little less than a decade
before there was a real military trial
} | II hallonninp for military Durpnsns at AL