Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1900-10-19
A DARING AERONAUT.
A ST. JOHNSBURY BOY NOW AT THE
HEAD OF THE VOCATION.


Raising Experiences Among the Clouds
Ills wirc's Narrow Escape from Death
at Malone. y. Y.
One of the most daring aerorau's who
navigates his frail craft through the
mighty realms of space is Clarence G.
Bonettc. Vermont boy, whose home ia
In st. Johnsbury. Although Mr. Bon
cite is still young MAJ. being but ~,
he has been engaged in ballooning ten
seasons. and has had an enviable record.
He is Justly proud of his success. and the
people of the Connecticut river valley
may feel proud of him.
TO writer in the Interstate Journal
Mr. Bonette has entertainingly described
some of his most thrilling experiences,
which resulted in his wife being made an
invalid for life.
"Prof. Bonette is accompanied by his
wife. who is an Invalid Up to three
wears ago she and her husband worked
together in most of the large cities of
this country. doing a double trapeze act
in the winter seas n and in the summer
doing balloon qscensions and parachute
drops at fairs and pleasure grounds.
unfortunately. however, she met
with an accident which has made her an
invalid for life. Prof. Bonette was also
injured at the same time. but not so seri-
ouslv a. his wife. II was mt Malone. y.
Y. on sept. %. 1897, qt the Franklin
county fair, and there were to he two
parachute drops from one balloon. the
balloon used being a V1N large one. 90
feet high. The monster air snip vas in
nqfed ana the pair were snapped into the
air ut n fearful rate Of -pcod When at
height of about $500 fert, Nine. Bonette
cut her parachute loose She dropped
about | - feet before it opened fully, as
the hoop arrangement n the top caught
! in the cloth i'm such manner
as TO hold it and the cloth being
strong did not give Wav. This caused
the parachute to oscillate and twist and
turn. In the meantime. Prot. Bouctte
had gone on up some 1900 feet higher
and had cut loose. and he could see that
his wife was in great danger.
Can You imagine his feelings -us-
pended thou~ln Of feet in tn air and
knowing ihat his wife was almost sure
to be dashed to horrible death, and he
pJworless to aid her in any way: In
fact She was beyond all human aid, and
/ the shouts ana cheers which were heard
/ as the great balloon bearing its living
/ freight left the ground were huShPd in
an instant. one could almost hear the
heart beats of the thousands of people
who stood sprlhound, expecting every
moment II see the brave little woman
, daehcd to a mutilated mass Of lfeless
CLAW But such was rot TO be- In de-
scribing her feelings during her frightful
drop Nine BOnPttn told the writer that
she was almost sure She would be killed.
but made up her mind to do all she could
to save herself for she thought she had
about one chance in a hundred. In the
descent the parachute kept dipping and
plunging and swinging full around. and
in trying to steady il she got down and
hung from the bar by her bands. She
was coming at such a fearful rate of
speed that to strike the ground meant
certain death. She was now near enough
TO the ground 20 see some telegraph
wires and she did her best TO steer so as
10 strike them. and in 50 doing break the
fail Managing to reach the wires which
were about thirty-five feet from the
ground. she struck them on the right
side and bounded Of onto the ground.
striking square on her feet aud falling
Backwards She tried 10 rise but fell
back helpless, sustaining fractures Of the
hls and Il dislocation of the spine.
RMS ali occurred IN mucn les time
than it pixies 10 re II. but Nine. BOnettc
says il seemed hours 10 her from the
time she cut her parachute loose until
she landed on the ground Meanwhile
the professor was having troubles If liz
own The Wind WAS Blowing ii gale and
l.- parachute KEEP closing IN ON one size
) making it very difficult for him 10 keen
directly under it. He landed backwards
} against fence. decorating his back i'm a
horrible manner, but stopping for moth
} ing ran 10 his wife, who would permit
no one to touch her until he arrived
What need to tell what Prof. Bonette
suilered-not from his own wounds, but
from the fact that he was in part respon-
sible for his wife's injury: That is, he
will always think and believe that he
was to a certain extent responsible, but
what occurred is liable to happen 70 any
aeronaut who insists on using IA hood in
the top of H parachute called safety
hoop. Prof. Bonette has never used a
hoop since, but uses what is called a
cold drop parachute ="
An Important Discovery.
A INN ri nj 0hoa.