The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-25

ty feet will open in fall of fifty feet,
 descent of seventy-fve feet It ie not
 unusual for a balloonist to cut off his
 "controllable" parachute at a height of
 five thousand feet, and not pull the
 cord which releases it's inclosing band
 until within one thousand feet of the
 ground, The difficulty of making a
 safe landing Is mainly due to the fact
 that from the lofty viewpoint of the
 aeronaut, objects on the earth are
 blurred and indistinct. Especially is
 this true regarding the most danger
 ous obstacles, such as trolley, tele-
 graph and telephone wires and poles,
 steeples and smokestacks The aero
 naut generally relies upon man on
 the ground to judge the distance and
 give the signals by pistol shots. which
 can be heard plainly by the balloonist
 at great height.
 Many aeronauts have learned to guide the parachute to certain extent
 by throwing their weight to this side or that while descending and also by pull l ing the ropes attached to the ends of the parachute and slanting 1t just as a sailor can direct the course of his
 boat by stacking off or sheeting in his sails.
 Marian De Vey, who is known profess sionally as La Paloma, the slsirt-dan- ! cling aeronaut. Of the La Thoma Bal I looming company Is said to be able to exercise more control of her parachute | than any other aeronaut. White mak- | ing an ascent at Hannibal, Mo, last summer, the hot air of the balloon sud- denly cooled, and she found she was dropping straight down into the mid dle of the Mississippi river. A descent
 into the middle of the wide and swift ly flowing river meant nothing but death, and the spectators stood helpless with horror waiting for the tragedy.
 La Palorla, never losing her presence of mind. cut loose with her parachute, and as it descended hurled her weight with all the force she could command in the direction she wanted to go and hauled away at the cords of the para chute so as to make it descend in a slanting line. She alighted safely on the canvas awning of dredge that was working at one bank of the river.
 At Elgin La Paloma found that she was dropping into the midst of great crowd of people, who were seized with a panic and were not able to get out of the road. She guided the parachute so that it descended in an alley, where she struck fairly on her feet on the ground, instead of ramming in the heads of two or three prominent citizens.
 A descent by a balloonist into any considerable body of water or even a canal is usually fatal. The aeronaut is generally knocked breathless by strik- ing the water with the force of descent and even if he retains consciousness of ten becomes so entangled in the lines of the parachute that he is rendered unable to swim and is drowned unless aid is ready at hand.
 Paul Hague, known as Professor Zeno, lost his life last September at Lima, Ohio, by dropping into the res- ervoir of the city water works When l the parachute was descending and was still about hundred feet from the | earth the aeronaut saw that he was | about to fall into the reservoir and | shouted out in despair for some one to | save him As the man struck the water l he became entangled in the ropes of the f parachute and drowned before the eyes of the hundreds who lined the banks of the reservoir unable to do anything to assist him. An accident to a balloon causing it to drop back to the earth be- fore it has reached an altitude at which the aeronaut could with safety cut loose his parachute was that which happened at Sterling, H., last summer. c. Sim mons, young aeronaut, was ascend ing in a monster hot air balloon which exploded when only three hundred feet high. Simmons endeavored to cut the parachute loose from the wreck of the balloon.
 The umbrella shaped contrivance did not have time to open, and man and parachute shot down to earth with ter rifying rapidity. Hundreds sickened at the sight and many women tainted as the young man struck the ground with a thud heard for blocks. It was found that the aeronaut was not dead though terribly bruised and lacerated.
 MT. Harry La Thoma of Chicago, a