Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-06-20
A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE.
Aeronauts in the Heart or a Thunder.
cloud Escape Unhurt.

SSioHdutS IN the Heart or thunder
cloud Escape Unhurt.
To be in the very heart of a thun-
dercloud and escape unframed is an
unusual if not a unique experience
That is what happened to the Rev.
John NJ. Bacon and some companions
in one of his balloon ascensions from
Newbury, England.
Mr.. Bacon, in telling Of his expert
ence, says: In scarcely more than
twenty minutes from the start a sud-
den and surprising change took place
in our circumstances. Our environ
ment, which had appeared absolutely
calm and clear, began changing with
the rapidity of transformation scene.
Below us the few hundred feet which
separated us from earth began illing
in with a blue haze quite transparent,
but growing palpably filmier, while
ahead, as also right and left the hor-
lion at the level of our eye and higher
opposed a dense fog barrier of an
ashen hue. Overhead of course the
sky view was entirely hidden by the
huge silken globe. At this time we
were being swept along on our course,
which remained sensibly unaltered in
direction, at speed which we subse-
quently were able to fix at approx
mately forty miles an hour.
''To ourselves the full significance
Of these circumstances was not i'm
mediately apparent but the onlookers
at our point of departure-the town
gas works, now some five miles in
our wake-clearly detected the APP
proaCh of heavy thunder pack and,
as they reasonably asserted, coming
against the wind. 1t lowered above
the balloon now seen projected plain
ly against its face. 1t came on
rapidly and assumed formidable pro-
portions. The balloon was flying due
west at high speed, and at apparently
no great distance overhead the thun-
dercloud was progressing at mod
crate velocity not accurately deter
mined, but due east or directly OPP
posed to the surface current
"And now with a whistle a binding
sheet OF hail attacked the aeronauts,
singing their faces so sharply as to
give the idea that the stones were
falling from a great height, and i'm
| mediately afterward from all sides
and close around flashes of lightning
shot out with remarkable frequency
and vlvidness. We were, in fact,
fairly embosomed in the thundercloud.
Other and near observers narrowly
watched the phases of phenomena
now in progress. These were the
cOuntrymen who became interested
spectators and who presently came to
our assistance. They seemed to have
imagined that the balloon must be in
fallibly struck, inasmuch as it appear
| ed to them completely encircled with
lightning. 1t was, indeed, the worst
storm the countryside mad known for
| many years. At Devices, only a few
miles ahead, it lasted for five hours
continuously. A little way on our
right house was struck and burned
to the ground, and on our left couple
of soldiers were killed on Salisbury
plain.
Though the storm progressed, it
also appeared to lag behind the wind
that bore it along. 1t did not seem
to advance against us as 2 whole, but
rather about us, forming itself out of
what a few moments before had ap-
peared mere empty and transparent
air.
THE lightning as seen by the peo-
pie in the balloon seemed to leap
from cloud to cloud and not from the
clouds to the earth, and the noise of
the thunder consisted of short, sharp
reports like the explosions of gun cot
ton without any of the rolling rever-
berations heard on the earth. The
aercnauts passed through the thunder
storm uninjured, but it was trying to
the nerves. The question is, with
the lightning playing all around it
and houses and men being struck on
the earth below, why was not the
balloon demolished by a thunderbot?"
New Orleans Times-Democrat