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

They who go down to the sea in
 ships'' have no more thrilling expert
 ence or hairbreadth escapes than dc
 those reckless souls who brave the higher altitude of the atmosphere in
 balloons.
 When a balloonist makes an ascen-
 sion and lands safely the people who
 have watched him with white faces
 and hushed voices draw a deep breath and think that, after all, the dangers
 of ballooning have been exaggerated, 1 But the old baloonist feels that his
 safe landing is only another draft on
 the store of good luck that has been
 allotted him and that It has only hast
 ened the way when he will have over
 drawn his account and then disaster
 will come. As one old aeronaut in Chi
 cago said last week: Tt is simply the
 case of the pitcher that goes once too often to the well. Every time we make an ascent we ask ourselves whether or
 not this Is the one time too many. l The exciting experience of the eight 1 persons who were passengers of the captive balloon that refused to remain a captive at San Francisco, Cal, last week is an illustration of the dangers of voyaging in air.
 | Only a month ago q fatal balloon ac- cldent occurred near La Sale, III. Mrs, L. A. Seeley known professionally as Lillian Le Fay, made an ascension from La Sale on October 9. She was seen to make the parachute leap, but after that no trace of her could be found. Five hundred men and boys engaged in a search for the woman for several days and abandoned their ef- forts only when the belief became gen eral that she was seeking notoriety and had arranged the disappearance for the sake of the advertising she would get from it. Her husband held to the be- lief that the woman had descended safely and then been abducted. He ac- cused a man who had been rival for her hand. The mystery was finally solved when the body of the unfortu- nate woman was found by hunters tam gled in the weeds of the Illinois river.
 Parachute Jumping Is not SO danger ous now as it used to be. In the old days the parachute hung at the side of the balloon, held by a slip knot. At the moment of making the descent the aeronaut, seated on the trapeze bar of the balloon, was obliged at almost the same instant to pull the cut off-rope, which released the parachute from the body of the balloon, to jerk free the knot holding the parachute bar within reach, and to make good his hold upon the latter at the right moment.
 More than one balloonist, at such a moment, has seen the parachute swing free at the top, but not at it's lower fastening, and turn bottom side up be- fore he could leap from the balloon tra- peze To jump in such a manner as to clear the parachute and turn it com- pletely over without dangling the lines is a delicate operation requiring fine and decision in view of the 1 fact that the slightest hitch involves certain death. This danger has been obviated by attaching the by safety cutoff hooks to the l ring beneath the balloon.
 Another danger which threatens the | baloonist who ascends in a hot air | balloon or in a gas balloon either, for | that matter, if there are any fireworks | exploding when the balloon makes it's | flight, is fire.
 Flames are apt to envelope the bal | loon and cause it to explode or descend l before it has reached a high enough al- 1 titude to enable the balloonist to make | his leap with the parachute. Ordinari- 1 ly parachute having a spread of thir