The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-08-09
WAS NEAR TO DEATH
BAIeLOONIST ALL BUT CAME
TO AN END
WENT AROUND EIFFEL TOWER
But Met With Heavy Gust of Wind
Later That Partially
Wrecked His
Machine.

PARIS, Aug. 8.-M Santos Dumont,
the aeronaut, this morning again at
tempted to circle Eiffel tower He sue
ceeded In rounding the tower with diff
hculty. The balloon then was unable to
make headway against strong winds, and
fell on house in the vicinity, remaining
suspended for some time. M. Santos Du-
mont was not injured.
Santos Dumont started from the Pare
de Cloud at 6:15 a. M amid hearty
cheers. His initial movements were prom
ising, as the balloon turned around the
E1ffel tower 9 minutes "a seconds after
starting and reheaded for St. Cloud. Just
over the Avenue Henri Marcen, however
strong gust of wind struck the aerostat
which veered violently to one side, al
most simultaneously bounding backwards
distance of fifty yards. The hydrogen
gas was forced from the front to the
back part of the balloon, creating a sud
den expansion, which caused the machine
to dip. Her screw touched the steel cords
and broke them. M. Santos Dumont inn
mediately reversed the motor and the
balloon began to descend. Unfortunately
the corner of the aerostate struck the
corner of six-story building A report
like the explosion of a cannon followed
The balloon collapsed and fell rapidly.
DUMONT's CLOSE CALL.
Luckily the frame caught on the coping
of the building and the balloon remained
suspended, otherwise Santos Dumont
would have been killed. AS 1t was the
aeronaut remained in dangerous POSI-
ton in mid air for half an hour until
by great eXertion he managed to catch
the iron bar of window until rescued
with some difficulty by the use of ropes
The balloonist escaped without a
Cor fala H.. TTNI.
balloon attracted enormous crowds, and
the reception of Santos Dumont upon
reaching the street was most enthusi-
astic many ladies clinging to his neck and
kissing him repeatedly.
AS Santos Dumont superintended the
removal of the machine, he said he was
quite ready to recommence operations
M. Dubois, who offered the prize of 1OO-
GOO francs for the rounding of the Eiffel
tower and the return to the starting point
within given time, was so affected by
the danger that Santos Dumont had
passed through that he told him that he
would rather present him with the prize
at once than to see him kill him
self with his experiments, but the
aeronaut replied that he had rounded
Eiffel tower in 50 short a period that he
considered the result too satisfactory to
permit the REIMBURSEMENT of his attempts
In the future. M. Santos-Dumont gave
the following account of his trip:
CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT.
This time it is not the fault of the
motor, which worked admirably 1t was
the balloon which caused the accident,
l rounded the Eiffel tower with adnira-
BILE speed, as had a favorable wind, and
was already returning over the Bois de
Boulogne when the wind freshened sud
denly and struck me sideways Like a
ship In storm, the balloon pitched and
rolled, now and then recovering its nor.
NAL position. Another sudden Veerinp of
the wind caused the front of the balloon
to pitch downward, and the ropes con-
meeting it with the frame caught in the
propeller, which struck the balloon wires
They broke. I saw the danger, and my
! only thought was to descend as quickly
as possible This I was doing success
! fully, but 1 was driven by a contrary
! WIND in the direction of the Eiffel tower
| Again the breeze veered and threw me
against building. The balloon burs1
| like q toy gas balloon, and the fragments
fell, completely covering me- The rest
! you know. l am unhurt. I have not
! scratch and will soon recommence.
THE motor is uninjured. 1 have work
| ed 1t for ten minutes. / will now send il
| to st. Cloud and set to work repairing
| the balloon 1t Is simply matter Of
sewing the balloon together. The cause
| of the accident was that the balloon was
| ventilator also worked badly"
M. Deutsch who was present at the
start, in an interview, said;
'I am afraid the experiments will not
be conclusive, as his balloon will ALWAYS
be at the mercy of the wind which is
not the kind Of air ship we have dreamed
Of"