The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1901-10-22

pointed balloon goes voyaging into
the aerial ocean without one.
Scientific aeronauts, like Professor
Myers. do not approve of them. but
they have become Indispensable to
balloonists who do n holiday exhibi-
tion business. The public rs quite MS
fond of the parachute drop" as OF the
balloon itself People not only like
10 see man go up, but they wish to
see him come down.
The parachute like the balloon. is
now too we'll known to require de-
scription. When folded, the parachute
and its lines hang down about thirty
five feet from the basket" of the bal
loon. When expanded. the "umbrel-
la" is from twelve TO fifteen feet in
diameter. Although light, the frame
and lines must needs he made very
strong In descending the aeronaut
generally sits ON q species of trapeze
bar, which is supported at each end
by the lines from the umbrella above
it.
When ready to drop from the bal
loon, the acrOnaut who is necessarily
somewhat of an athlete, descends to
the trapeze bar, then pulls a cord at
tached TO the knife set in the block
above, through which the supporting
line is reeved The knife-edge. when
ierlled smartly down on the taut line.
sewers it cleauly-aud the descent be-
gins. For the first hundred feet the
parachute drops like stone. then un-
folds with a ilirt checks the descent.
and thereafter for n thousand feet or
more sinks gradually earthward at a
rate of hardly more than ten feet a
second.
Under favorable conditions. descent
by parachute is not particularly haz-
ardous to an active young man who
possesses quick sight and good judg-
ment as to distances
Altogether the narrator has made
about $50 descents by parachutc-and
is still alive and we'll Beyond doubt.
there are certain dangers from sud
den gusts of wind which may watt
the parachute over rivers, canals,
small ponds, tree tops or the steep
roofs of buildings l once fell into
the top of a row of sugar naples in
! front OF farmhouse. and was some
what scratched while tumbling
through the branches to the earth.
On another occasion. some twenty
/ miles out Of Jackson. Mich. I had the
i'll fortune to drop ON a row of bee
hives 1 upset four of the hives at
/ once, and the angry insects gave me
clear proof of their resentment before
l could clear myself from the para.
/ chute lines
AND as ! was running away as fast
| as l could the equally angry owner of
| the bees pursued mc with abuse and
| peremptory demands for recompense.
| In fact ! found him rather worse than
/ the bees
On Labor Day. the following wear. I
made an ascent from New England
factory town. and Zoo descending. acct
denially dropped into the top of a pear
/ tree i'm q farmers garden ] not only
/ knocked Off q bushI of fine pears. but
! broke the top of The tree rather badly.
/ The man deemed $50 0all the money I
/ had about me- too slight remuneration
| for the damage I had done. He not
! only seized my parachute vi ct armis.
! but prosecuted me at law. The Jury.
however, awarded him but So. with
/ out costs oil court
ON another occasion I received n
/ most unmcrc.fuI fh8- hing. but not. !
/ am Glad to say at tine hands of human
/ beings ON this occasion / had made
an ascent froma large Canadian town
/ IL was some sOr. of 20 holiday tbare