The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-11-22
HIS BALLOON TRIP.

Running on one Of the railroads in Kan
sas is a locomotive engineer who can
/ boast of one of the most novel advent
| ures which ever fell TO the lot Of any
| body His name IS not Watkins. but for
| the sake Of this story ne shall be called
! Watkins as he is not DESTROYS of noto-
| Tiety.- Watkins is one of those unfortu-
nate individuals who al long intervals are
given 10 going on a spree When the
! snawins seizes him he takes q lay-on
! and goes somewhere, so as TO escape the
surveillance OF his employers. Two years
! ago his spree period came around and
| he slipped off TO Omaha. The remainder
/ Of the story is told by Watkins in the
( -ollOwing language:
/ Almost the first man 1 met in Omaha
was q balloonist whom I had known for
some time. With his wife he was making
! ascensions at one of the Omaha parks.
/ etc and 1 were glad to meet-his name
| is Pete Baldwin-and We just naturally
/ drifted into a place where something
could be had Without mincing matters.
/ / can say that Pete soon got paralyzed
and I got pretty full. Along about I
I o clock IN the afternoon one of the man
| ayers of the park found US, and you can
bet that when he found Pete TOO drunk
10 move he was mad. He said the bal
loon was all inflated and that the crowd
was growing impatient, and that HI
would be TO pay if that ascension wasn't
made. Right then and there I lost the
last remnant of sense I ever had in my
Uranium and 1 volunteered to take Pete's
place.
Are you a balloonist?" asked the man
ager.
Bet yer Hfe," I said. I'm a ballooner
from balloonville."
Hurry up, then" said the manager.
and in jiffy he had me in hack and on
the road to the park Arriving there l
found the balloon inflated and Mrs.
Pete standing around in her tights and
wondering why Pete didn't come. When
1 tod her 1 was going TO take Petes
place she went into little tent and
threw me out some tights 10 put on.
Now, Pete would make two of me, anu
l knew those tights would flop around me
like clothes on a line, so l went over TO
the engineer OF the power house and
borrowed a pair of greasy overalls and
jumper, in which 1 quickly dressed.
Coming back to the balloon, 1 found Mrs.
Pete all ready to grab the trapeze and
go up with me. Not on your life" l
whispered to her. Il don't know anything
about this, and 1 amt a-going to risk
any woman's life
But the balloon is inflated TO carry
two" she said, and the parachute is
built for two, and you will be taken up
out of sight
Makes no difference" 1 said. Il am
going up alone If 1 go to heaven" and
with that l shouted to the men to let
me go. But before they let go one of
them shouted back: Take up the slack
in that trapeze rope or you will get your
arms jerked off" l took up the slack
and the next moment 1 was soaring aIoft
and hanging to that trapeze by my hands.
Try as l would l could not get my feet
when he fired a pistol 1 was to drop with
the parachute. 1 heard the pistol go of
three times, but 1 could not get Il perch
on that trapeze. / kept saying to myself:
It's a fine widow you left, Watkins, but
she is luck to be rid of a fool At
last, by a superhuman exertion I got
one foot over the trapeZe and then was
able to draw UP my body. After l got
"A good seat I looked down, and that look
mighty near finished me. The earth
looked miles away. L could not distin-
guish men. My heart throbbed like an
engine with sixty freight loads behind
her. I nearly let go the ropes in a faint
but l forced myself to attend TO bust
ness. The parachute was tied 10 the
trapeze. IN untying it, it got away from
me and swung away out to one side. All
the time 1 was going up, up, with in
creasing speed. BY swinging the trapeze |
back and forth. however, l got the para
chute to swinging toward me and al last /
| grabbed it. / caught the ring and pull /
ed the cord. and then 1 shot down like a /
bullet. They told me afterward that L |
probably was saved by the fact that the /
parachute opened very gradually and did |
not give the jerk usually had There were /
straps on the parachute ring to go around /
the wrists but L hadn't sense enough TO /
use them.
Wei, to make a long story short, /
landed in a lake, narrowly missing an /
Ice house, and my legs were driven three /
feet into the soft mud. They came in a
boat and hauled me out, and then I /
learned that the crowd was very much
excited about the ascension. A lot OF
reporters caught me and ]
tried 10 lie out of the true facts. but the
papers next morning had a long account
IF the affair. with my true name and all.
The manager offered me S25 a day TO
make similar ascensions during the sea-
SON."
WAS that all OF it?" queried one of
Watkins listeners.
well, hardly" responded Watkins
iryly. The old man got hold OF II and /
aid me off for sixty days. Then the
Boys along the road got to joshing me,
At every station some id fool would I
nosey up to the cab and say something /
about ballOoning. But say" concluded
Watkins with unquestioned earnestness,
YOU can bet your bottom dollar l have
AIKEN my last drink. kansas City
Journal