Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1906-10-26
BALLOON IN JAMAICA
Landing Made There in Aerial
Race from PittsfeId, Mass.
Temperature Of 1906 Degrees Recorded
Above the Clouds.

other Balloon Stopped Near Bennington
Temperature Of 1oe Degrees Recorded
Above the Clouds.
Balloon racing as sport in America
was begun Monday and the winning bal
loon, Torrent, landed in Jamaica, this
county, at 445 O'Clock The passengers
in the Orient were Capt. Homer w. Hedge
of New York, president of the Aero club
of America and Leo Stevens of New York,
who acted as pilot. The two men came
to Brattleboro on the $50 train on the
West River railroad Tuesday morning and
gave an interesting account of their trip
to a small company Of newspaper men
and others who had assembled at the rail-
road station to meet them. They started
for New York on the 1915 train, accom-
panied by their balloon which had been
packed in Jamaica the night before.
The race was begun in Pittsfeld, Mass,
at 1921 o'clock Monday morning. Two
balloons participated, the French balloon
DOrient and the Centaur in which Count
de la VaulX made his worlds record from
Paris tothe steppes of Russia in 1900.
The Centaur was the champion long dis
lance balloon in the world The crew of
the Centaur consisted of Charles T.
Walsh pilot and Mai Samuel Reber and
Capt. Charles De F. Chandler, the two
latter being army officers detailed by the
war department for the trip for the pur-
pose of making observations to deter
mine the availability of balloons in time of
war.
The start was made without incident.
Both pilots were nerved for the race, and
Pilot Stevens was edged on by the fact
that betting favored the record breaking
Centaur. Each aeronaut carried every
possible poun, of ballast and Immediately
began it's use to reach a suitable air cur
rent. The direction taken was northwest
Changing currents of air altered the
course several times, but the airships
finally approached Bennington and the
Centaur landed about two miles southeast
of that town at Ill o'clock The greatest
altitude reached by the Centaur was 6SSS
feet The highest temperature was "a
degrees. Major Reber said the Centaur
leaked from the very start and that IL re-
uuired constant manipulation of the bal
last to Offset the loss of gas.
Pilot Stevens, of the Orient, said in
Brattleboro tnat he saw the Centaur de-
scend and knew that he had won the race.
but he decided 10 keep on. He brought
his airship within about 300 feet of the
ground at Bennington and dropped down
note containing a message which ne
asked to have sent to Pittsfield II con-
tanned the information that the Centaur
had gone down, and Pilot Stevens knew
that IL would reach Pittsfleld before the
occupants of the defeated balloon would
have an opportunity to get to the village
to send a despatch. Pilot Stevens and
Capt Hedge talked to the people in Ben
nington through a megaphone, also al
Jamaica.
According to Pilot Stevens the Orient
reached an altitude of two and one-hali
miles and maintained an average alti-
tude of 5000 feet He said that above
the clouds the heat was such that ne ano
Capt Hedge discarded their coats ano
vests. At one time the thermometer
registered 106 degrees. The shadow O
the balloon was seen plainly on the clouds
and it was surrounded by a beautitul ram
bow. The movement of the balloon wa:
regular and easy, and the occupants ha(
no discomfort or danger at any time.
The Orient carried only $4,000 cubic fee
of gas, while the Centaur carried 56,OO
cubic feet Three automobiles pursued
the balloons from Pittsfield to Benning
ton.
has made about 1900 ascensions and abou
1000 parachute drops. He Is perhaps tn
most widely known aeronaut in tn
country.
A correspondent in Jamaica writes a
follows: The balloon came over the noun
tains to the west and went as far as Sout
hill in Jamaica, where, near the Gu
Woods place, the occupants hailed ma
and asked him how near they were to
railroad stauion. They soon afterwar
threw out a drag rope, which was cauBn
near the Maynard Hollow schoolhouse o
John White, and the balloon came satei
to ground in an open field back OF IN
William White place, about three mile
from Jamaica village toward West ia
maica. The voyaguers hired Mr.. White
team to bring them to Jamaica with IN
balloon They left on the morning tral
and at the same time expressed the palloo
to New York.