The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-04-13

the sea. His mind has proved itself
greater than matter. Not only can
he bring down the stars from the sky
with his telescope. but he can now
lift himself to the stars by means of
the balloon"
Yet in the end the speaker OF these
grandiloquent sentences was dashed
to death In trying to cross the English
channel. For him at last matter
proved mightier than mind.
A Bold Pioneer.
His name was Francois Pilatre de
Rozier, and he mad ehis first ascent
on October Is, 1888. at Paris. which
has ever since been the "aeronautic
capital of the world" as Santos-Du
mont speaks Of It, He went up in a
captive balloon inflated with hot air,
and in order to keep himself aloft
he took charcoal along and built a
fire in a braZier beneath the wide
mouth of the great silken bag. But
the captive balloon soon became too
tame for de Rozier. He longed to cut
loose from the earth altogether, be-
lieving that with enough fuel aboard
he could fly to Russia. At last he per-
suaded the Marquis d'Arlandes to &C
company him. and on November 81.
1888. they started away from Paris on
the first aerial voyage ever attempted
successfully by man. Though it last
ed only twenty minutes, and although
instead of reaching Russia the two
aeronauts travelled only a little more
than four miles, yet the trip was not
without those thrilling features 50
characteristic of ballooning. The air.
ship had risen to height of five hun
dred feet and had begun to drift over
the 1nvalides and the Ecole Militaire,
when the marquis discovered that the
bag from which they hung was afire.
Some sparks from the brazier had ig-
nited the silk
We're lost, LOST" he shouted. I'VE
must either jump to our death or be
burned alive! AS for me. I'd rather
jump" So saying, the marquis
sprang to the edge of the basket. But
his companion was too quick for him.
With one hand he restrained d'Arlan-
DIES and with the other he threw water
on the burning silk. A moment more
and the flames were extinguished.
Yet it was fire that finally caused
de Rollers death. The feat of Blan-
chard in making flight from England
to France had aroused de Roziers
ambition to perform a still greater
achievement. 1t would be more diff
cult, he said, to fly from France to
England because of the danger that
east or west winds might sweep him
out to the sea. Yet he boosted that he
could make such trip, and on June
Is, 1855, he assembled from Boulogne
and bore away over the British chan
mel before gentle south wind That
his balloon might have sufficient sus-
tanning power, he built it double with
fire balloon 10 feet in diameter I'M
derneath a gas balloon 81 feet in dia-
meter. In this way ne planned to as
cend or descend without waste of gas
bv increasing or diminishing the fire.
He did not appear to realize the great
danger of such a combination of gas
and fire, and when it was pointed out
to him that only spark from the
brazier would be enough to blow up
his airship as if it were a powder
magazine, he only laughed and said:
Well, then, even If my body comes
down too fast. my soul will 60 up"
Mighty Tumble.
De Pozier was accompanied by NJ.
P. A. Roman. The balloon assembled
rapidly and for half hour all seemed
to go we'll. Then a wind from the
north blew 1t back to the French
coast. and spectators below could see
de Rozier plying the fire with more
fuel in order to rise still higher and
strike q counter current Of air. BY
so doing he Is believed to have stirred
up sparks which assembled to the x6s.
for OF q sudden the whole apparatus
burst into flames and from height of
about three thousand feet, or more
than i've times as high as the Wash.
lngton monument, the two adventure
ers fell to the earth. De Rozier was
Killed instantly. His companion lived
only ten minutes. AS if by the irony
OF fate the place where they fell was
only few feet from the monument
erected where Blanchard descended
few months before after his aerial trip
across the English channel.
Count Zambeccari, who on March
70, 1855, launched balloon success
fully in England for the first time,
also met tragic death. The count,
in 1912. made an ascension at Boul-
ogne in fire balloon. Like de Rozier,
he carried a brazier OF Goals In the
basket, replenishing the fire when
ever he wished to go higher. He had
travelled nearly thirty miles, when, in
order to obtain still more fuel, he de-
cided to alight near a small village.
A forest lay directly under him, and
beyond small pasture, bordered on
the further side by lake. Fearing
that he might drop into the lake, the
count threw out grapnel, expecting
that when it caught in tree he could
let the line run out easily and thus
bring himself down on the meadow.
Down went the anchor, and so good
was the aeronaut's aim that it caught
in tree Oh che very verge OF the
forest: but, instead of being able to
play out the rope and thus ease the
strain, he became entangled in it.
This gave the balloon such a jerk that
it upset the braZier and set fire to the
apparatus To save themselves from
being burned alive, Zambeccari and
his companion. Senior Bonaga, leaped
to the ground, more than fifty feet
below. The count was killed Instant
ly, Senior Bonaga, though fearfully
injured, escaped with his life.
Girls may admire promising young
men, but tailors prefer those who pay
cash.