Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1905-1906, 1906-01-15

CLOUDS BLACK AS EREBUS
Finally Discerns Speck of Light and
Descends at Farm House
A Miraculous Escape.

New York, Feb. 14-After peril
Gus trip through space, at the mercy
of a storm thousands of feet above
the earth, Charles Levee, French
aeronaut, returned 10 New York to-
Cay and related thrilling expert
ence that had come to him from the
time of his ascent yesterday after
noon at West Point until he reached
terra tirma last night near Kingston.
The ascent was made at 3:55
O'Clock yesterday afternoon under
the auspices of the Aero club of
America. Levee reached the ground
about midnight at a place near the
village Hurley, about six miles from
Kingston. He spent the nigh at the
farmhouse of Matthew T. Dewitt.
The daring Frenchman said that
the experience was the most perious
he had ever had. Mr.. Levee said:
Had it not been for the storm
which l encountered, and which al
most brought an end to my trip
through the air.. / would have gone
far into the interior of the noun
tains. If the wind had held there
would have been no trouble, but when
l was sailing smoothly along storm
came dead ahead.
The moon was shining and gave
me plenty of, light Suddenly the
clouds seemed to pour down upon me.
They enveloped the balloon and shut
out the light of the moon when was
several thousand feet up. The, We
locity of the wind was something ter
rife. I had absolutely no means of
knowing which way I was going. The
cold became intense. The tempera-
ture must have dropped to- the zero
point in few seconds.
"After time the wind veered, as
near as I could judge, and was, 1 be-
lieved, carrying me back toward the
river. But the blackness was i'm
penetrable and | could no tell. The
instruments | had with me were use
less, for / could not see them. so I
began releasing the gas, slowly and
cautiously, of course, for / had no
desire to settle in the Hudson river.
~ realized my danger If | did not
find a landing place before the equi-
librum upset in the adjustment of the
gas ballast was restored. Despite
the fact that / was being carried
with the wind at frightful speed,
there was no sensation of rushing
through the air. | realized / was
travelling at too great speed to
make landing unless / could discern
a stretch of smooth land.
"When I was able to read my in
struments, which told me | was near
ing the earth, / was only couple Of
hundred feet up, but could see moth
ing.
CATER | had almost become blind
in my endeavor to locate something
on the earth I sighted light. 1t
was just mere speck, but / knew it
was a habitation and / allowed the
balloon to settle gradually. As I
neared the earth in the direction Of
this light I began to shout, but the
roar of the wind drowned my voice.
'Less than 100 feet above the
earth I could make out. nothing ex-
cept an inky blur. Then / ripped
the. balloon wide open. Then I
Judge I was about twenty feet from
the ground, and my fall was not
thard. The anchor also caught on a
stone and I was saved from being
dragged along the ground. -
Levee landed in a field back Of the
farm house of the Dewitts. The far
mer answered his calls for help and
aided him in untangling his balloon
and had him remain in their home
until morning.