Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-08

! bag over and throw the opening at the
bottom upward as he leaps so that
| the smoke and hot air may escape
quickly, allowing the balloon to drop
somewhere near himself and the para
| chute. Otherwise it would sail off for
miles and be lost. Balloons cost money,
and we can't afford to buy very many
of them.
| Every parachute is fastened to the
side of the balloon with the trapeze
| bar tied close to the seat of-the oper-
ator. There is also a cord by which
It may be detached, and when the
jumper is ready to let go he sees that
everything Is clear, and then swings
to one side so that he will pull the top
! OF the balloon over Here is where his
hands come into play. AS the balloon
turns he pulls the cord that frees him
and the parachute and both shoot
downward. The parachute should open
/ IN 100 or $50 feet. but I have known
Jumpers TO drop twice that distance
before the canopy initiates and checks
the descent. This check at times Is
sudden and often the force rends the
parachute In twain. Nothing can save
the jumper then. To guard against such
accidents / always had a round hole
sewed i'm the top of my parachutes to
serve as a safety valve. This hole /
think also helped to straighten out the
canvas more quickly.
with the parachute open the weight
of your body shoots you through the
air at rate Of from eight to ten miles
an hour. That is fast enough to Jar
you when you hit the earth, and, be-
sides, Jumpers have to let go their
parachutes and fall twenty feet with
nothing to aid them--this to prevent
them from being smothered by the
folds of the canvas. L have often hit
house, or a barn, or a tree, and tum-
bled thirty or forty feet, but fortune
was always with me. Parachute jump
ers control their course by tipping up
the edge of their canopy and making a
plane, down which they slide at
longer angle and also much faster.
Six-Shooters in the Southwest
II could always get down some way
There isn't any doubt about your hit
ting the earth in some shape or other
That never worried me. l din't mind
barns, or houses, or trees half so much
as did curious people, and particular
ly the people in the southwest. Excite
ment always brings out the wildneSs in
man, and down there the spectators
get worked up to a great pitch over a
parachute jumper. Their pent-up feel
ing has its effect on the jumper too,
and tends to rattle him. Jumping isn't
the pleasantest occupation in the world,
and it is large sight more unpleasant
to hear bullets singing past you, either
coming down or going up! A balloon
ascension in my early days out west
wouldn't have been natural without
the popping of six-shooters 1t was all
done in play, of course, but when a
man gets red liquor in his system and
gun in his hand it's no place for a
balloon. The old saying, You can't
hit a balloon is all bosh. 1 know bet
ter I've spent a good many hours sew
ing up bullet holes in my apparatus.
Another disconcerting thing was to
look down as you fell and see a string
at full jump, shooting as they rode and |
yelling like Indians to see who would |
be first to get under you as you neared |
the ground. Usually these citizens |
would have a small bet up on the re-
suit of the race. Add this little personal |
interest to the excitement of the jump, |
and the result was enough to make |
you want to keep on going right
through the earth and never stop on
top The wild look of excitement in
some of those eyes I'll remember to my
grave. AS many as could would get
their hands on me the moment they
came up. They would slap me on the
back, punch me, pinch me. offer me
whisky, guns, everything they
had, uttering yipping yells in shrill
staccato to let their exuberance of
spirits escape.
"Study Nature if You Would Fly"
But my jumping days are oil over |
I'm spending all my time now and
money, too, trying to fly. Parachute |
jumping, besides bringing in money, |
helped me with ideas for my machine.
when 1 was jumping the !
fair management would give me dollar
bills to throw down as l went up, and |
the zigzag movement of those bank
notes as they fluttered down gave me
one idea. The movement of a clam
shell when thrown into the water is |
the same as 1t sinks. 1t Is gliding, |
movement, and the wings on
my machine have identically the same
reversed. There is also a
tail and a head on it which largely |
control it's flight. 1 got that idea from
pigeons. They use the bal !