Smyrna times., 1908-01-29
IN A FALLING BALLOON
Fearful and Tragic Experience of
Three AeronautS.
ONE SAVED AS BY A MIRACLE
The Terrific Cold and the Peculiar
Sensations That Eneompassed the
Daring Voyagers at an Altitude of
Over Five MiIes-The Descent.


One of the most terrific experiences
in the history of ballooning was that
of three aerOnauts who in 1879 made
an ascension in a large and we'll made
balloon. the Zenith. In this voyage
the object was to reach the greatest
possible altitude. The balloon rose to
a height of 2S,OOO feet-that is. about
five and half miles from the earth
AT this point something happened
what. no one will ever know. since the
only surviving ballOonist. Tissandier.
was st the time insensible But the
balloon began Il rapid fall and finally
struck the ground with such a fright
full shock that Slvel and CrOce- Spin
nelli were killed instantly. while Tis-
sanders life was spared 10y miracle
The account of this voyage is per
haps best told in Tissandier's own
words:
"At 23.OOO feet we were standing up
in the car. Sivel. who had given up
for y moment was rcinvigoratcd
CrOce-Spnnelli was mOtiOnIcSS in front
of me. | felt stupetied and frozen.
wished to put on my fur gloves. Bu:
without being conscious of it the az
tiOn Of taking them from my pocket
uecessitated an effort that | could no
/ longer make. | copy verbatim the fol
lowing lines which were written by
me. although / have no very distinct
remembrance of doing so. They are
! traced in a hardly legible manner by a
| hand trembling with cold:
My hands are frozen. | am all
right. We are ali right. Fog in the
horizon. with little rounded cirrus We
are ascending CrOce pants. He i'll
haleS OXy gen Sivel closes his eyes.
CrOce also closes his eyes Sivel
throws out ballast Sivcl seized his
knife and cut succeSsively three cords.
and the three bags emptied them
selves. and we ascended rapidly
when Siyel cut away the bags OF
! ballast at the height of about 1000
! feet ! seemed TO remember that he was
sitting ut the bottom of the car and
nearly in the same position as CrOce-
Spinnclli. For my part, was in the
angle of the car, thanks to which sup
port | was able to hold up. but | soon
felt too weak even to turn my head to
| look at my companions. This was
| about 1:30 p. N At pos p. IN.
awOke for a moment and found the
balloon rapidly descending. was able
to cut away a bag of ballast to check
the speed and wrote in my notebook
the following words:
"'We are descending. Temperature,
degrees. | throw out ballast Ba-
rOmeter, 12.4 inches. We are descend
ing. Sivel and CrOce still in faint
ing state at the bottom of the car
Descending very rapidly
Hardly had l written these lines
when a kind of trembling seized me-
and fell back weakened again. There
was q violent wind from below up
ward, denOting q very rapid descent
After some minutes felt myself
shaken by the arm and recognized
Croce, who had revived. Throw out
ballast he said to me. We are de
scending. But l could hardly open
my eyes and did not see whether 81
vel was awake. l called to mind thai
CrOce unfastened the aspiratOr, which
he then threw overheard. and he threw
out ballast, rugs. etc.
"At $3.50 p. m. l opened my eyes
again. | felt dreadfully giddy and Cd
pressed. but gradually came to myself
The balloon was descending witt
frightful speed and making great oscil
latiOns. ! crept along on my knee.
and pulled Sivel and Croce by the
arm. Sivel! Grocer exclaimed
Wake up" My two companions wer,
huddled up mOtiOnless in the car. GOV
cred by their clOaks. | collected all IN.
strength and endeavored to raise then
up. Sivels face was black. his eve
dull. and his mouth was open and ful
of blood Croce's eyes were half clos
ed, and his mouth was bloody.
ITO relate what happened afterwar
is impossible. l felt a frightful wind
We were still 300 feet high. Their
remained in the car two bags of bal
last. which | threw out. | was draw
ing near the earth. | looked for m
knife to cut the small rope which he'll
the anchor. but could not find it. | wa
like a madman and continued to cal
'Sivel Sivel" BY good fortune l wa
able to put my hand upon my knit
and detach the anchor at the righ
moment
''The shock ON coming to the groun
was dreadful. The balloon seemed a
If 1t was being fattened. | thought
! was going to remain where it had fal
Z en-, but the wind was high. and it wa
dragged across fields. The bodies {
my unfortunate friends were shake
about in the car. and l thought ever
moment they would be jerked out. A
> length. however. seized the valv
I line. and the gas soon escaped frol
? the balloon. which lodged against
{ tree. 1t was then O'clock. On ste,
ping out l was seized with a feveris
" attack and sank down and thought f,
a moment that | was going to join N