, 1908-11-14
THE INTERNATIONAL BALLOON
RACES.
EXCITING INCIDENTS.

Oar Special Correspondent tejegraphs
from Berlin -
On Sunday, at 8 o'clock, the first balloon,
the America, was despatched on its long
journey in the Gordon BenDett contest, AMI
ut intervals of about Ave INMATES the ltmain-
ing ~ competitors a3cen iod. The 11uinth
balloon to start was the American Conqueror,
sailed by Mr.. A. II. Forbes and hr. A Post.
It was noticed that tn basket struck Il bar
ritr on leaving the ground, wh.eh caused the
balloon TO rise with a considerable sWAying
motion. at q distance of about two m les
it was suddenly real zed that a serious acct
don't had happened, as the gas bag was rap
idly debating from the bottom, and tha ba-
loon began 20 falltat an alarming speed. Mr..
Forbes relaj ed his experiences TO ma ia the
evening with perfect cooln9ss. lie said =
About 1900 #. up we hotrd it pop, AM
knew we were in for q merry few minutes. [
luckily carry q bowie knife, aud it was just
handy for cutting away 80 bags Of ballast
in quick time, wEi.e Heray threw out every
thing possible. She pa'uchutad lLe}y, and
my only fear was killing psop'e be.ow with
our sandbage, but l had 10 risk it. We held
on by tho hoop, and al last dashed AGAINST
the chimuny of a four story residence, brush
ing i. OF AID making a splash with the roof
tiles, where wo luckily stuck fast, anI tle
enva'opo fell right over the roof top. Lois
of ptop!e in tho Aouse offered assistance, and
we crnwlel to the top and got down ty .
trap door qu.te comfortably. II Just goes to
show how safe bailooniHg really is, aul |
guess our friends felt more awkward for \ BIT
than we did directly WI saw how quietly we
we e coming down.
Soon after the START Of the race Tho wind
carried tho balloons towards Bre5!au in 4
south-oaste.ly direction from Berlin, bit
about midnight veerod wound to he east,
and several OF the competitors cartai My pass
Ell over L ipsiy letween 8 and 5 a. N, sob
sequon-ly drifting towards Bramon and Wi.
hel.nshaven, passing over Hanover.
Mr. John Dunville's Daus:lee landed on
the coast at H?idding in SchIeswig-HolsSein
at II short distance from the Danish frontier
and a few miles south of Eshierg. Mrs.
Dunville received q telegram from her has
band saying he had landed at4 7 on Tuesday
morning, having been So hours n.tho air.
Mr.. Brewer in the Britannia descended safe
ly near Luneburg, quite a hundred mics
nearer Berlin than he Banshee. :
The American S.. Louis burst and fell into
the sea near Heligoland, but her occupants;
Messrs. Arnold and Hawitt, were saved. The
Zephyr, England's third representative, car
ryiug Professor Huntington and the Hon.
Claude Brabazon, descended near Magde-
burg, only some 65 miles southwest from
Berlin.
In view of the direction of the wind, The
Admiralty, rs a mea ure of precaution, order
ed q torpedo fotilla TO cruise in the North
Sea and look out for any of the balloons that
might require assistance.
On Monday. al 3, a start was made for the
endurance competitions by SO balloons, divid-
ed into three classes according to size. All
were German, and the ascents were made
without any untoward incident, the balloons
travelling in q north-w~e sterly direction to.