Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1908-11-17
PECULIAR ACCIDENTS.
fhs "Irony Of Life" illustrated In
Stories of Falls.

tU0 W e'e w.
Stories Of Falls.
The irony Of life" was strikingly
illustrated recently In the news OF a
rustic who slipped from six barred
gate and broke his neck and OF an
Italian aeronaut who fell 1000 feet
with his collapsed balloon with NO
worse result than sprained ankle.
A Frenchwoman. Nine. MOrel. and
her daughter, while climbing in the
Alps. near Zermatt. fell distance OF
l,2OO feet, not much less than a quar-
ter OF mile. and. although the mother
was killed on the spot. her daughter
escaped with few bruises. Mr..
Whymper, the famous mcuntaineer
had similarly miraculous deliverance
from what seemed to be certain death
when scaling the Matterhorn. Losing
his footing. he fell from rock to rock
to the bottom Of precipltous gully.
100 yards In depth, only to recover bis
feet with no worse damage than a
badly cut head. And NJ. Parville. a
French writer, tells the story of an
East Indian living In the island OF
Oghin who fell over precipice 1000
feet deep with no more serious con
sequence tha.. good shaking, his fall
being broken by the dense vegetation
which grew ut the foot Of the cIiff.
While climbing waterworks tower
240 feet high In Chicago a steeple-
jack dislodged loose stone and was
preclpitated to the ground from Il
height Of It's feet fortunately strik-
ing telegraph wires forty feet above
the street and thus breaking his fall.
The spectators gasped with horror as
they saw the man drop swiftly to de-
struction. A rush was made to pick
up his shattered remains only to dis
cover that he was practically un-
harmed. Not bone was broken. and
a week later he was walking about as
II nothing had happened.
More remarkable and indeed al
most incredible was the experience OF
Charles Woolcot when he was making
a parachute descent In Venezuela. At
q height OF 5000 feet Woolcot flung
himself of his balloon inio space.
when. to the horror of the thousands
OF onlookers. the parachute failed to
open. The man dropped like stone
with terrible speed until. when about
200 feet from the earth. the parachute
flew open and at once collapsed. He
was dashed to the ground, his right
thigh and hip were broken. both ankles
and knees were badly crushed. and his
spinal column was dislocated. and yet.
after year spent In hospital. Woolcot
was restored to soundness Of limb aft.
er surely the most terrible adventure
Of which any man has lived to tell the
story.
But it Is In the history Of ballooning
that one encounters the most remark
able cases Of sensational drops from
the clouds. When Mr. Wise. a famous
aeronaut of the early nineteenth cen.
tury, was once making an ascent his
balloon exploded at an altitude Of 49,
600 feet and began to drop swiftly to
the earth. more than couple Of
miles below "The descent Mt first was
rapid" Mr.. Wise writes. "and accom-
panied by fearful moaning noise
caused by air rushing through the net
work and the gas escaping from above.
In another moment felt slight shock.
and. looking up to see what caused 1t.
| discovered that the balloon was cant
Ing over. being nicely doubled In. the
lower half into the upper"
The balloon had. In fact. formed IT,
self into parachute and. oscillating
wildly. continued Its descent until 1t
struck the earth violently. throwing
the aeronaut ten yards out Of the car
''The cur had turned bottom upward.
and there STOOD" says Mr.. Wise.
"congratulating myself and the per.
spiration rolling down my forehead In
profusiOn. Louis Post-Dispatch.