The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-10-12

lAON Oh A1tIIOOllS E4NtE AOllCCltu OAtC
the basket smashed into the roof of a
house, but the two men escaped with
but slight injuries.
The race, in which twenty-three
balloons participated, representing
Great Britain, France, Germany, the
United States, Switzerland. Italy. Bel
GUM and Spain, started at 3 o'clock
in the presence of at least 10000 spec
tators. The sunshine was brilliant
and the heat was that of summer.
Amid the strains of America" and
volleys of cheers. the first balloon was
sent away. 1t was the America II, 3"
under command of James c. Mccoy,
who was accompanied by Lieutenant
Voghmann. The balloon was decor
ated with Stars and Stripes and it
sailed away to the southeast at a rapid
pace, the aeronauts waving their hats.
A representative of each of the other
nations followed the American balloon
in succession at intervals of two min
utes. the national hymns of the re-
spective countries ringing forth as the
ropes were cast loose.
The second batch of eight balloons
was led by Forbes, in the Conqueror
which was started with some difficulty
owing to a gusty wind and too much
ballast, but eventually it shot upward
and reached a high altitude in an in
credibly short time, the basket sway
ing violently. Then almost instantly a
cry of horror arose from the crowd
who saw the silk collapse and shouted ::
THE balloon is ripped up"
Thousands who had gathered stood
for a moment petrif1ed. Some turned
away fainting as they saw the balloon
falling with lightning-like rapidity. Al;
the same time showers of sand and ap-
purtenances of the balloon shot down
ward with equal rapidity and then day
light was seen through the envelope,
great ragged edges Of the silk showing
on either side.
"They are killed" went in a hushed
whisper through the crowd, but shortly
the remainder of the envelope appeared
to take first triangular shape and
then was transformed into a sort of
parachute at the top of the net and tine
progress of the wrecked balloon. was
considerably arrested.
1t came down slower and slower,
meanwhile being swept by the wind far
to the southeast and finally disap-
peared from view behind a block of
houses. The suspense among the crowd
was terrible. But a few minutes later
q telephone message was received from
Friedman which announced that the
men had landed and had not been Sc
Fiously injured. A great sigh of relief
went up among the people, who threw
their hats in the air for joy. The other
balloons were sent up after a brief de-
lay without further accident
A. Holland Forbes. who appeared to
be very little the worse for his expert
ence, except that he was SUFFERING
somewhat from shock gave the Asso-
ciated Press a thrilling account of the
accident:
I'VE had some difficulty" he said. ''iu
getting away, but once we left the
ground everything seemed to be right
We mounted almost perpendicularly- t.
an altitude of 1000 feet. As 1 looked
at the recording instruments to make a
note OF the altitude I heard a peculiai
swish and said to Post: That sounds
dangerous Immediately saw the en-
velop was rapidly debating. the gas
escaping in clouds. Instantly. / threw
the appendix clear of the basket and
the ropes, and drawing my jack knife
cut the ropes that were attached to tie
thirty-nine bags of sand hanging
around the basket.
Post. in tho meantime, threw out
everything portable. We could see
however, that We were falling more
rapidly than some of tho elected ar
ticles. Later. when the descent of the
balloon was checked, we observed one
bag of sand falling into a baby car
riage, which was smashed to pieces
but fortunately the nurse snatched
out the baby and saved his life.
Both OF us sprang up and held onto
the ring above. hoping in this way t.
avoid the crash. Then above uS could
he seen the envelope gradually spread
We continued to fall with terrific speed
until sort OF parachute had beer
formed and then we knew that unless
further mishap occurred we would
probably be saved from DEATH
''Our speed did not decrease a:
much as we should have liked and
we were still moving at a rapid pace
when we reached the tops of the higf