The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-02-11
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 Encompassed the
Daring Voyasers at an Altitude Of
Over Five miles-The Descent.

Over Five miIes-The Descent.
One of the most terrific experiences
in the history of ballooning was that
of three aeronauts who in 1875 made
an ascension in a large and well made
balloon. the Zenith. In this voyage
the object was TO reach the greatest
possible altitude. The balloon rose to
height OF $4,000 feet-that is, about
five and a half miles from the earth.
At this point something happened
what, no one will ever know, since the
only surviving baIloonist. Tissandier,
was at the time insensible. But the
balloon began a rapid fall and finally
struck the ground with such a fright
full shock that Sivel and Croce-Spin-
neli were killed instantly, while lis
sanders life was spared by a miracle.
The account of this voyage is per-
haps best told in Tissandier's own
words:
AT $4,000 feet we were standing up
in the car. Sivel. who had given up
for a moment, was reinvigorated.
Croce-Spinnelli was motionless in front
of me. l felt stupeied and frozen. l
wished to put on my fur gloves. But
without being conscious of it the &C
ton of taking them from my pocket
necessitated an effort that l could no
longer make. l copy verbatim the fol-
lowing lines which were written by
me, although | have no very distinct
remembrance Of doing so, They are
traced in hardly legible manner by
hand trembling with cold:
MY hands are frozen. l am all
right. We are all right. Fog in the
horizon, with little rounded cirrus. We
are ascending. Croce pants. He in
hales oxygen. Sivel closes his eyes.
Croce also closes his eyes. Sivel
throws out ballast Sivel seized his
knife and cut successfully three cords,
and the three bags emptied them
selves, and we assembled rapidly.
when Sivel cut away the bags OF
ballast at the height of about "a 900
feet l seemed to remember that he was
sitting at the bottom of the car and
nearly in the same position as Croce
Spinnelli For my part. l was in the
angle Of the car, thanks to which sup
port l was able to hold up. but | soon
felt too weak even to turn my head to
look at my companions. This was
about 100 p. N. At 2:0S p. m. l
awoke for a moment and found the
balloon rapidly descending. l was able
to cut away a bag Of ballast to check
the speed and wrote in my notebook
the following words:
I'VE are descending. Temperature,
8 degrees. l throw out ballast. Ba
rometer, 12.4 inches We are descend
ing. Sivel and Croce still in a faint.
ing state at the bottom of the car.
Descending very rapidly
Hardly had ] written these lines
when a kind Of trembling seized me,
and l fell back weakened again. There
was a violent wind from below up
ward, denoting very rapid descent.
After some minutes l felt myself
shaken by the arm and recognized
Croce, who had revived. Throw out
ballast he said to me. We are de-
ecending' But l could hardly open
my eyes and did not see whether 81
vel was awake l called to mind that
Croce unfastened the aspirator, which
he then threw overheard, and he threw
out ballast, rugs, etc.
at $50 2. IN. / opened my eyes
again. I felt dreadfully giddy and op-
pressed, but gradually came to myself
The balloon was descending with
frightful speed and making great oscil-
latlons. ] crept along on my knees
and pulled Sivel and Croce by the
arm. 'Sivel. Crocer l exclaimed.
Wake up My two companions were
huddled up motionless in the car, COW
cred by their cloaks. collected all my
strength and endeavored to raise them
up. Sivel's face was black. his eyes
dull. and his mouth was open and full
of blood. Croce's eyes were half clos
ed. and his mouth was bloody.
ITO relate what happened afterward
is impossible. | felt a frightful wind
We were still 300 feet high. There
remained In the car two bags Of bal
last, which l threw out l was draw
ing near the earth, l looked for my
knife to cut the small rope which held
the anchor. but could not find it. l was
like a mailman and continued to call
'Sivel Sivel" By good fortune / was
able to put my hand upon my knife
and detach the anchor at the right
moment
The shock on coming to the ground
was dreadful. The balloon seemed as
if it was being fiattened. l thought II
was going to remain where it had fall
en-. but the wind was high. and it was
dragged across fields. The bodies OF
my unfortunate friends were shaker
about in the car, and l thought every
moment they would be jerked out. A
length, however. l seized the valve
line, and the gas soon escaped from
the balloon which lodged against q
tree. 1t was then 4 o'clock. On step
ping out ! was seized with a feverist
attack and sank down and thought fol
moment that 1 was going to join my
friends In the next world, but ! came
to. I found the bodies OF my friends
cold and stiff. l had them put under
shelter In an adjacent barn. The de
scent Of the Zenith took place on the
plains 155 miles from Paris as the
crow flies The greatest height at
tanned in this ascent is estimated a
$4,000 feet."-W. R. c. Latson in Min
ueapolis Journal.