The Havre herald. [volume] (Havre, Mont.) 1904-1908, 1908-08-19
/ FRIGHT IN MIDA|R
Gsiaa Up In a Balloon and Com
inn Down In a Parachute.
HE AGONY or A FIRST TRIP
EwRss5sHss aud Sensations Of an Ac-
pahak who Took the Place Of Pro
hessionaa Aeroraut Ia an Emergency
HE Dash Through Space.


hessionaa Aeroraut In an Emergency.
lgse Dash Through Space.
q, ease vent up in balloon and
azfRe Down in parachute. Something
Yant wrong, and all the money in the
HRsrad doubled would not induce NE to
Msake the experiment again.
enc grows strangely accustomed to
dkngers as an acrobat, and when it
was suggested that I should earn $25
ii Us many minutes by taking the place
ss parachutist who had fallen i'll at
aAe last minute jumped at the chance.
Ut ESss at q large country fair. The
hsghing crowd had probably never
saen q balloon go up. AS the great
INK bag gradually swelled a silence
EeA upon the onlookers.
THE sick parachutist's manager pat
4Bd me on the back and said it was
nspney easily earned. l agreed-tflen.
sKerp eoel,'' he said land whatever
xBs Go. don't look down except to
Judge your distance from the earth.
Hoa see that tower? 1t is about a
Ahsusand yards away. When Won are
that distance up pull the check string
ANd shut your eyes,
A dun mur1nur rose as the ropes were
east Off and felt my feet leave the
ground. The upward movement was
gentle, and a great cheer came up to
me until the band drowned it.
hardly heard the cheering Or the
band The involuntary murmur still
rang in my ears. Perhaps my nerves
were upset, possibly it was intuition
bat from the moment was drawn VI
from the ground felt the conviction
that grim trouble lay ahead.
Ignoring the oft repeated instruc
lions, l looked down. How slowly the
balloon went up! Could it be possible
Mat had not gone more than a hun
&red yards? The giant overhead be
came q living thing. intent on tortur
aag the puny mortal who had trusted
has life to it. l knew dared not leaI
before l was high enough, for the par
achute takes 100 feet sometimes t,
open
I shut my eyes and tried to count t.
kin time, but the figures became jun
bled. and / looked down again. 4
swallow skinned past underneath
var below there was sea of upturne,
faces, and the music hoated up dis
taactly. The balloon seemed to hav
stopped rising, and for an eternity
tRied to gauge the height.
Again the band stopped, and I wa
fM silent world. The crowd G
breathless specks far beneath was ge
Eng full value for its money. Th
emily noise / heard was the beating {
the blood through my head. I wa
laeraid Tt was the first real fear la
ever felt In my work.
When the supreme moment came
pulled the string without reaiizin
what ! was doing.
What years l lived in those ne,
few seconds. An appalling nausea an
wild desire to live came with tt
Argt terrible rush. and my heart stoo
still as I looked eagerly aloft. I'll
ropes Of the parachute had twiste
and l was falling to instant death.
Grasping the ropes in clutch
steel, shook them frantically Ha
the huge parachute bellied out with
noise like pistol shot. and the spec
of the fail was lessened with a jar.
Again I shook the death trap. III
ropes were sliding at snail's pac
and bit by bit the parachute was ope
Ang Still fell far too fast. / cou
mot breathe, and my hands seemed
be refusing to hold on.
Bang The last fold had opened o.
and l was saved. Dizzy and nun
with fear. held on tightly. wonde
fng whether I should faint before
touched the ground. That and th
only. was my thought as | sail
through the space. I had almost lc
consciousness when my feet touch
the ground gently. And then I c
lapsad-Buffalo Times.