Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-08-22
A FRIGHT IN M|DA|R
Going Up In a Balloon and Com
ing Down In a Parachute.
THE AGONY OF A FIRST TRIP
Experience and Sensations of an Ac-
robat Who Took the Place of Pro-
fessionaI Aeronaut In an Emergency.
The Dash Through Space.

ne DaSn nrOU9n space.
l once went up in a balloon and
came down in parachute. Something
went wrong, and all the money in the
world doubled would not induce me to
make the experiment again.
One grows strangely accustomed to
dangers as an acrobat, and when it
was suggested that l should earn $25
in as many minutes by taking the place
of a parachutist who had fallen i'll at
the last minute jumped at the chance.
1t was at a large country fair. The
laughing crowd had probably never
seen a balloon go up AS the great
silk bag gradually swelled a silence
fell upon the onlookers.
The sick parachutist's manager pat
ted me on the back and said it was
money easily earned. 1 agreed-then.
Keep COOL" he said, land, whatever
you do, don't look down except to
judge your distance from the earth.
You see that tower? It is about a
thousand yards away. When you are
that distance up pull the check string
and shut your eyes,
A dull murmur rose as the ropes were
cast of and I felt my feet leave the
ground. The upward movement was
gentle, and great cheer came up to
me until the band drowned it.
l hardly heard the cheering or the
band. The involuntary murmur still
rang in my ears. Perhaps my nerves
were upset, possibly it was intuition,
but from the moment was drawn up
from the ground felt the conviction
that grim trouble lay ahead.
Ignoring the oft repeated instruc-
lions, looked down. How slowly the
balloon went up! Could it be possible
that l had not gone more than hun
dred yards? The giant overhead be-
came living thing, intent on tortur-
ing the puny mortal who had trusted
his life to it. 1 knew l dared not leap
before I was high enough, for the par
achute takes 100 feet sometimes to
open.
shut my eyes and tried to count to
kill time, but the figures became jum-
bled, and | looked down again. A
swallow skinned past underneath.
Far below there was a sea of upturned
faces, and the music foated up dis
tinctly. The balloon seemed to have
stopped rising, and for an eternity
tried to gauge the height.
Again the band stopped, and was
in a silent world. The crowd of
breathless specks far beneath was get
ting full value for its money. The
only noise 1 heard was the beating of
the blood through my head. was
afraid. 1t was the first real fear had
ever felt in my work.
When the supreme moment came !
pulled the string without realizing
what I was doing.
What years / lived in those next
few seconds An appalling nausea and
wild desire to live came with the
first terrible rush, and my heart stood
still as l looked eagerly aloft. The
ropes of the parachute had twisted,
and was falling to instant death.
Grasping the ropes in a clutch of
steel, 1 shook them frantically. Half
the huge parachute bellied out with a
noise like a pistol shot, and the speed
of the fall was lessened with JAR
Again 1 shook the death trap. The
ropes were sliding at a snail's pace.
and bit by bit the parachute was open
ing. Still / fell far too fast. | could
not breathe, and my hands seemed to
be refusing to hold on.
Bang! The last fold had opened out,
and 1 was saved. Dizzy and numb
with fear, l held on tightly, wonder
ing whether 1 should faint before /
touched the ground. That, and that
only, was my thought as l sailed
through the space. l had almost lost
consciousness when my feet touched
the ground gently. And then l col
lapsed.-Buffalo Times.