Los Angeles herald., 1908-10-12
u. S. BALLOON
BURSTS IN AIR
,Continued from Pare one,

pied room. The man in the room was
terrified, but, recovering himself, as
sisted us to the roof, down through the
skylight and to the street below, where
the crowds cheered us and shook our
hands.
ously hurt. 1 had cramps of the oouy,
but otherwise l am all right.
Feels Like Crying
st could cry with vexation after
coming so far to take part in the race
and then be knocked out by such an
accident.
"I cannot say now what was the
cause of the catastrophe, which I will
| investigate tomorrow. 1t was our good
| fortune to be up so high, otherwise
the balloon could not have formed it.
self into a parachute. we owe our
deliyerance to that occurrence.
"A remarkable thing was that sew
eral bottles of water remained intact
everything else being destroyed"
Mr.. Forbes was asked whether the
length of the appendix had anything
to do with the accident. He said:
81 do not know, but if so 1 have
gained some experience. The appen-
dix was made long so as to be more
fitted for night travelling.
st cut off ten feet of the appendix
before our departure today, but the
end was still half way down outside
the basket. l will be able to tell to-
morrow wherein the trouble lay"
Views of Hervieu
CASTOR Hervieu, the French aero
naut, speaking with regard to the &C
cident, said: "I attribute 1t to the
| length of the appendix, which in
creased the pressure at the top of the
balloon and caused it to burst.
"I consider such experiments oan.
] gerous before proper experience mas
/ been acquired in this direction neal
the ground"
N. II. Arnold, accompanied by H. j
! HeWett, assembled in the third Amerl'
| can balloon, the st. Louis.
All the competitors in the race are
provided with rations for rnree uays
This is the third international bal
loon cup race for the James Gordon
| Bennett trophy The first race was
| held at Paris in 1906 and was won by
Lieut.. Frank P. Lahm of the Unitec
States cavalry, by a flight of 4O2 miles
Contest at st. Louis
The second contest was held under
| the auspices of the Aero club OF Amer
| lea. at ST Louis in October, 1907. Il
| was won by the German balloon rom
mern, which landed at Asbury Park
| N. j., having covered S73.4 miles IN an
air line. 1t was piloted by oscar ED
slohe. :.
The James Gordon Bennett trophy i
valued at $250O, and the conditions cal
for the longest single flight, measured
| on an air line.
The cup must be defended by tht
winner at an international contest helC
each year and it must be won three
times in succession before passing to 6
| permanent holder.
! All the balloons today took an exact
| lv similar direction which would lead
| if the same course were followed, into
| southeastern Russia, overland, bu
many of the competitors, including NC
! Coy, have taken water anchors, IN the
| event the wind steers and carries then
| to sea.
Americans Hopeful
The Americans are hopeful and are
| determined to use their utmost endeav-
ors to win the race, but Mccoy priol
to the start pointed out that the Eu-
ropean aeronauts possess the most ex'
tensive experience. He fully expects
however, to stay up at least forty
eight hours.
The three best in the st. Louis race
are in the Berlin contest. Erbslohe
pilots the Berlin" Captain Won 'Aber-
cron again has charge of the "Qussel'
dorf," while LIE Blanc ascended In
| balloon which bore no name.
Among the other contestants is Celes'
time Usualli, representing italy, who
won the Queen Margherita cup for g
flight over the Alps.