The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1909-10-28
PECULIAR ACCIDENTS.
The "lrony Of Life" illustrated In
Stories OF Falls.

The irony of life waS SlrikIngly
Illustrated recently il Tie news OF Il
; rustic who slipped from six barred
gate and broke his nrr!; and nf an
Italian acronaut who iell l.WW feet
with his collapsed ha.ioon with no
worse result than Il Srrained ankle.
4 Frcnchw"ull;n. Nine. Murel. and
her daughter. while climbing i'll the
Alps. near Xcr:uatf. fen Il distance Of
LOO feet. not much less than Il quar-
ter of Il mile. aud. although the mother
: was killed on the spot. her daughter
escaped with Il few bruises. Mr.
Whymper the famous mOuntaineer.
had Il similarly miraculous deliverance
from what seemed 10 he certain death
when scaling the Mattcrhorn. Losing
his footing, lie fell from rock TO rock
10 the bottom Of Il precipitous gully,
100 yards in depth. Only to recover his
feet with no worse damage than Il
badly cut head. And VI. 'arville, Il
French writer, tells the story OF an
East Indian living in the island OF
Oghin who fell over precipice LOCO
feet deep with no more serious con-
sequence thap Il good shaking. his fall
being broken by the dense vegetation
which grew at the foot Of the cliff.
While climbing q waterworkS tower
o40 feet high in Chicago steeple-
Jack dislodged a loose stone and was
precipitated to the ground from
height of 175 feet, fortunately strik-
lug telegraph wires forty feet above
the street and thus breaking his fall.
The spectators gasped with horror as
they saw the man drop swiftly to de-
struction. A rush was made to pick
up his shattered remains only to dis
cover that he was practically un-
harmed. Not bone was broken. and
a week later be was walking about as
IL nothing had happened.
More remarkable and indeed al
most incredible was the experience OF
Charles Woolcot when be was making
a parachute descent in Venezuela. At
a height Of 1900 feet Woolcot flung
himself Of his balloon into space.
when, to the horror Of the thousands
Of onlookers. the parachute failed to
open. The man dropped like stone
with terrible speed until, when about
200 feet from the earth. the parachute
few open and at once collapsed. he
was dashed to the ground, his right
thigh and hip were broken. both ankles
and knees were badly crushed, and his
spinal column was dislocated. and yet.
after a year spent in hospital, Woolcot
was restored to soundness Of limb aft
er surely the most terrible adventure
Of which any man has lived to tell the
story.
But it is in the history of ballooning
that one encounters the most remark
able cases Of sensational drops from
the clouds. When Mr.. Wise. a famous
aeronaut Of the early nineteenth cen
tury, was once making an ascent his
balloon exploded at an altitude OF 49,
600 feet and began to drop swiftly to
the earth, more than couple OF
miles below. THE descent ut first was
rapid" Mr.. Wise writes, "and accom-
panied by a fearful moaning noise
caused by air rushing through the net
work and the gas escaping from above.
In another moment / felt slight shock,
and, looking up to see what caused 1t.
discovered that the balloon was can't
ing oyer beinG nicely doubled In, the
lower half into the upper"
The balloon had, in fact. formed IT.
self into a parachute and. oscillating
wildly. continued its descent until 1t
struck the earth violently, throwing
the aeronaut ten yards out Of the car.
THE car had turned bottom upward.
and there | STOOD" says Mr.. Wise.
'.congratulatinS myself and the per
spiration rolling down my forehead Il
profusion. ST. Louis i'0Si-DiSlatch.