Willmar tribune., 1909-10-13

Minneapolis. bringing the balloon
with them. They left last night for
Chicago from where they go to
their home at Dayton, Ohio.
lone of the worst, if not the
worst experience that / have ever
undergone in my 343 ascensions'' is
what Pilot McGill said to the Tri-
bune. II believe suffered all the
tortures of the damned. especially
toward the end Of the trip, and
when we struck that storm and had
to shoot nearly three miles straight
upwards, ! thought was all in for
sure.
1T was cold, intensely cold. I
believe it must have been 80 or 40
degrees below zero. We had
matches, but no oil stove, and if
Peary suffered any more than did,
he is entitled to all the glory of his
north pole conquests.
my companion, Schauer, has
not much experience with balloons.
What shall l do?' he excitedIy
asked me as we mounted higher and
higher, the air all the time getting
colder and colder. l finally mus
tered strength to explain the work.
ings and down we dropped like a
loaded weight. It seemed that we
would never stop.
Then, finally, after what seemed
ages to me, propped up in the bot
tom of the basket, there came a
crash and a grinding thud and
down we plunked in the middle of
a field.
1.-TWO hundred feet to the south
and we would have dropped into
the middle of a small lake. I'm
sure l never would have gotten out of
that alive in the condition l was
in"
Schauer, although still suffering
severely from his dislocated shoul-
der, was more talkative than his
pilot, and related several thrilling
incidents Of the AZ hour journey
through the air.
''Just my luck! All that hard
ship and only few hours from
that SIS, 900 prize, and then we had
to strike that awful whirlpool.
We had enough sand aboard and
enough gas in the bag to 90 for 20
hours longer.
Il believe we could have won the
Lahm cup and the $4,000 cash
prize. ....
''McGill has been up in the air
hundreds of times. He said this
experience was his worst. l believe
it. I know l don't want any more
like it.
"McGill was sick all the way.
believe my rubbing was all that
kept him alive on several occasions.
He moaned and gasped, but would
not let me pull the cord.
"When that gawky farmer began
peppering us with his rifle McGil]
raised his head, exclaiming,
What's that?' l said, They're
shooting at u.s. We'll, drop sack
of sand on him. We can't stand fol
that he answered, and then sank
back into semi-unconciousnes.
Il didn't throw the sand, because
it was too precious, but I waved
my hand frantically and it was 3
sight for sore eyes to see that fel.
low drop his gun and shoot of
! across the field as if the devil were
after him.
"Another time, down in Mis-
d souri,, we had quite session will
a bunch of farmer lads bound OF
9 pulling US to earth. This woult
d have put US out of the race, o>
e course, and l sure would hav,
d dumped a few sacks of sand OF
o them if they hadn't let go of tn
= rope.
!" What's the matter with yo,
r fellows? Let go!' screamed dow
through my megaphone, when fou
y of them grasped the trailer and be
!. gan to haul away.
II " oh, laws. look yere. They
= a man in it, gasped the leader o
g the quartet, establishment depicte'
e in every line Of his face. w
IT thought it was a toy balloon. Som
y body said there was a reward o
II $25 for the capture of balloons
t. 'Scuse US, will you, mister?'
a ''We had plenty to eat on tn
It journey, but the water we ha
s. along froze solid when we went u
is the 10000 feet near Albany. w
y could have thawed that out, though
mo, we won't stop; we teav
" for Chicago on the first train; 6 30
st Well, l guess so, if that's the frs
'e one."
;t :: AUCTION