The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1909-05-28
Travelled SO Miles in the Air Last Fri
day in Company With Pilot of North
Adams Aero Club and One Other Pas
ger-Story of Voyage.


q LOS O'Clock at Greenfield Center, n. Y
q a distance of about so miles in an al
= line. Mrs. Richardson was an intereste
spectator of the ascension and returne
i to Brattleboro with her husband Saturda
n morning
a n II. Arnold, pilot of the balloon, ha
!, the following interesting account OF tn
h voyage in the North Adams Herald Q
. Saturday:
: The flight yesterday was not only tn
n best, without single exception, that j
. was ever my pleasure to enjoy, but /
= was, | think, the first that | ever Gu
,, materially short because of the utter lacl
+ of knowledge of the country ahead of us
, We could have gone miles further ant
would have, had we known that Glen
Falls lay only IA miles ahead of us in
: direct line. We had about as hard a TIM
in getting away yesterday as | have eX
perenced since the first time | piloted {
balloon alone, and when | finally did gel
a chance to jump evidently | was not
perfectly balanced for the basket got
away with considerable swing to il
which, however did not appear to bother
either of my two companions, Of whom
Mr.. Richardson was making his initial
flight In fact, he had never seen a bal
loon until yesterday morning.
When well clear and satisfied that there
was no false lift to the balloon but that
we would steadily rise, | cut the drag
rope, which managed to snarl near the
bottom, with the result that Richardson
and | snaked the thing back into the
basket and unsnarled it while Mr.. Con
verse ran the balloon.
We passed Williamstown station a lit
tie to the north and crossed the Berlin
mountains at rapid gait. There was no
hesitancy there as on both previous times
| have got over that range; one of them
| being the experience of being shot at over
the town of Poetstenkill. | kept sharp
lookout for that village and my friend,
John Holzer but | guess we were out of
range this time and he did not see the
'hawk' he shot at before.
The sky was completely overcast and
after we had given up one bag of ballast
to hold ourselves after we got over Berlin
mountain, we hoated steadily and rap
idly along at an altitude of between 5000
and 1000 feet, until we neared the Hud
son river without giving up bit of sand
We had four big bags and seven little
ones when we started.
Just before we got to the river we
showed disposition to drop, and as Mr.
Converse was inclined to dispute my as
sertion that it was the Hudson river we
were nearing, we let the balloon drop
down to about 1000 feet while we asked
the usual questions and received the usual
fool answers.
"Where are WEI" "What town is this,
please?" were our questions. you are
in balloon. Where'd you think you
were?" Are you coming DOWN. "Where
are you going?" were the samples of an
swers we received. We were steadily APP
preaching the north end of Saratoga lake
which Mr. Converse insisted could not be
that sheet of water because there We're
no summer hotels on the banks of it, A
little later we spotted Saratoga to our
left and he finally admitted that | was a
pretty good guesser Mr. Richardson was
having the time of his life and was con-
tinually pointing out sights of interest
and advising Mr.. Converse to take
picture of this and be sure and send me
print of it." Mr.. Converse used up roll
after roll of films and promise after prom
Use to furnish the rest of us with prints
of them. After we got across, or rather,
by the lake, we began to speculate about +!
the prospects of a town in the neighbour
hood near which we could make land
ing, although we then had six bags of |
ballast four of them big ones. Eagerly |
we scanned the country ahead of us.
Nearby it appeared to be cultivated at |
frequent Intervals beyond it appeared to |
be nothing but woods rising steadily into |
the foothills of the Adirondacks. We did |
not know the country and the government |
has not yet made Typographical maps of
that section of New York state, so that
what maps we had with us did no good
so far as aiding us in determining our To-
cation except that we were near Saratoga.
Converse much desired to get to New
York last night; Richardson wanted to
get back to Brattleboro last night. | was
DESTROYS of once more reaching North
Adams. They put it up to me and L told
hem | was plotting them and was per
ectly willing to stay up until the limit
If safety had been reached and we were
lot within sight of that by any means.
Two farmhouses doomed up in front of
Is a few miles ahead. They were the
n advance. q like to camp out, re-
marked Converse, "but not in a derby hat
nd spring clothes 1t looks to me that
f we keep on we shall have to spend the
light in the woods and leave the balloon :
here as well. Let's come down" Mr..
surveyed the situation and !
econded the motion. | waived little I
nd we started down gently. To Mr.. Con- |
erse | gave the anchor and began seeking Il
n open field with trees nearby where |
ould make a sure stop. The other time
had landed in that vicinity was on the
rst trip Harry Hewat took when Stevens
nade the landing. There were no trees
here. | remembered well the hurried :
rip we made through a stone wall and :
ence ana had no intention OF repeating !,
Ir. Richardson, who was having his first |
Experience, was naturally interested in
he preparations. / planned for one open !
1T, but seeing | could not make it with
ut hurrying down, decided to go over
nd take the next meadow. As we
rushed through the tree tops with the !,
asket Converse dropped the anchor and .
re settled into the meadow where /
pped. We did not move although the
ind tugged for a minute at the envelope.
IS We were making preparations to come
own Converse, who had been bareheaded 5
lost of the trip, began a search for his {
ew derby hat and found it in one of the s
ockets. He said he would put it on but o
e didn't. When we got out we discov- /
red that 40-pound bag of sand was rest s
u contentedly on the crown and Con-
erse mourned over it more than if he t,
ad broken leg He was due for a So r.
ETY. stunt in New York and was Won V
ering how he could get another ''lid' be- e
ire time for him to keep his engagement L
John Hodges, upon whose farm we II
nded, came down into the field. accom- t
anied by several of the women folks, Il
le latter of which were just leaving for is
-ange meeting. There was a telephone v
the house and lots to eat, they told c,
!. but they could not stop to prepare it. t.
l. IL. = |