Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-04-07
BALLOONISTS
BRUSH COBWEBS
FROM THE SKY
BASKET BUMPS THE BUMPS IN
MIDAIR
FIVE MAKE TRIP IN FERRIS
CRAFT, UNITED STATES
After Ascending from Chutes Park,
Party Lands Safely Five
Hours Later Near
Pomona
nY GEoRGE d. MARRsoN.

HlHAT Dick Ferris appeared roster
than usual in Friends at the
Majestic theater last night was
due to the fact that he took several OF
his personal friends on balloon trip OIL
fifty miles yesterday. Although he went
a mile and quarter into the air anu
later, descending, bumped on the grounu
while travelling twenty miles an hour,
Ferris playing of Jack Paden, 1r., did
not suffer. He wants to go again and
take Mrs Ferris, who was cheated out
of trip yesterday because her auto
mobile could not catch up with Mr..
Ferris and his balloon.
Accompanying Mr.. Ferris in the
United States were John B. Elliott,
local manager of the Associated Press;
Capt. Harmon d. Ryus, Roy knapen-
shue and myself In addition to the
< five passengers, who made combined
weight of 1000 pounds, the balloon took
thirty-five sacks of ballast, an excel
lent testimonial to the lifting power OF
the gas. The start was made from the
Chutes balloon grounds at $3.50 a. M,
and the landing was in B. f. Moore's
field in the northern part of Pomona at
2:45 p. m. The party finished the TRIP
by running to the Salt Lake station,
after packing the balloon, and catchlnS
a train which landed them in Los An
geles seven hours after they left the
ground.
Rush to Escape Sand
The land current at starting took the
balloon to the west as 1t left the
ground. over the Polytechnic high
school Pilot Knabensnue dropped over
a bit of ballast to get to a higher alti-
tude. and the pupils who We're watching
on the roof and the tennis courts made
frantic dives for safety. Just west OF
Hoover street, at an altitude of lo00
seet, the United States turned eastward
and drifted to Vernon, where It went
north past Boyle Heights and toward
Pasadena.
AS the United States lowered mile
up In the air the occupants of the basket
4 caught heliograph signals from Los An
geles, South Pasadena, Pasadena and
from the summit of Mount Wilson.
These were quite distinctly seen. al
though one of the senders must have
been twenty miles away; Another was
apparently an expert "in Morse ana
rapidly flashed a message of inquiry,
TO which the balloonists could not re-
spond, as they had the sun at their
backs.
''There's an awful lot of those hello
tropers," said Capt. Ryus who mad
been watching the flashes from the time
he discontinued urging Commodore
Ferris not to try landing In Ever
green cemetery because he was AFRAID
OF "going dead into 1t.
Clear Sky Above
At $500 feet Roy Knabenshue pulled
the valve cord to bring the aerostat
down to a more favorable current. AS
he did so Mr.. Elliott looked up through
the balloon and caught an appalling
glimpse OF clear sky just before the
valve shut with a clang.
For heavens sake, Roy, he said,
don't open that cellar door thing again
until after we land. It's a shivery
thing to see nothing but plain air over
you up this high"
After that whenever Mr.. Knaben-
shue made a move toward the valve
rope Elliott and Ryus formed them
selves into a committee of disapproba-
tion and passed stirring resolutions OF
censure Dick Ferris, as seasoned
balloonist, endeavored to explain the
theory of the thing, but when the
United States reached 7400 feet and
Knabenshue let the gas swish through
the valve again the only way the COM
modore could keep his passengers from
getting out and walking back was to
sing a comic song. The log of the bal
loon registers that twenty-five verses
were necessary.
Instead of going over Pasadena as
the passengers had hoped, the United
States went toward Whittier. which it
skirted on the north and east. Coming
down from an altitude of more than
1000 feet, 1t passed over the ostrich
farm, and the fiocks of ostriches
"milled" around the ground, frightened
by the appearance of the strange mon
ster above them.
Bumps the Bumps
Here the balloon went northeast
again. and as it crossed the Puente
hills it "skidded" against the hill slope
in a manner that delighted Commodore
Ferris guests They urged Knaben-
shue to .let her bump again" and he
allowed the basket to come down
heavily in field so close to barn
ward that it was a guess whether the
basket would take off piece of barn
roof AS the basket struck and turned
on it's side the huge gas envelope, re-
lieved of the weight, bounded upward
with a rush.
"All hands avast falling outn' shout
ed Ferris, and the passengers ''avast-
edp with a willingness that left a long
abrasion on the right leg of the Asso-
ciated Press manager. He lost no
time in filing a reservation of the other
leg for future ascension.
4 combination of high tension wires
and an overland passenger train which
we're encountered soon afterward next
kept the balloonists guessing. To an
inexperienced aeronaut 1t appeared
certain that the drag rope would catch
the wires and that the balloon would
be pulled down on tne Approaching
train, but Knabenshue's skillful ma
nipulation with ballast took the Unit
ed states over the train 400 feet in
the air.
The course lay directly toward Po-
mona. but a landing was not found
feasible on the west side of the city.
The United States began to fall, how
ever. and the drag rope came down on
the ground as the houses were reached.
AZ AIvarado street 1t almost caught on
the telephone wires, and some ballast
sent overheard struck house roof
with loud thuds. A block further on
q housewife came to the front porch
to see what all the boys We're shouting
about. balloon was far from her
thoughts. but as she stood looking up
the street hundred feet of large rope
came sliding over the bungalow roof
that made her jump for the front door
The air travellers were too busy plan
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