The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-05-30

Twenty-odd years ago this advertisement was promi
hently displayed in the San Francisco dailies:
ACKNOWLEDGMENT EXTRAORDINARY
fTomorrow, at ) clock sharp, Aeronaut Thomas s.
Baldwin will drop 1000 feet from balloon, Golden
Gate park. -
and little nere@uIy; even thc officials of the trac
tion company WhDh advertised the feat not wholly
and hd hsor reason So G to d?sPy his daring Two
coast He bndfodcd and away beneath Rim
cifc. No such aerial feat had ever been attempted
a % IT Sn sSrt G%a dsrng but drop from
tempted it; none had survived it.
conc thousand fcet3i repeated the doubling off.
cials.
eyes, or higher said Baldwin coolly.
BALDWIN laUhSd ~ 2 NV Skfa bnsines SnG sail he
"lll have have TO charge, YOU dollar foot IN drop
five hundred prefer at least a thousand feet. You
And he did.
park, They the preparationsNa fire built out Of
lea leading ,to to heap of cloth the dirty rsy folds Of
inrushng from the trench
When the balloon was elevated from the ground
and held swaying from guy ropes IN the hands Of
collapsed fold Of canvas and tangle of ropes. The
in a5nnsT m in s S Of eight and to @
metal ring and underneath hung trapezc,
attired in acrobatic costume walked out of tent
He seemed the least concerned of all giving orders
coolly and watching everything with critical eye.
To be successful parachute jumper even today re
Quircs scientific knowledge of ballooning. This
pioneer aeronaut however, had nothing whatever TO
guide him IN the of previous experience of others.
Moreover, the responsibility of having single
detail of the ascent perfect lay wholly upon his
shoulders
He paid attention to those tlirty-two ropes
of becoming cntangcd If the latter happened it
meant that the limp sack would not open
when II was cut loose in midair from the balloon
above ii: that it would not float him gently back to
tpI1 in bpIy Shp
down like meteor and bury itself in its own self
made grave.
Shooting High in Air.
There was one other rope to be tested a longer
the parachute 1t had knife attachment al it's
upper end, which when the aeronaut pulled it from
his perch tho rapeze below severed the stout rope
that connected the parachute and balloon.
10 the trapeze and took firm hold the bar.
by. he said, and then. suddenly 'Everybodv let go,
force that seemed to elongate his body and make it
stiff and straight Il board, Then they saw him
laborlously muscle himself up and swing his legs
the bar. He waved back them once. twice
in vast silence Of suspense, he was seen only as
a dangling black spcck beneath the balloon shooting
higher. higher,
Suddenly, as The balloon poised for an instant and
then seemed 10 drift an most nauliblo pistol shot
cracked forth from the heavens A frenzied yell
burst from the crowd. They saw the black speck
instant turned turtle partly collapsed loated
away with the wind.
Down, down came the speck Of humanity and
then suddenly the trailing twisting thing directly
above it spread out like mushroom.
'tThe parachute'' - yelled onooker, aud the crv
with evident note OF relief went cchoing the
nearly a thousand feet overhead and then slowly
descend with gentle, oscating motion In