Los Angeles herald., 1910-10-23
PACKS Of WOLVES
WAIT FOR AIRMEN
Competitors in International Cup
Race Tell of Exciting Flight
in Canada
ANIMALS HOWL AT BALLOON
Passengers on Sky Craft Make
Sheer Drop of 5000 Feet,
but Land Safely
ANIMALS HOWL AT BALLOON
ASSOCIATED Press)

NEW YORK. Oct. 22-Remarkable
stories of the thrillin adventures OF
those who seek supremacy in the sport
OF long-distance ballooning are told by
four distinguished Frenchmen who
have just arrived in New York after
flights for the international cup. The
four aeronauts are Jacques Faure and
Ernest Schmolck, who left st. Louis in
the Condor and Alfred le Blanc and w.
de Mumm, who started In the Isle de
France.
The story of the Isle de Frances
flight, as told by De Mumm, Is as fol-
lows
Leaving st. Louis Monday, we head
ed straight for Michigan. We sailed
over Lake Michigan for six and nan nan
hours and then over Lake Huron into
Canada We found ourselves soon above
a wilderness Of Canadian forest.
''The wind became stronger and In an
instant we were being swept on ana on
at sixty miles an hour over an unin-
viting country, with no sign of habita-
tion.
WOLVES HOWL AT BALLOON
''Below us packs of wolves raced,
growing and swapping and looking all
too anxious for prey. For two hours
we were lost in that great wilderness.
At 4 o'clock Wednesday morning we
SlRQLeQ d IdllIOdu lIdChJ anu hiASW y -
were on the highway to civilization. we
lost not an instant in descending.
1--WE were 1900 feet in the air, and as
we started our ride downward moose,
elk, deer and many other animals
raised their heads and scampered off as
our monster looking craft appeared to
descend on them.
"Once on the ground after a perilous
descent we started out to find some
human beings. We walked and ran and
rested, and after tramping five and
half hours came to farm house, where
we got food and drink
1--WE asked aid in getting our balloon,
and the next day the farmers accom-
panied us into the woods, where we
packed the parts together. The task of
getting them out of the forest looked
Impossible, and we came away after
offering $500 to anyone who would get
the balloon to railroad"
ExPOsURB wEAKENs BAG
The failure of the Condor to make a
longer flight is ascribed by M. Faure to
the condition of his balloon, which was
weakened by exposure to wind and
weather on the deck of the steamship
which brought it from Europe.
The most thrilling feature of the Con-
doris flight was a sensational drop from
a height of nearly two miles to a point
less than fifty feet above the surface OF
Lake Michigan. NJ Schmolck told OF
this experience as follows
1T was late on Wednesday night. We
were at a height of something over
10000 feet, when suddenly we struck a
zone of air where the temperature was
close to zero. The gas in the balloon
began to condense rapidly, and we
started falling. We stroVe frantically
to check our descent. After a sheer
drop of 5000 feet there came brief halt
and we thought we were safe, but the
relief was only for a moment. Again
the balloon began to drop. Bags of
ballast We're hurled overheard and
splashed into the black water beneath
us. Then we sacrificed the oxygen
tanks and everything that we could lay
hands on, but still we dropped
CLASP THE LIFE PRESERVERs
I'VE were within 100 feet of the sur
face of the great lake when we discard
ed our shoes, coats, and clasped our life
preserVers to cur bodies, believing that
in an instant we would be plunged into
the water Then, just when we thought
ourselves lost, the balloon was halted
on its downward fight.
eve were only forty-five feet above
the surface of the water. We breathed
a sigh of relief as the wind carried us
over the water and we sighted land.
Our attempt to descend was fraught