The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-04-04
Two Men Rescued But One Dies Upon Being Dragged
 Aboard a Tug
LONE SURVIVOR TELLS
 OF AWFUL EXPERIENCE
The Balloon Had Not Been Completely Ballasted When It Broke Away and Mndc n Dash Toward
 the Ocean

| Stettin, Germany, April 3-The German balloon Pommern which made an ascen- sion here this afternoon, met with a series of accidents which ended in dis aster in the Baltic sea under most tragic circumstances. Three me- their lives, including the radical sT> CT of the reichstag. Werner HylcS N Brueck Herr Del Bruecls and ar s<sS member of the party were drown|o third occupant of the car wazcTS d up unconscious and died fro' ..s3' injuries, while the fourth was sa in serious condition.
 The Por $ carrying Del Brueck, who was as pilot, banker; Herr Sommeh an architect; Herr Ben duehn and l man named Hein, ascended early in the afternoon at the gas works. The wind at the time was blowing a hur- ricane and the Pommern broke away be- fore she had been completely ballasted.
 A chapter of accidents began imme- diately. The balloon collided with tele- graph wires, which broke, almost over turning the basket It then dashed into the roof of neighboring factory, destroy | ing the smokestack. With the basket swaying wildly and half of it's ropes cut, the balloon scared to a great altitude and disappeared in the clouds at a terrific speed.
 l Thousands of onlookers, including de- tachment of military which had assisted In the ascent, ran along the roads ex- pecting the basket to break away. The balloon. however, was not seen again un. oc west of Stettin, over which it passed al a height of coco feet in the direction ol the sea. Tugs followed in it's track, and one of them which had out-distanced the others was almost directly under I when suddenly the balloon fell into the sea. The tug steamed to the spot quick fly. but the work of rescue was difficult Already Del Brueck and Benduhn had disappeared, but Sommerhardt and Hein were olinging to the ropes and they were dragged aboard the vessel.
 Describing their terrible experiences, Herr Sommelhardt said:
 | "Our collision with the telegraph lines and the factory roof had the most hor- rible consequences. Del Brueck sustained broken leg and severe injury of the head. Benduhn had an arm and leg frac- tured. Hein received bad contusions oi | the head. l was KnOcKeQ Se0stltSS, Dlil recovered in a moment to find that had crushed knee and chest The network around the envelop was torn in such q manner that we feared every second the gas bag would slip out and we would crash down to the eGrth from a height ol eo0O feet, to which we had ascended like a flash.
 Del Brueck, in spite of his awful con- dition vainly endeavored to open the valve which had become entangled. | In the meantime we passed over Swine munde at 8, great altitude and soon found ourselves above the sea. We thought possibly that we might land in Sweden, but the balloon was caught in a rain cloud which drove us down, until VIC were within 150 feet of the water. De Brueck was suffering agony, but he succeeded In pulling the ripping cord and we fell into the water like log. All managed to get clear of the basket l, with Hein, swan and caught hold of the network. but Del Brueck and Blenduhn sank I remembered no more until l | found myself in the boat which res cued us
 | Hein died soon after being taken on the tug and Del Brueck's body was washed ashore this evening.
 | The Pommern, with the aeronaut, Oscar Erbsloeh in command. won the interna- tional balloon race at St. Louis in 1907.