Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-05-12
BALLOON BROKE
ASCENT RECORD
A. Holland Forbes Describes His
Experiences at an Altitude
OF 20,60O Feet.
FINE PHOTOGRAPHS OF COMET
Collapse and Descent So Sudden Has
But Faint Recollection Of
Catastrophe.

iorsocavo Ky, May le-That The
flight for "a worlds distance record from
quincy, ui., by A. Holland Forbes.
holder Of the Lahm cup. and james
Darlington Yates the astronomer. both
Of New York. which began at Quincy
Ill.,, Monday evening terminating late
Tuesday IN disastrous tumble 10 the
earth, from a height Of perhaps 800
feet. near Center, KY, was not without
its compensation. was indicated by a
statement made by Forbes last night
The balloon broke the ascent record,
30 is declared. and some valuable pho
togiaphs OF the comet were secured at
au elevation of 1900 feet
Forbes, last night describing their
experience after reaching the altitude
OK -U,6OJ feet said:
I'm descending from the great eleva-
ton We had very little sand left, and as
the gas contracted, the balloon bag be-
came extremely tdbbery. Everything,
however went well until We were lew
hundred feet above the ground, when
the appendix line broke loose from the
ring supporting the basket. There was
so little gas I'm the balloon at the tfns
the basket attached naturally dropped
This caused the rip-cord. which is at
tachcd to the ring, to rip open the bai-
loon at the height Of 800 feet from the
ground
Il cannot describe the sensation Of
that 800 feet To the ground II came so
suddenly / have a faint recollection of
seeing men below me IN plowcd field
and OF subconsciously trying. II seemed.
to TIT up the basket, that Mr.. Yates
and J might spring free from the rig
ging when close 10 the ground. Be
cause the basket did not TIT, as IL
would have done under ordinary CIr-
cumstances. was the cause Of our i'm
Jury. / believe the only thing that
prevented the breaking Of our backs,
when the basket fell bottom squarcly
down under the weight Of the bag. was
the rubber air mattress which we had
placed i'm the bottom so that We might
be comfortable when we wanted % lie
down.
"For a moment I was stunned by the
impact Then / recovered and saw two
or three men coming to our aid. They
oxtricated as and in improvised filters
we were carried 70 this house.
"In starting from Quincy we were
unable to carry more than 80
40-pound bags Of sand. which. together
with the tremendous height 20 which
We 0Sctnutus snort oltA llit llihs ~ r
should never have started the flight
with less than 30 bags OF ballast
con this trip / did not mind the low
temperature so much. both OF us were
prepared for H. We suffered for want
Of oxygen though when we went higher
than 5000 feet Tho air pressure at
that altitude is not more than three
or four pounds. and it seems one can
not get enough air. We painted like
dogs and my ear drums and eyes pain
ed me greatly. Yates suffered I'm tho
same manner Some acronauts take
tanks Of oxygen with their supple
but we ala not think we would need d.
one can become accustomed 10 the
rapid changes I'm air pressure, how
ever
Both Forbes and Yates were resting
comfortably this morning and express
| cd the opinion that by the end ot the
| week they would be able to undertake
| the journey 60 their homes in New
York