Los Angeles herald., 1910-05-12
FORBES DESCRIBES
AWFUL PLUNGE To
EARTH IN BALLOON
Aeronaut and Companion Nearly
Frozen in Storm Raging
10000 Feet in Air
ARE UNCONSCIOUS FOR HOURS
Rip Cord, Pulled Too Hard, Emp
ties Gas Bag Quickly, and
Crash Wrecks Craft
Associated Pressl


=" ORSE CAVE, KY, May 11.-After
a thrilling fight of 400 miles,
IL during which they assembled to
an altitude Of 20,600 feet, ana ehcouh-
tered two snowstorms, A. Holland
Forbes of Bridgeport, Conn., vice pres
ident of the Aero club Of America, and
!. C. Yates of New York lost control
of their balloon, the Viking, yesterday
afternoon and descended so quickly
that both were badly bruised and the
balloon partly wrecked.
The balloon came to earth near Cen
ter, KY, a hamlet twenty miles from
Horse Cave, and dropped through the
final 100 feet of space like stone
The escape of the balloonists from in
slant death was little short OF mlrac-
ulous. Both were unconscious Wnen
farmers rushed to the wrecked balloon.
The two men recovered consciousness
about IL o'clock today and Mr. Forpes
was able to tell briefly his adventures
of yesterday. Mr.. Yates is in a serious
condition and physicians decline to
permit him to talk.
I'VE left Quincy, ILL.,, at 6:55 o'clock
Monday evening"" said Mr.. Forbes.
I'VE were hoping to strike favorable
air currents from the west that might
give us a chance at the long distance
record. We were carried in semi
circle, however, passing over parts of
Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and Ken
lucky.
Tuesday morning we encountered
intense cold and a severe snowstorm
at an altitude of 10000 feet. Tuesday
% nnf
we ran into another snoWstorm. Short
ly afterward we shot up to 20.600 feet.
From that time on the cold was so
intense we became benumbed and half
stupefied and gradually lost power to
control the balloon.
VALVE WORKED POORLY
"I cannot tell what the altitude was
Just before we made our final drop,
but efforts to let out gas by the valve
had not succeeded in bringing us to
the ground as fast as desired.
Finally / decided to use the rip
cord before we lost consciousness en-
tirely. In some manner, as yet un-
discovered, the cord did not work well
and ripped the bag almost from top
to bottom. The descent was terrific,
and 1 Judge that for the last 100 feet
there was very little gas left in the
While the aeronauts were partially
conscious, neither could explain the
accident yesterday. Their statements
were rambling and incoherent.
The balloon was first sighted south
of Center about p. m. yesterday.
Those who saw it could discern no
passengers, and suspected that some
thing was wrong. 1t was going about
five miles an hour. AS 1t moved over
Center and to the north it appeared
to be settling toward the ground, when
suddenly the bag collapsed and the
dash to the earth followed.
Farmers soon reached the spot where
the balloon had fallen in a field They
freed the two apparently dead men
and carried them to the nearest farm
house, where restoratives were admin
istered. 1t was not until several hours
later that Forbes showed signs of re-
turning consciousness and rallied only
for a few minutes at a time He
seemed to have no knowledge of what
had happened.
Yates was aroused for a few mo-
ments, but could give no details.