The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1911-08-31

Of mentality and mental balance near
ly two miles above the earth with the
slightest mismovement spelling awful
death--I pulled myself together again
and made final desperate effort to
cross the 10000 mark.
1t was impossible for me to know
whether l had succeeded or not. The
last few feet were such Il bitter strlg-
gle MP and down. up and down,
through the thin air that could not
took at the barograph and indeed could
not see the line the one time did try.
Finally, utterly exhausted and numb
both in body and mind. | gave M the
struggle and turned the nose Of the
BleriOt toward the earth.
The Drop to Earth.
have no words to describe that de
scent. 1t would sound like the vericst
drivel il I should try. for only man
trained to repression Of snperIativcs
could give an idea Of its horrors with
out making 1t seem like silly cxaygera
iion.
Every reader has probably GONG
down fifteen or twenty floors in IN ex
press elevator. Do YOU remember how
dizzy and sick at the stomach ii mad.
| you?
My descent was made at the rate Of
y vertical mile in about two minutes
while I was travelling horizontally ut
| the rate of seventy or Sevrntyfive
miles an hour. In other words. my
vertical speed downward was about
four times as fast as that Of the fast
est elevator, and I had the added
strain Of the tremendous horizontal
momentum.
| The effect of this rapid descent Is
almost paralyzing. Those who have
Travelled under the new Pennsylvania
railroad tunnels to New York have
felt the effect Of the pressure Of air
against the eardrums. This Is about
One-tenth the effect that iS mad" upon
the ears when descending in an aero
plane from great height. IL ms
case in coming down from 9.S)7 feet
Mt my tremendous rate of speed my
ears felt that they woult burst. and
the top of my head felt as though il
would f1y off at any moment Added
to this came the feeling Of nausca
which grew and grew until my head
swan. and Just for one moment ] an
sure | lost consciousness. This occur
red. should say. ut :: height of be
tween 1000 and 5000 feet.
Again, had to bring all my sell
control to my rescue. hut my nervous
energy was ebbing fast, and ! remem
her wondering how much longer
should be able to fight back the utte1
collapse that knew was coming soon
You must remember that all thi.
was occurring when had only an ap
proximate idea of how high above tht
earth | was and when had absolute
ly no idea Of my geographical posi-
ton. After had passed through thu
upper strata of clouds 1T a height o.
some 1000 feet had not again seer
the earth except for little drifting
patches of indistinct drab as | few
over the riffs in the vapor. and tlit
not know whether l was cne mile o
hundred from Philadelphia. lrt
now was descending so fast ant
was so nearly helpless. both physical
~ and mentally, that I could do moth
ing except keep the Bleriot ON tb'
proper slant to give the best descen
with the least possible strain.
Astray In Skyland.
My first sight of tie earth as drop
ped from the lower fringes OF tn
clouds showed mt that I was dCOme'
to another disappointment Not
sign Of city was III sight. No, a sin
Gle landmark that had been told t
look out for was to be seen. Instea'
there were farm land and forest. pillow
ed fields and orchards and nowhere 8
much as 81 smooth meadow fit for m
to alisht upon without smashing up
For the third time l saw Death. a
1t were. sitting grinning on the case
line tank il front of me. My hea
swan. and again, with that awfr
feeling of nausea. seemed to los
consciousness for fleeting moInen
). Then the sight of small field brough
! me back to my senses. and / circle
{ again to come upon 1t from the bes
7 direction.
Fortunately for me, made pc
feet landing. 1t was probabl.v the fl
stinct that comes Of long practice th;
:. kept me from smashing up on comm
to the ground, for know that n
. brain was no longer working and m
muscles were incapable of obeying
mental command.
must have sat there helplessly
the machine for fully five minute
u mumbling meaningless things to NJ
! self, until l saw Il woman coming t
ward me- Then stretched mysel
: half rose and sprawled rather tha
climbed down from my seat to Il
ground But even then could n
:. stand without help
u l found that had landed In Or
land. about fourteen miles northwe
Of my starting point in Philadelphia.
The After Effect
Later came the dismaying annount
e ment that test of my barograph
rough reading of which had show
d approximately 9,97O feet gave me on
a little more than 9,4OO feet. But I
Il officials of the Aero Club of Penns,
q vania. under whose auspices thc fig
3 had been made. We're sure that m
E take had been made somewhere a
e 70 turned the instrument over
Y George s. Bliss. head Of the Unit
o States weather bureau in Philad
= phia. TO the indcfatigable and gen