Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1911-08-11

| all the horrible possibilities of q loss
of mentality and mental balance near.
~ two miles above the earth-with tho
slightest mlsmovement spelling awful
death-I pulled myself together again
and made final desperate effort to
cross the 10000 mark.
1t was impossible for mo to know
whether / had succeeded or not. The
last few feet were such bitter strug-
gle up and down, up and down,
through the thin air that I could not
look at tae Paragraph and indeed could
not see tho line the one time did try.
Finally. utterly exhausted and numb
both In body and mind. 1 gave up tho
struggle and turned tho nose Of tho
Blcriot toward the earth.
The Drop to Earth.
hnvc no words to describe that do.
scent 1t would sound like tho vericst
drivci If l should try, FOR only man
trained TO repression OF supcrlntivcs
could give nm idea of It's horrors with.
out making 1t seem like silly cxaggcra-
ton.
Every reader has probably gone
down fifteen or twenty floors in IN OK
press elevator. Do you remember how
dizzy and sick at the stomach 1t made
you?
Ny descent was made ut the rntc of
II vertical mile I'm about two minutes
while WINS travelling horizontally Mt
the rntc Of seventy or scvcnty-flvc
miles an hour. In other words, my
vertical speed downward was about
four times rs fnst us that OF the fast
est elevator, and L had tho added
strain of the tremendous horizontal
momentum.
The effect of this rapid descent ia
almost paralyzing. Those who have
travelled under tho new Pennsylvania
railrond tunnels TO New York hnve
felt the effect OF the pressure OF mir
against the cardrums. This is about
onctenth the effect TINT Is made upon
the cars when descending I'm IN aero
plane from n great height In my
! cnsc In coming down from 0.S07 feet
nj my tremendous rate of speed my
cars felt that they woulC burst. and
the top of my hcad felt rs though It
would fly Off MT any moment Added
TO this came the feeling OF nausea.
which grew and grew until my head
swan, and just for one moment nm
sure lost consciousness. This OCCUR
red. should say, ut n height of be-
tween 1000 and 5000 feet
Again. l had to bring all my self
control to my rescue. but my nervous
Al 7
Der wondering how much longer ]
should be able to fight bnck the utter
collapse that knew was coming soon.
You must remember thnt NIL this
was occurring when Ind only I'M up
proXimntc idea of how high above the
earth | was and when hnd absolute
ly no idea of my geographical posi-
ton. After | had passed through the
upper strata Of clouds at n height of
some 1000 feet l Ind not again seen
the earth except for little drifting
patches of indistinct drnb as flew
over the riffs IN the vapor, md I did
not know whether I was one mile or
II hundred from Philadelphia And
now 1 was descending so fast ana
wns so nearly helpless, both physical.
ly and mentally. TINT could do moth.
Ing except keep the Blcrlot on the
proper slnnt to give the best descent
with the least possible strain.
Astray In Skyland.
My first sight of the earth rs drop
ped from the lower frlnges of the
clouds showed me TINT was doomed
IN Onpfbnr Ma .,
sign of n city was In sight. Not sim
gle landmark that had been told to
look out for was to be seen. Instead
there were farm land and forest, plow-
ed fields and orchards and nowhere SO
mifch as II smooth meadow tit for me
TO nlight upon without smashing up. &.
For the third time l snw Denth, ms
II were, sitting grinning on tho gaso-
line tank In front of inc. My head
swan and again. with that awful
feeling of nausea. seemed to lose
consciousness for a nceting moment.
Then the sight Of small field brought
me back to my senses, and cIrcled
again TO como upon It from the best
| direction.
Fortunately for me, made per.
feet landing. 1t was probably tho IN
stinct that comes Of long practice that
kept me from smashing up on coming
to the ground, for l know that my
brain was no longer working and my
muscles were incapable of obeyIng a
mental command.
must have sat there helpiessIy I'm
the machine for fully FIVE minutes,
mumbling meaningless things to my.
self. until saw woman coming TO-.
ward me. Then I stretched myself,
half rose and sprawled rather than
climbed down from my seat to the
ground. But even then / could not
stand without help.
l found that had landed In Ore
land. about fourteen miles northwest
Of my starting point In Philadelphia.
The After Effect.
Later came the dismayIng announce
ment that a test OF my Paragraph Ga
rough rcndinQ of which had ohoxyad