The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1914-11-17
A Thrilling RIDE
ON A zEPPELIN'S anchor

dare look down AZ frst Naturally. the
cable that bound him to the airship
did not continue to hang perpendicu
| larly as the forwar lmotion of the Yep
pein was accelerated. He devoted all
his time to hanging on. For what ne
afterward found by his watch was
about half an hour the airship few
along. Perkinss fear was that It might
suddenly descend. Then, as he had
read about airship guns, he wondered
whether some French battery might
not take a pot shot at the Zeppelin and
hit him instead.
However, his first sensations Of
fear past, he began to enjoy the ex-
hilaration of his strange experience.
What he now feared was that the craft
might descent in a forest Suddenly
the propellers above stopped their
troar, and Perkins had the sensation OF
being shot down in the elevator OF half
q dozen Woolworth Buildings piled one
on top of another. 1t was not long be-
fore the earth seemed to be rising out
of the dark. Here and there appeared
a black patch which he knew was q
clump OF trees. Assuredly the airship
was descending fast. Now the rope was
almost perpendicular Perkins glanced
up at the great mass above him. lie
wondered whether one of the crew
might not take fancy to shorten the
cable.
But this did not happen. In an in
credible brief time after the stopping
of the propellers something swatted
Perkins in the rear and he let go his
grasp on the anchor. He had the SEN
sation OF falling, but only for a frac-
ton of a second, for he bounced M
like a rubber ball. Then something
hit him again and he found it was the
earth.
For moment after he had found
himself he lay still He had sensa-
tion of extreme sickness at the stom-
ach. But that soon left him and he sat
up. He heard again the whirr of the
propellers of the aircraft, but as he
followed the sound, he beheld the Yep.
pelin in the distance rising again He
searched for awhile for his bag. but he
could not find il or any Of its CON
tents. Regretfnlly he concluded that it
must be still attached to the airship,
and he wondered what the crew would
say when they got back to their land
ing place and discovered their prize.
Perkins trudged along for some time
iuntil he came TO a small house near
the roadside. IL showed no light He
knocked on the door No sound fol-
lowed except a rush from the rear and
before he could utter sound his
arms were pinioned and piece of
cloth stuck in his mouth. He was
dragged inside, and there, when one of
his captor had struck a light, he found
he was i'll the presence of three peas
ants two elderly men and woman.
They seemed surprised to find he
was not wearing uniform. BY signs
they indicated that they had been
watching the airship and had seen him
alight from the cable. They addressed
him in German, but he could not un-
derstand. The woman spoke a few
words Of English. They searched him,
and fortunately he had on his person
papers that proved his identity. Then
they told him that he had landed in
France and that Nancy was within an
hours walk"
The speaker leaned back in his chair
A stout man with heavy beard leaned
forward and spoke with pronounced
accent
Il do not believe one word of your
story" he said, with challenging
tone.
Neither do - replied the other. Il
have just told you what my friend Per
kins told me"