Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1914-09-24


mile from my starting point,
and directly in a northwest di-
rection.
Friday, the unlucky day
hangman's day.
Welt, it put a stop to my
b%al,ooning, at any rate, and still
left me in condition to tell the
story. 1t happened this way:
Ny contract called for my
money paid for the flight should
accompany me on my "skyward
voyage" When everything was
IN readiness Professor Markham
came to tie me in. As he did
not put up the dough" / lie
fused to be tied. He then gave
me one half the money aud said
he would have the remainder
Wen | landed. l rebelled. He
became angry and went away,
but when he returned gave me
the money. was then afraid to
go on account of it being a
cloudy day and him with the
signals. But, as | said at the
commencement of this narrative,
| did not care what became of
myself at that time, | allowed
him to tie me in but after he had
done so | examined each knot to
make sure that he was not inten-
tionally numbering me, and then
gave him the signal that every
thing was in readiness so far as
| was concerned. Several of my
friends urged me not to go that
day, and my better Judgment
or a premonition of danger if
you will-called on me to halt.
But | am glad now that | did
not listen to either, for it will
never be my lot again to go
through the experience of that
day.
Those at the ropes that held
the big bag captive slackened as
| ran towards the balloon and |
was off, swinging back and forth
for some distance from the
ground. Having been something
of an athlete in my younger
days, doing ground work and
also doing horizontal bar work,
| turned my feet upward and
wound them around the rope to
hold myself in that position,
dashing upward rapidly and
looking down at the yelling, excit,
ed crowd below. L distinctly
heard my name called several
times, but in the hubbub and
hurrah could not distinguish one
voice from another. Righting
myself head up again l looked
down. Where was I? l looked
up, off into space, below me
nothing in sight. Thinking l
had stood on my head so long it
had partially blinded me, ! looked
up again. Yes, / could see.
There was my parachute. j
looked down. All blank.
Nothing in any direction except
up and | seemed to be going that
way. Hark! Was that a shot?
Yes, and followed by two others
The signal to turn loose at all
hazard" | lost no time in doing
the bidding of the signal, stop.
ping long enough to see the ropes
were not tangled, and then cut
loose; | fell far enough that time
to jar me again, but hardly as
much as the first time, and when
| had caught up with myself
ventured to look down again, and
as | did so deafening cheers
arose from my friends below,
and | could e them, yet they
we're SO far away l could only
tell they were humans. I float.
ed downward softly at first but
gained some Roadway later, and
calculated that at that rate l
would hit the groud pretty hard
If | did not land in a tree, for l
was above a strip of timber. |
slowed up again, however, and
did land in the top of a tree and
skinned myself up somewhat
and tore my clothing. The para.
chute became entangled in the
branches of the tree and numer.
GUS holes were rent in the silk
Climbing down from this rather
ticklish "rOost"-it was nearly