The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-09-23
k MEMORABLE
 ANNIVERSARY IN
 AERONAUTICS

TO-day marks a memoraple anHl-| versary in the history of military aeronautics, for it was on Sept. 23. 1870, that the balloon post from be- leagured Paris was estabnshed Af- ter the great victory at Sedan, the Prussians surrounded the French capital, and all communication with the outside world was apparently cut of The Germans surrounded the city with an hnpenetrabIe line of bayonets, but French genius was equal to the occasion. Frenchnden in disguise sought to get messages through the lines, and others swan the Seine. but practically all were had been laid under the river, but it was immediately discovered and cut. Then dispatches were placed in balls and thrown into the river, but the Germans put up nets which caught them. There remained only the air. On Sept. 23s the aeronaut Durouf ascended from Paris in balloon, car rying 250 pounds of letters, and af- ter a flight of over three hours lie de- scended at Evreaux beyond the sphere of Prussfan occupation, and forwarded the mail.
 The balloon service from besieged Paris was continued throughout the investment, from Sept. B, 1870, to Jan 2s of the following year. Not all Of the aeronautsi engaged were as fE4CCeSSI LII as 0QEO01ss O1I1R121SS7 and aeropIanes were then undream- ed of, and the aerial craft were at the mercy of the winds The Prussians. kept up continuous bombardment of the skies, and sometimes brought the balloons to earth At other times within the German lines, and were captured Others were driven out to sea, and in two instances the aero nauts were drowned, although their l. 1.4A | -r.. -.1 the contents were delivered One of these fell in the Bay Of Biscay and l the other near Lands End
 Sixty five balloons were dispatch ed from Paris during the siege. and 2 similar service was for a time op- rted varied from 200 to 1,o0O pounds The Gariba1di made a successful trip l with 1000 pounds of letters. The Jules Favre I, descended safely in I Belgium, and the L'Archimede in
 Holland, while La, Vile dtOrleans came to earth in Norway La Vile de Paris was carried by unfavorabIe winds to Prussia, and was captured
 and Le General Chanzy suffered the same fate in Bavaria Ite Richard
 Wallace and Le Jacquard were lost
 Leon Gambetta. the French states
 man and opponent Of imperialism,
 escaped from Paris in a balloon and
 made his way to Tours, where for. a 1 time he led fierce but vain resist ance against the invaders
 Letters to be sent sspar ballon
 rnonte were written on very thin
 paper, and had to be prepaid at the l rate of twenty centimes, or four cents
 Even at this low rate the government operated the balloon post at profit. 1.The balloons cost about $1, 900 each. Interesting relics of the siege are the
 letter-journals, invented by Le Petit
 Journal The news of the besieeed city was printed in very small type on one side of a thin letter sheet. , and the other side of the sheet was
 left blank for personal eomn1unica.- ! tions. About a score Of Paris papers issued these novel sheets. and prac- ] ttcally all letters sent out of Paris I were written on them.
 I Getting letters into Paris presented a more difficult problem, butstais was
 partially solved by sending carrier pg1eons# out with the balloons Let ters and dispatches were photo
 graphed and so reduced that a single [ pigeon homing it's way to Paris. Of I ten carried thousands Of dispatches in l quill attached to it's tail One pig con carried to Paris dispatches rep- resenting So0.0oo francs in postage.