Omaha daily bee., 1917-12-05
GAS
BAG LANDS NEAR
TRENTON. NEb.
Cable of Runaway Bal loon Be-
comes EntangIed in Bridge;
Another Balloon Carrying
Two Officers. Escapes.

Two United States army observation
balloons that were unleashed by ac-
cident and shot unguided into the air
were brought to the ground Monday
night
The bag of the new French type,
which escaped from students at Fort
Omaha late Sunday, and, trailing g.
900 feet of steel lettering cable, ira
veled a spectacular course through
Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma and
thence back into southwestern Ne
braska, where it was captured at
Trenton.
Cable Catches in Bridge.
The lang French type balloon took
a northerly course yesterday alter
noon and hovered lowly across Hitch
cock county, Nebraska, until the drag
ging cable became entangled i'll the
beams of an iron bridge and the bag
gently came to earth.
Two army officers, who had fol-
lowed the escaping monster to its
landing place, opened the outlet
gas valve of the bag and let the gas
escape. The observation balloon was
not damaged.
The officers wired Captain Leo
Stevens at the Fort Omaha balloon
school, who left late last night for
Trenton, Neb.
Stevens Follows in Car.
Captain Stevens was in the army
balloon that followed the aerial fugi-
tive Sunday to a point IS miles from
its final landing place. There he lost
sight of the bag and returned, arriv-
ing here yesterday noon.
THE fact that the balloon descend
ed with ease was due to the calmness
of the atmospheric breezes in that
locality" said Captain Stevens.
The fugitive bag will be returned
some time today.
Twenty-four Hours in Air.
The Fort Omaha balloon, inflated
with $4,000 cubic feet of gas, for
nearly "a hours played gigantic
game of hide and seek with Kansas
cities and towns as strong winds
waited it back and forth. The thou
sands of feet of heavy cable dragged
the ground throughout the course
and left a trail of destroyed tele-
phone and telegraph wires in its path.
Whole blocks of wires were torn
down and poles broken off or up
rooted.
At Newton, Kan, much damage
was reported done to residences and
business books when the bag
dragged its "taiP in a criss-cross
path across the town.
Fort Sill Fugitive.
The flight of the Fort Sill fugitive
while less spectacular than that of the
Nebraska stray, created the more ap-
prehension among army officers and
others because two officers were
carried aloft with it, The officers,
however, brought the gas bag to the
ground in safety. Neither man was
injured and the balloon was not
damaged, reports said, = The officers
would not comment on their flight.
The balloon was of smaller type
and carried two army officers when
an airplane broke its anchor line and
was brought down by the men about
thirty miles from Fort Sill, Okla,
where it had broken away.
The airplane that crashed into the
cable that controlled the Fort Sill
balloon was slightly damaged and
fluttered one hundred feet to the
ground. The pilot was not seriously
injured.
Did Much Damage.
The army balloon that started out
on a joy ride, going down into Okla
homa and then turning and starting
back home, wrought considerable
havoc along the Kansas lines of the
Union Pacific.
On its out trip the balloon zig
Jagged across the Union Pacific lines
at several places, and each time it did
so the long, swinging cable put the
telegraph lines out of commission.
In several places the poles were torn
out and the cable, hooking itself to
the telegraph wires, scattered them
over the country for miles.
During the return trip the balloon
crossed the Union Pacific no. far
from Colby, Kan. There the cable
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