The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-01-23
.FARGOAN TELLS
OF FALL FROM
ARMY BALLOON
Murray Baldwin Explains
Recent Accident Near
Canton, Ohio
GAS BAG DRAGGED
ABOUT 80 FEET
Fell Distance of About For
ty Feet, Fracturing
Ankle

The thrill Of falling with a balloon
which collapsed when it struck an
air pocket" is told in a. letter re-
! ceived by M A. Baldwin Of Fargo,
! from his son, Murray Baldwin, who
/ was injured early in January, a short
distance from Canton, o.
Il am sorry that this accident of
mine got into the newspapers for 1t
makes the seriousness seem so much
| greater than il was" writes Murray
| Baldwin. The fact that it was pub
lished proves how seldom any such
thing happens"
Mr.. Baldwin states that he was not
seriously hurt, simply suffering a.
slight fracture which he says is bet
ter than a sprain, even though it
will lay him up longer and make him
wear a cast, but will not weaken his
ankle as a sprain would have done.
When it was learned that Baldwin
was injured, communication was es-
tablished with the patient through
the North Dakota, Bankers associa-
ton. and officers were advised to
spare no expense in giving him the
best Of treatment.
Travelling High.
Here is how the accident happen
ed" writes Baldwin. I'VE left Akron
about SIS o'clock in the morning
with the idea Of alighting at Alliance.
The sensation is nothing in fact one
feels no change at all. The wish to
jump into space which one some
times has in looking over a precipice
is not present owing to the fact that
one travels with the wind, one feels
no wind We assembled about 300
feet taking us 700 feet above the
snow clouds. The clouds below and
at the horizon looked just like a
great lake. The sun cast the shadow
Of our balloon on the clouds below so
plainly that every move of any one
in the basket was clearly discerned.
while floating away up above the
clouds We heard the trains and knew
we were going over Alliance, as it is
a railroad center. Our next town
was Salem and so to be sure not to
miss il we came down to within 500
feet Of the earth and started yelling
at farmers to find out how far we
were from Salem. Finding we were
about three miles away our pilot, Joe
TorreY decided to land in the next
free field and SO we came down to
within 80 feet of the earth.
Landing 10 Difficult.
Joe was controlling the valve and
/ had the ripcord. Landing seems to
be the hardest part Of ballooning be-
cause you drop with thuds unless
you are lucky. The valve cord lowers
the balloon to within say 100 feet Of
earth and then you go along adjust
ing your fight by the valve cord and
ballast until you see a field which
looks good for landing. Then you
lower by the valve to say so feet
from the ground when you pull the
ripcord which tears away part Of the
paneling in the balloon and allows
the gas to go out double fast.
we found our lighting place and
Joe gave me the order to rip which
I did. We fell easily to a height OF
about 40 feet, and would have made
an easy landing IL We had not struck
a descending air current which hurv
ried the escaping gas from the
balloon and threw the basket. down.
We hit the earth with a thud and of
course tipped. The wind dragged the
balloon about 80 feet in sort Of hops
before we stopped for good. Fink,
one Of the other lads, was thrown
clear out of the basket at our first
bump and then picked up again as
the balloon bounced along. Joe and
I happened to be on the side Of the
basket which hit the ground first, so
everyone including the eleven 30
pound sand bags, fell on us. This
is what fractured my ankle ana
sprained Joe's.
X-Ray L. Taken,
I'VE extricated ourselves, and the
boys who were not hurt folded the
balloon and telephoned for a truck
to take it and us to Salem. After
the balloon was rolled up we all went
over to a farm house to wait for the
truck. Here Joe and I bathed our
ankles in hot water. We then went
to Salem, ate lunch and came on to
Canton where We decided to spend
the night. We called a doctor and