The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1921-01-22
OFFICER TELLS
Of BALLOON TRIP
Naval Officers Lost to the World
for Twenty-Five Days.
ARE FOUND BY AN INDIAN
Wandered Four Days In the Dense
Woods and Were on Verge of Death
When Rescued-Thrilline Story OF
Trip Told by an Officer.

Mattice, Ont.-The three American
naval officers, Lieuts. Hinton, Farrell
and Kloor, who abandoned their
wrecked balloon near Moose Factory
ON the shore of James bay on Dec.
IA. arrived safely here. The follow
ing story of the balloon trip of the
airmen was told by Lieut.. Stephen
Farrell:
Lieut.. Farrells story of the flight
and wanderings Of the trio begins with
the morning hours in Rockaway naval
air station on December - and goes
on through the flight, the landing, and
up to the meeting with the Indian at
Moose Factory who saved their lives.
ut was just an ordinary balloon
hop" Farrell began. 1T was for train
ing. Hinton told me after we left
that the gas in the balloon was ten
days old, stale and impure.
"Hint0h called me up at about twen-
ty minutes TO II December 49, and
told Inc l could come on flight If l
wanted to. No special orders are
needed. We just got permission from
Commander Cummings of the post
and Executive Officer Douglas.
81 am senior officer of the three,
but KlOor was in command of the
flight, as he is balloon officer and
am a gunnery officer. l have been In
aviation for three years and have
flown in every kind of aircraft. We
left at 1 p. m.
Left With Four Pigeons.
"we had four pigeons; we let the
first one go with a message for the
Brooklyn navy yard.
Hinton and Kloor had heavy I'M
derwear and uniforms under their fly
ing suits / had only the underwear
and the flying suit. had a grip with
my uniform and some other things In
1t. We had eight sandwiches and two
| thermOs bottles Of hot coffee. None
of the underwear was electrically
heated.
"We expected to land next morn
ing in upper New York state. We had
no maps or charts except a railroad
/
line, which i bought. We had three
chances to land before we did. We did
stop once at Wells, N. Y.
1--WE made fast to a tree near q
light 1t was in window of a farm
house. A man came along and we
asked him where We were. He told
us, but he could not say what big town
we were near.
| KIoor Game to Go On.
"We cast loose and went up again
1t rained and blew during the night
We could have landed at Ottawa al
IL d. m. We saw the lights of big
city. But Kloor Is just kid and he
was enthusiastic about long fight
We all agreed that we ought to do Q
decent flight. There had been raiI
from Wells on.
1.-The wind was north by west. THAI
night it blew hard and rained. There
was no sign of civilization. But we
thought II would be all right In the
morning. At daylight we saw only for
ests. The rain had Gained down
There were low clouds and fog.
1.-THE rain stopped at a. m. (De
cember 14). We ate all our food dur
ing the night. We had two package
of cigarettes and one box of matches
but you cannot smoke in a hydrogen
balloon. We realized we were in ba,
that morning"
A. II m tho sim came ont an,
heated up the gas in the balloon
that makes the gas expand and send
: the balloon up.
1--WE were fighting to keep In tn
cir. All we saw was trees, lakes, an
snow. II was about 80 p. m. tina
we saw a shack in the woods. A
least we thought 1t was a shack. w
were in doubt about this until W
heard dog bark.
II took bearings with the compass
on the shack and the place where tn
dog barked. We decided to land. W
were in low clouds about 1000 fee
high. The wind was north by ives
the sun had been heating up our ba
and we began to go up. We reache
: $500 feet. 1t takes a long time to 6
from that height.
!. Make q Bad Landing.
r "The clouds were below us an
p above us. We got down about tw
Il O'Clock. 1t was bad landing and "
: were pretty badly shaken up. "
o were not hurt or thrown out, but II
n basket was smashed against Il
II ground.
THE balloon caught between Il
trees. We had taken the pigeons in
the basket to protect them from Il
o landing Usually they ride in ca
= tied outside of the basket. The weat
d er was clear and nearly freezing.
;. "All three of us stepped out of d
= basket In our flying clothes. / too
y the grip. We were soaking wet. Klo
J. took the pigeon cage. We started {
e at terrific pace to get where 4
n dog barked. We did not stop to
u spect the balloon. From the bearin
II took in the balloon we figured t
W dog to be south by east from us.
" Start on Long Trek.
ave started through the forest
= that line. / carried my grip for o