Evening star., 1933-08-05

2:os Am. &C. g. t.. but tha. II has
continued to drop. 49,
Hundreds Of people hurried b. sato-
mobile to the spot where the hAllocn
came down. They jammed around the
balloon: and seriously interfered with
attempts Of the police to keep order.
One man Was badly injured in tia
melee. He was not identified. Attacks
OF . hospital said 1t was doubtful y II
would recover. q
Menace Big Gas Has.
The milling crowd. includius persons
anoking. tnenaced the highly innann-
M More shocked, perhaps, than co.ndr.
Settle himself. was Raymond Thomas.
He had not known Of tie fi,cht until
the big balloon almost landed on Top
Of him. He said:
II didn't know whether the world
was coming to An end or not-but !
stopped all trains anyway"
First to reach the fallen balloon was
David Cohen. . cab driver. He said
Comdr. Settles 1r1t words, - he popped
his head out of the gcndola, were:
I'm okay. Gail my wife"
He then excitedly waved away the
first to arrive, shouting:
Get those cigarettes away. Keep Ill
IRE away!"
Three railroad men grabbed ropes
and tied the balloon to the tracks.
Only Halt minated.
The huge hydrogen bag, made up vir-
tually OF an acre Of rubber. was only 4
little more than half inflated when Il
rose from Soldier Field.
The gas hlled the top. which lowered
. height equal to Is stories. The en-
velope folds hung from this inflated
portion to the bottom of the bag, which
was Is feet above the gondola.
BY comparison to the huge balloon,
the gondola seemed tiny. It was sus-
pended beneath the hulk by . mase Of
ropes. As it SCARED above the rim Of
the stadium the white upper hemis-
phere glistened In the beams Of huge
searcnnghts which were sprayed upon It.
The envelope darted into the air a.
soon Is its moorinRs were cut. but It
had gone only . little more than 5000
feet when 1t began gliding westward on
Q level. So low vas the balloon that
1t soon was out Of reach Of the search
lights.
while the crowd was pouring out of
the stadium, seeking to ret to the street
where the balloon might be seen, It
disappeared over the towers Of the Loon.
Within . moment II was learned the
bag had fallen.
Departure Spectacular.
Settles departure from the feld vas
spectacular. Thousand8 who had
waited six hours and more during the
tedious imitation process cheered - the
Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack
were unfurled atop the gondolA by
Admiral Wat T. Cluverius.
One by one the long ropes which had
held the bag In place while It was beinc
inflated were dropped, leaving only
those ropes attached directly to the gori-
dola Is anchor. Settle inspected the
tiny sphere minutely. pulling ropes.
flashing his electric light inside and
conferring with his advisers.
Then the crowd was Quieted, when
the faulty upper valve was tested. ON
ciah hoped to hear the Kissing escape
OF the gas.
Apparently the test was satisfactory,
but 1t was this valve which only a few
moments later caused the descett.
In the ANAL minutes before take e-off
Settle, leaning from the portfolio of
his gondola, shook hands with the vari-
Gus ofncials clustered about the balloon.
He leaned far over to embrace his wife,
who wished him luck. Two bounces
into the air as the balloon strained Mt
its ropes, and then the command "ship-
up."