Year: 1874

Perilous Adventure.


The San Francisco Call gives the fol


loving particulars of the bursting of &


balloon in mid air near that city re


Gently, one of its reporters having beer


in the car, which carried five gentlemen
and two ladies' The ascent vas made
from WOodward'S Garden, San Fran.
cisco, and for the first half hour the
voyage was a pleasant one. Then the
wind increased, and Mr.. Buislay, the
assistant balloonist, decided to descend
although opposed by the rest of the party.
The account continues:


About three miles directly east lay
the coast hills, and on the other side
stretched large fertile valley. AL
were certain that the captain would not
attempt to land on this side of the hills,
at the rate the bag was travelling, and
when Mons. Barber announced his in
tentiOn of landing on the bay side Mr..
Buislay protested very strongly, and
advised him to go over the range of
hills. The advice was disregarded, and
the captain having given orders for all
to sit in the bottom OF the basket,
dropped his one hundred and fifty
pound anchor over the side and passed
out about one hundred feet of the rope.
A pull at the valve cord brought the
monster down like an arolite, and the
anchor dragged over a portion of the
| Estudillo ranch for about a quarter of a
mile without retaining hold.


Our reporter peered over the side and
saw the balloon passing over small
shanty. situated in the eastern portion
of the ranch. He shouted to his fellow
voyagers to look out, and all crouched
down to be prepared for the shock. No
one except Mr.. Buislay anticipated
such a terrible bump as followed in a
few seconds. The balloon passed over
the house, and then the anchor struck
a light fence which did not in the least
impede its progress. One of the fiuse
dragged against the house, and the
conclusion threw all the voyagers into
heap in the basket. They had hardly
time to recover from the conclusion
when the rope parted, about three feet
from the anchor, and the balloon shot
almost perpendicularly up into the air.
ollohNtu ONlI iAidI ttiltAiOl
had been lost, and to look out for a
landing. All instinctively felt the per-
ilous position they were placed in, and
the wind carrying the bag along at a
terrible rate. But the voyagers sat in
the bottom of the basket quietly. if in
suspense, awaiting the swoop to the
ground, nov impending. Into the air
it flew, until, four hundred feet up, a
quick, sharp but slight report was
heard, followed by a tearing of silk.
The balloonists looked upward. and
saw the whole.centre of the balloon ex-
posed, while the lower half was tapping
balloon has burst shouted Mile Gau-
gain. All clung tightly to the ropes
and sides of the basket. The words
had hardly been spoken, when in less
than flash, what was left of the bal
loon was dashed to the ground at an an
gle of about forty-five degrees, and at
terrible velocity. The suspense was
almost momentary, for with thud
which almost crushed the basket, it
was dashed against the ground about a
quarter of mile from the spot where
the anchor had been left.


The conclusion was terrific and the
two ladies and five gentlemen were
thrown together in a mass. Not
word was spoken by the ladies or any
one in the car as they almost stared
death in the face. The basket was
capsized as soon as it touched the ground
and it completely covered its occupants.
The lower part of the balloon by this
time was in ribbons, and it dragged the
car along the ground at fearful speed,
under which the struggling occupants
rolled along the ground without any
possible chance of freeing themselves
from the basket or the ropes, the for
mer covering them as with box, and
the latter preventing any possible
chance of the party falling out. On
over the ground the car was dragged for
a distance of three hundred yards, the
voyagers with it, and coming in contact
with the land at every bump of the bal
loon. The inmates of the Alameda
County Hospital, where the balloon
struck, ran towards it to render assist
ance, and about forty willing hands
caught hold of the long rope attached
to the bas ct. The balloon, after few
Intellectual tugs, at length settled down,
after doing all the damage it could.


When taken out, Captain Barber
was unable to walk, and was carried to
the hospital close by. Miss Alice Bur-
rington sustained severe conclusion on
the right side of the head, but was
otherwise uninjured. Mile, Gaugain
escaped with slight cut on the cheek,
and Mr. Guisoulphe with a badly cut
face and arms. Mr.. Marratt was badly
cut about the scalp, and the right ear
was almost severed. The Call reporter
escaped with cut lip.