MYSTERY OF BALLOON DISASTER.

TWO AERONAUTS FOUND UNCONSCIOUS. - ■ • i Mr. A. Hoi.i.Axn FonnES, vice-president of the Aero Club of America, and Mr. . Carrington Yates, the astronomer, who started' out from Quincy (Illinois) in the balloon Viking, on an attempt to create a long-dis-tance record, and, incidentally, to view Hal- I ley's comet, were found in the evening, cut, bruised and unconscious, near Glasgow, Kentucky. The balloon was wrecked. When the balloonists started 'they took . sufficient' provisions for three days ' and a large water bottle. As far as the movements of the Viking can be traced after it rose from Quincy, it floated slowly down the river to St. Louis. Thence it drifted over to the Missouri River, and hung over St. Charles and Wentzville, 35 miles west of . St. Louis. .' . I Apparently the aeronauts 'could not find the right air current to set them on their way east, tor they threw overboard, a lot of ballast before they finally rose to a higher level and caught , a breeze that drove them towards the coast. Later the Viking was sighted near th& Indiana border, 216 miles from the starting-point. ; Here a new air current was encountered, and the balloon sailed in a south-easterly direction towards Kentucky. . . • - - Early in the afternoon residents in Glasgow caught sight of the balloon. Glasses were trained, upon It, but no signs of life were visible in the car, greatly to the mystification of the observers. The Viking drifted away, and. was finally lost to view. Then a-farmer drove in with the news that the balloon had come down 10 miles away, and that both men had been found, lying unconscious on the bottom of the basket. The two balloonists were hurried to a neighbouring house, ' and physicians were summoned. , After more than three hours, they showed some signs of life, but were too dazed to tell of the experiences they had undergone. The balloon was a mass of tangled silk and cord. A puzzling circumstance was that, all their provisions had gone. This was ascribed to the - fact that either everything was heaved overboard in order to lighten the balloon, and. thus allow it to catch a favourable air, current that would drive it at a good speed to the desired goal. New York, or that it was. coming down precipitately and all the ballast was flung overboard accordingly. The latter would seem to be the correct view, for, when some hours later Mr. Forbes was well enough to speak lib said: "We lost control of the Viking. Seeing a favourable position at which to land we pulled the rinping cord, but we tugged too. hard and the entire side of the balloon was ripped open causing us to descend too rapidly." Mr. Yates's condition is critical. The Viking is said to have been one of the largest balloons in existence, having a gas capacity of 85.000 cubic feet.