HE GOES TO HIS DOOM.

Bush Advocate, Volume I, Issue 72, 20 October 1888, Page 2

HE GOES TO HIS DOOM.

a balloonist's awful fate, incidents in an eventful career, the weekly ascents from - OLYMPIA. On Monday evening about six o'clock, Mr Simmons, the well- . known aeronaut, while descending in his balloon at Wickham Bishops, near Witham, Essex, met with an accident which , resulted fatally a few hours later. Mr Simmons was accompanied by two gentlemen named Miers and Field, the latter of whom received a compound fracture of the thigh, and the former although rendered unconscious for a time, esoaping, apparently, without any serious injury. " On eaoh Monday for some weeks past balloon assents have been made by Mr Simmons from the grounds of the Irish Exhibition at Olympia, and recently a determination has been expressed to oomplete an aerial journey to Vienna, a fee of fivo guineas being asked from those who wished to accompany Mr Simmons in his attempts to reaoh ' that city. PREPARATIONS FOR THE FATAL ONE. The ascent was made about four o'olock. Mr Simmons was unusally active and directed every movement. The two passengers took their seats in the car, which was made of iron wire ; sandbags were deposited in the bottom ; a carpet bag was handed in, then coats and cork jaokets. Mr Simmons was the last to take his place, and he seemed somewhat flurried. He called loudly for his wraps, which were handed to him ; then he bade the soldiers cast off the sandbags, and hold on to the ropes. The balloon leaped up a few feet, the soldiers holding on to the long guiding ropes. It rolled too and fro ; Mr Simmons was yet in doubt, and directed the men to carry the balloon some twenty yards. Then he oalled for another bag of sand ; the buoyancy of the balloon was again tested, but the result did not satisfy the aeronaut. He called for another bag of sand, and, before it was brought, added sharply, "How long are you going to keep me waiting for that bag?" A soldier lifted the bag, and Mr Simmons took it from him. This appeared to satisfy him; he threw off the ropes, which two lines of men still grasped in their hands, and the Oosroo started on her last aerial voyage. As the balloon rose, Mr Simmons waved a white hankerchief. There was a clear sky, and the course of the balloon, oould be seen for nearly twenty minutes after it left the earth, going rapidly in the direotipn of Essex. There was a strong soufch-west wind blowing, and it appears to have been a most enjoyable trip until the aeronaut decided to decend. THE CATASTROPHE. The balloon fell in a barley-field at Usn£, a Weak spot abqu^ a.

mile and a half from Wickham station, on the Great Eastern Railway, and some three or four miles from Maldon. Divided by a narrow roadway is another field on the edge of which are four elm trees in a line, about twenty or thirty yards apart from each other, and it was in the tallest of these that the grapnel iron caught afterploughing through the first cornfield for some distance. Mr Simmons appears to have opened the valve with the object of avoiding the trees, but it was then too late, as although the balloon got past safely, the next moment the grapnel had caught in the upper branches. Three men,- two of whom were working in a blacksmith's shop close by, ran to the assistance of the aeronauts, the balloon now plunging and swaying about in the most violent manner. Mr Simmons called to them to catch hold of the trail rop&, which is a rope suspended from the balloon for the purpose of enablingbystanders, when a descent is being effected to assist in bringing the balloon to a standstill. The balloon then bumped against the ground, and the men made a rush ior the rope and the car, but they failed to lay hold of either, and it ascended some 40ft. or 50ft. THE STRUGGLE WITH THE BALLOON. • The occupants of the car were as yet uninjured, but their . frantic shouts to the men to hold on the next . time the . balloon touched showed that they were fully aware of the perilous nature of their position. The men below had not long to wait, as with a desperate plunge the balloon once more struck the ground. The would-be tescuers rushed to the car, and catching hold of the sides tried with all their strength to hold fast the balloon. For a moment or tw« they succeeded, but the strength of fifty men was needed for the purpose, and an instant afterwards the balloon was again swinging up and down on the line, like a huge kite, many feet above their heads. The balloon struck the earth a third time, but rose before the men could again seize it, and this time on its reascending the explosion occurred, and the torn balloon with its human freight was precipitated into the cornfield. . "LIKE A LOT OF BIBDS W A CAGE." By this time several other persons had arrived on the scene, and time was lost in rendering assisistance to the unfortunate aeronauts. All three were unconscious. . Mr. Simmons was at .the bottom of the car, and Mr Miers and Mr Field, with a number of bags of ballast, were lying on the top of him. They were all entangled with the ropes, and, seen through the open network ofj the car, they looked, to use the words of a bystander, " like a lot of birds in a cage." The unfortunate men were with some difficulty extricated from the wreck, all the ropes having to be cut away bofore they could be got out. They were laid in the field, and every means which could be suggested was used to restore them to consciousness. After the lapse of about threequarters of an hour,. Mr Field and Mr Miers recovered their senses, but all efforts to restore Mr Simmons were unvailing. He was removed to a public-houso, and died without having recovered consciousness. THE DEATH ROLL. The accident took place at ten minutes past five. Mr Field and Mr Miers were conveyed to Maldon. Some difficulty was experienced in fitting up a vehicle so as to carry the former, who is suffering from a fractured thigh and a broken leg, with the least amount of inconI venienoe and pain. Mr Field is over 6ft. 4in. in height, but by the use of some boards and ropes an omnibus was made into a temporary ambulance waggon, and the journey effected with as much ease to the injured man as was possible under the oiroumstances. Mr Miers, who escaped with sound limbs, .though naturally much affected by the shock, was conveyed to Maldon in a four-wheeled chaise. . They were both conveyed to private houses. In the cornfield nere the car dropped after the explosion there is" a circular indentation plainly visible showing the force of the fall. Mr Field is progressing as favourably as could De expected, but Mr Miers does not appear to have escaped so easily as at first seemed to be the case. He has received an internal injury of some sort, though its nature cannot be ascertained.