JUMPING FROM A BALLOON A MILE IN THE AIR.

Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 80, 1 October 1887, Page 1 (Supplement)

JUMPING FROM A BALLOON A MILE IN THE AIR.

Ihe much-talked-of leap from a • balloon was made by Professor Thomas S. Baldwin at the Fair ; Grounds, Quincey, 111., on July 4th. Over 30,000 people witnessed the performance, which was one of the most daring and thrilling ever attempted by man. His original intention was to send the bnlloon up 2000 feet, hold it captive by a rope, and make the jump from that height, and afterwaids draw down the balloon j and make a regular voyage. Owing to the high wind which prevailed the rope scheme was abandoned. Baldwin ascended to the height of one mile, and then holding his parachute, ' launched himself into space. The parachute is an umbrella-shaped affair, with ribs of cord which are prolonged and fastened to a ring, to which the aeronaut clings. It is made of silk and is 18 feet in diameter. The parachute was attached to the netting of the balloon by a amall cord, intended to break by the weight of the aeronaut. When the jump was made the parachute was closed, and the first 200 feet the aeronaut dropped like a rock. Then as the parachute extended, the speed bocame less rapid, and tho aeronaut and his strange apparatus floated steadily down like a bird. The descent was accomplished in 3 mm. 20 sec. Mr. Baldwin struck the ground with some force in a sliding manner, but was not even jarred by the shock. The descent varied about a quarter of a mile from the vertical and Baldwin struck the ground a mile and a half from where the ascent was made. He tried to collapse the balloon before jumping from it, but the apparatus failed to

work, and the balloon escaped and was soon out of sight, going east at an altitude of n mile and a half. — NewYork Times.