NARROW ESCAPE OF A PARACHUTIST.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XV, Issue 4723, 18 July 1890, Page 3

NARROW ESCAPE OF A PARACHUTIST.

» Miss Ada Macdonold, a London para* chutist, baa bad a narrow escape at Pontypridd, where her performance was one of the attractions at a Foresters' fete. A botolr balloon was iDfhted, and Miss ilacdonald bad a thick strap fastened about her waist, the strap being attached to the thin white cords of the parachute, which was In ita tarn attached to the bottom of the balloon. Several persons held the back of a small wicker chair, upon which the girl sat with her back to the balloon. The cry "Lat go" was raised, aad tbe balloon shot up, bnt the men holding tbe chair let it go too soon, and tbe consequence was that the cordage between the chair and the parachute straightened with a violent jerk, and the yoang woman, to the horror of all preaenr, was jerked oat of the chair and hnng suspended by the belt. Tbe balloon was ascending with great velocity, and all the while tbe girl seemed helpltsily stroggling in tbo air among the cordage of the parachute. After the balloon had ascended between 2000 and 3000 feet tbe parachute suddenly pissed underneath tbe girl, and she was saen to break loose from the balloon with the parachute still below her. Happily, after a few seconds of headlong descent, the parachute opened, and, falling rapidly, dropped into a field near the town. Mlaa Macdonald was taken to her lodgioga with a dislocated ancle, and suffering severely from the effects of the sbock to the system.