THE BALLOON FATALITY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8663, 4 November 1899, Page 2

THE BALLOON FATALITY.

(Per Press Association.) Chbistohtoch, this day. A gentleman who watched Captain Lorraine's balloon through a telescope says it fell at such a rate that Lorraine could not have been alive when it reaobed the water, and if he were the concussion must have killed him. ' The body remained fastened to the balloon till it sank, and then the ropes drew the body down. A further search was made yesterday without avail, Subscriptions have been opened for Lorraine's widow. Further particulars of the balloon fatality at Christchurch on Thursday came to hand by mail this morning. The performance was a benefit to Captain Lorraine, whose previous asceuts, though witnessed by large crowds outside the gates, had only returned a few shillings of admission money. The Mayor and moat prominent citizens afforded their patronage, and the exhibition was splendidly organised. Thankful to the citizens for their generosity, Captain Lorraine determined that on this occasion he would attempt to surpass all his previous efforts in ballooning. He proposed, if the conditions were favorable, to mount higher than ever, and vary his graceful parachute descent by evolutions on a suspended trapeze. The ascent was announced for* o'clock this afternoon, and there was a large gathering of spectators at Lancaster Park. Captain Lorraine himself was in the gayest mood. Everything seemed to favor him in his adventure. The afternoon was warm, and the clouds tempered the glare and heat of the aun. Not till he was about to descend did the wind threaten to rise. The "Empr«ss" balloon was well filled with gas. The captain himself secured the parachute by a -< slender tape to the ring at the side halfway up the netting. The trapeze was brought to him as he stood beneath the balloon by his wife, and as soon as the lady was clear, Captain Lorraine cried " Now then, gentlemen, let her tjo." Up^ Boot the globe, but a cry of horror went up from the spectators, for the parachute by some means had broken free, and hutig below it, filled out, and prevented' the balloon from rising, but for a few moments the captain clung to it. The strain was too great, however, and horror was depicted on the faces of all the spectators when the bundle of silk collapsed and fluttered to the earth. Then the balloon • bounded up with a great rush, and rising, the north-west wind carried it strongly towards Sumner. The captain appeared to be drawing the_ netting down on one side and to bo climbing up to the silk. Then it was remembered that he had no knife with him, and that he had had to borrow one to cut a string beforehand. His only chance seemed to be in his own nerve and strength. If he could turn the balloon ever so slightly, so as to allow the gas to escape gradually, he would descend. The great glebe travelled away for half-an-hour, growing smaller and smaller, and it became evident that the captain had gone out past the coast lin«, when at last it ;- really seemed that the balloon was collap- ■ sing, and that it was acting as a parachnte, though a poor one, and the people breathed easier. By a quarter to 5 the speck of black against the sky was no longer visible, and the fate of the aeronaut became matter for conjecture. The signalmen at the Harbor Board's station at the Heads, who had been watching the aeronaut, saw him fall in the water near Port Levy "rocks. A telephone message was sent to Captain Clarke, harbormaster, who at once despatched the tug. The signalmen also launched' their dingy, while arrangements were made for launching the Sumner life-boat by Pilot Day. A message received from the Heads stated that Captain Lorraine sat for some time on the balloon, which remained buoyant in the water. The balloon subsequently sank, and on latest advices (be balloonist was swimming towards the Heads, from which two boats were proceeding. - At 5.30 p.m. Captain Clarke received a message from the pilot station that Captain Lorraine was seen to disappear in the water. A boat from the station pulled over the spot, but discovered do trace of the missing man. The tug returned at 6.40, having seen no signs of him, and there seems little doubt that Captain Lorraine was drowned.