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DR JULIAN P THOMAS

[s]uddenly I felt the guide shudder passed through
[that] it had aught and were I would be dashed
nbered only [t]oo vividly ed when my guide rope
ob in New [Y]ork, draw-[[?]]the blazing fire of a 
[a]lso another experience[t or w]hen the guide rope was
[d]rawn toward the earth nty or thirty miles an
ng the s[t]eeple of a [[?]]g on the roof of the
force.

[th]rough my mind, but[to] ponder. I was com-
own, [wi]th a rapidity   For[tur]nately I had
[t]h a h[u]ge open knife [w] teeth as if my sub-
een aware of impend-I cut loose my only [[cut off]]
had no effect. Sud- [[cut off]]
jerk. The guide rope 

had reached its limit. The jerk was so violent that I was thrown violently through the ropes leading from the netting of the balloon.

God be praised, I had presence of mind sufficient to bend my knees, thus catching the ropes with my legs as I passed through them. This saved me from an awful fall from the balloon to be dashed to pieces on the ground below, but still left me exposed to awful dangers. I was yet going down with fearful speed directly toward a mass of live electric wires.

Dangling by my legs from the balloon, I cut the great guide rope. This freed the balloon just in time to avoid contact with the wires.

The balloon, now free, shot up with wonderful rapidity. Up, up, up it went. I made no attempt to climb into the rigging; there was no time for this. I now realized that I had no basket, no ballast, no guide rope and no scientific instrument and that the neck of the balloon was tied when it should have been open; that the rigging upon which I was sitting in place of being in its proper position was turned upside down and that the slightest move that I made caused it to sway and rock, its weight being suspended by a single rope.

With a calmness and quickness that can only be accounted for by the emergency of the case I cut off my leggings and shoes. For the first time in my life I was sorry that my feet were not larger and my shoes heavier, for I needed ballast and I needed it badly. I tied them into the rigging, so that I could use them for ballast later. Taking the knife again between my teeth, I climbed back into the rigging.

Then I looked down. Never will I forget the thought that passed through me as I saw that the world had actually passed out of sight. I could not tell from whence I had come or whither I was going. I could not tell whether I was going up or whether I had already started to go down.

For the first time in my balloon experience I felt an uncanny sensation pass through me. I closed my eyes and shook my head, as if to throw off some uncomfortable thought. This sensation lasted only a second, and it was followed by the thought, "How high am I? How high will I go? Will the balloon continue to ascend until it bursts?" I longed for my scientific instruments, but longing did no good, and I was thrown on my own resources. I cut off a piece of my shirt, tore it into bits, and by dropping these bits I found that I was still going up. Finally, by the same means, I found that I was descending——yes, descending as rapidly as I had gone up.

Suddenly the earth loomed into view, rapidly growing plainer and plainer. Forests, fields and river became more distinct: outlines of houses could be discerned and finally the city of Augusta came into view. It was with no little degree of pride and pleasure that I noticed the marvelious improvement which had taken place in my old home, and I had many fond recollections of wild boyish experiences as I was dropping to the earth like lead.  

Where would I land? Would it be on the top of a house? Would I crash through the trees, would I land in the lake which I appeared to be nearing, or would I again encounter the much dreaded electric wires?

How could I stop by my own efforts in that wind the great monster balloon which it had taken one hundred men and fifty bags of sand to hold down a few minutes before I did not know and I did not care, for I had reached such a pitch of enthusiasm on account of my successful trip that every nerve was at its highest tension and every muscle contracted like steel. I felt that no matter what occurred I would be taken care of.  

The earth now appeared to be coming toward me with the speed of a racing automobile. Suddenly I struct he ground, landing squarely on my feet. With a mighty pull at the rip cord I tried to rip open the balloon, but to my horror the cord would not yield. The rip had been tied with cord so strong that no man could break it.

The instant my feet touched the ground the balloon, released of my weight, rebounded into the air five hundred feet, taking me with it. This time I found myself clinging with one hand to the rope that I had formerly clung to with my legs. I knew that I could not remain in this position long, so I wrapped the rip cord around my body to support me until the balloon descended again. This it lost no time in doing, but while in the air the balloon turned on its axis, thus entangling me in its netting like a fish. I could not move hand or foot.

Almost instantly the balloon struck the ground again, I landing on my side. My hands and feet being securely tied, I could not let the balloon go and it would not let me go.  The open knife, still held in my mouth, was now a source of great danger. I finally got it in my hand, but as my elbow struck the ground the knife was forced in every direction, many times barely missing my face and neck.  

I disliked to part with it, for I remembered once when I went to the rescue of a balloonist who had become enmeshed in the netting of his balloon. The balloon had gradually dropped down, crushing him beneath it and poisoning him with its gases. When we reached him he was unconscious and would have died had we been a little later. If he had had his knife he could have cut his way out. But he did not have it.  

Was this to be my fate or was I to be killed with my own knife? I decided to take chances and I dropped it.  

Gradually, as I was being dragged along at a fearful speed, I broke the netting which entangled me and managed to crawl through the opening thus made, finally, to my great relief, finding [[cut off]] the top of the netting, a free [[cut off]]

To say that I was glad is to put it mildly. The balloon made a few more [[?]] lunges, as if it hated to yield, and then gradually settled to the earth.

My brother, who had followed me on a thoroughbred racehorse, shouted, "Thank God! He is safe!" I also thanked God. I then looked myself over to see what personal damage I had sustained. My clothes had been literally torn off me, as I had landed in a cotton field among cotton stacks, and my body had been scratched from head to foot and I felt as if I had been soundly beaten. Otherwise I was apparently all right until, a few moments later, I experienced symptoms that indicated internal injury, but these gradually passed away.  

One of my balloons was entirely ruined, while the other, the great Nirvana, the largest balloon in America, lay before me almost irreparably injured. I had lost time and money and had risked my life, caused pangs of anguish to my people and at the same time realized fully that the people I was making the ascent for did not appreciate what I was doing. A few days later the Exposition Company, which invited me into these peculiar circumstances, broke its word of honor and left me to bear my own expenses. But I am glad that I went through the experience, although not for worlds would I attempt to do so again unless driven to it by fate.

If the reader will catch hold of an enormous skyrocket and will cling to it while the rocket pierces the heavens and come down again, he will gain a slight conception of my aerial experience. Or if he will tie a few ropes around his body and then attach them to an automobile going at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour he will gain some idea of my feelings while going across the cotton fields. If he is not killed his experience will come in handy, as I hope mine will when in my airship or aeroplane next summer.  

My wife, who had gone to the fair grounds to await my coming, saw me in the air, but thought I was in my basket making an ordinary ascent. You can imagine her feelings when, looking through powerful glasses, she saw me dangling from the ropes, with no basket beneath me and the balloon apparently dividing in half. Suddenly while she looked it dropped out of sight behind some forest trees.

She will have to write her own feelings; I cannot. I have seen her remain quiet and composed under many trying circumstances, but this time I found her hysterical on my return and begging me never to make another ascent.

Transcription Notes:
image1: drawing of author hanging from balloon image2: photo of Dr. Thomas