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influence on George Harrison's life as he immediately gave up newspaper work and followed flying until his death in March, 1930.
 
A LADY IS DISAPPOINTED

Dick was delighted with the publicity we received and wanted to repeat the experience and with more passengers. On our next trip we had in addition to myself and George Harrison, John Elliot, who later became Collector of Customs, Captain Harmon Ryas who, at the time, was distributor for the Reo Motor Car Company, and Dick Ferris who althought he owned these balloons had not had the pleasure of making an ascension in them. While discussing the details of the trip on the night before, much liquor was consumed. I felt sure that if the drinking was continued that the balloon ascension was certain to be an interesting event. This forecast proved to be all I had anticipated. It is curious to observe that almost every prospective passenger feels the necessity for refreshments before a flight and also of drinking while in the balloon. Possibly they feel that it helps their nerves. We agreed that we were to make a landing at some place and [[strikethrough]] the [[/strikethrough]] Dick would leave the balloon and we would take aboard Mrs. Florence Stone, an actress of great renown who was Dick's wife. We would reascend and give her a short ride and make a final landing as early as possible as both she and Dick were playing at one of the theatres and must be back on time.

Of course, someone was to blame for not following the plan. Possibly because of the keen enjoyment of the passengers or that the wind was blowing briskly we neglected to make a landing and take Mrs. Ferris aboard. Instead, we drifted to Pomona and landed in the heart of the city on a vacant lot. We hit hard and as I pulled the rip cord the balloon collapsed. Dick found himself under a pile of human freight, hanging on to a slack piece of rope.