Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 November 1894 — Balloon and Bicycle. [ARTICLE]

Balloon and Bicycle.

There floated over the hamlet of Villeneuve-la-Garenne, France, the other afternoon,in mid-air, a balloon. Suddenly it appeared to burst and fall rapidly toward the earth. Fearing that a disaster had occurred, the terrified folk ran to the spot at which they expected the aerostat would reach the ground, when, to their amazement, they saw a parachute detach itself from the car and descend gently. Immediately the earth was touched one of the passengers jumped upon a small bicycle which he had brought with him from the aerial regions, and he disappeared in the direction of Levallois, in the neighborhood of Paris, as rapidly as the machine could carry him. The explanation of this singular occurrence is simple. The balloon was the Caliban, and the ascent was made from Levollois by Captain Capazza and M. Harvieu, the latter being the cyclist. Their object was to test the possiblity of a balloon being used for carrying war dispatches, and they assumed that an enemy succeeded in destroying it. Yet they proved that z by means of the parachute they would be able to make good their escape and to outdistance their pursuers with the aid of the portable bicyle.—[London Telegraph. The first dictionary was printed in Gut 1 tenborsr in 1 i .