Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 November 1901 — IN PERIL IN BALLOON. [ARTICLE]

IN PERIL IN BALLOON.

Eight Men and a Woman Barely Miss Death. San Francisco, Cal., dispatch: Eight men and one woman missed death i» the waves of the ocean by a hair’s breadth after a harrowing flight in an escaped balloon at the height of 1,000 feet from this city to Pescadero, fifty miles south. For hours it was believed that every member of the party, bewildered by the dizzy height to which all were unaccustomed, had jumped or fallen to certain doom. When last seen as darkness set in the balloon was sailing faster than men on horseback could pursue it straight for the peaks and yawning abysses of the Santa Cruz mountains. At that time the car appeared to be empty. By some strange provision not yet explained the unmanageable airship with its helpless occupants came gently to the earth just before the sea was reached. But a little further and the eight occupants of the car must have been drowned. As events proved not one of them was even hurt, though all had to walk six miles to get to Pescadero.