The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 24, 1898, Page 19

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, UNDAY, JULY 24, 13898. S R R R S R R R R R R R R R RS e tatahtachthth sttt 22 The Big Balloon Burst When a Speck in the Sky and the Young Woman Came Tum- bling Down With It. Her Experience and was Enpjoying Her Dinner Within the Hour. D R R R R R R R 2 PR R S S R A AR RS EE Ad S oS &SRS MOST REMARKABLE 4444444444444+ BALLOON EXPERIENCE ON RECORD. | 2D NEVINS fell 1200 feet £ of an | ILDE rded b wreck: She w loon. not | > Was not even ren- | cious. i lived all her life in | 18 years old one hundred « As woman she local audiences dancer. A year ago ur with a tb rical 1 ibrette t rn. That | ugh for her. | she read an dy your to G what mp with the 3 said ged her. how to f July t up W up 10,000 feet the 1 was over- eased it shot | 2 huge mor- 1g it was up | down at the great | 1 the park and wav- them, and had turned a look downward _and aistt h objects and | It.a severe jar occasioned | of the bal- | 1ething had know what l[‘ He had been | when the | ickiy up on head for varety rddenly 1 the sudd I cried | I looked it pouring from = 1 that we were vard it, but ached for the distant hill | ed, cut!” | as roar- shouted et from > through sht have e ground be- | ic effort to and look- g ywan had I saw him tilting working out from ich now was a great expanse of flap- one. I knew I was better :cause there was that much on the balloon, and its de- scent would not be so rapid, bu* an awful feeling of loneliness took pos- session of me “I looked down for an instant on the crowd, and my thoughts took a fan- tastic turn, It seemed to me 1 was doomed to remain always suspended | there, to see people go and come and | not be able to speak to them or they | to me, to hunger and thirst and not be able to reach the food and drink which I could see down below. | “Then my mind came back to the | terrible reality. The excess of danger | seemed to bring an unnatural calm to | me. I clutched the handles of my par- | achute and closed my ey I thought | I was going to be killed, but the| thought did not terrorize me. It made | no distinct impression on me. It did not seem to be anything in which I was Interested or concerned. “At times I felt the canvas about me. Again T could feel that 1 swung clear and knew that but for my hold on the parachute bar I would drop straight to earth like a thing of lead. “My whole life seemed to pass in re- view in those few seconds. I imagined | I saw everything flash panoramically | before my eyes, from my early child- | hood to the minute the balloon burst, | It was an instantaneous picture, how-. | ever. 1 was not at all frightened by it. Naturally, I thought of those near and | dear to me—especially my sister. She has been my confidante, my best | friend, and T began to reflact—if there ie such a thing as beginning in hav- ing the notion to thrust on you by such an awful sensation—how she would take my death, how she would grieve, perhaps. and above all what a shock it would prove to her to find out that I had taken to ballooning. “My family was not aware that T had become an aeronaut. and it was only after the accident that my siater | learned of my occupation, My father | does not yet know what I am deing; not that I am ashamed of the business, but because I fear the idea would be She Laughed at O R R Rt o s pe displeasizg to him. That" nal n why , to return to v flight—my tning-like journey from the heav- to the earth. I I was not Some people, in fact, I su e, most peonle fear des This f various reasons. The ht of a imagined | after inspires dread; why, may bel | No such dread could ov yme me, In the first place I do not lieve in a hereafter—do not worry about any world to come, of de I was and the physical pangs h alone mean horror to me. So ot bothered by any feeling as to “ At times | felt the canvas about me. Again | could feel that | swung clear, and knew that but for my hold on the parachute bar | would drop straight to the earth like a thing of lead. Then my whole life flashed panorami- cally before my eyes from my early childhood to the minute the balloon burst.”” whom a3 any wc “But I what I would encounter in to come. almost gave myself up to 0200000020000000000000C0000C00CCOOCOCO0ORI0CR0 , but it swung | © J hl [ [ [ ISRAEL'S TITHE JO AMERIGA. CoOOO000C0C0CO00C000CRO0000C0O00000000C00000000 2C00000N000000 00000 CQ0N00D © | tell the story [+} | struck the tree my [ (] [ (] (] Ty mimaa YT KOV et NIETT Minpn-b “Ye must be loyal to the country In which you chance to dwell.” HUEVER saw a Jew in uniform?” wrote a man who- had served in the Ci:ll War. not long ago in a widely circulated maga- zine. He said further that he had travel or twenty-five years among soldiers and never found one who remembered having served with Jews, and the innuendo was strong that the Jews were prominent in hand- ling ari.y contracts where the profits were biggest: What unfairness and gross misrepresentation! That writer had never corsulted the pension lists nor war records. Here are a few easily obtained facts. I did not know that »t the time, even in our own State, General Salomon, a | brave ex-soldier was department com- | | mander of the Grand Army o’ the Re- public. present department commander is Solo- mon Cahen, who is no less proud of be- | ing “Einer von unsere Leut” than he is of his war record. A table compiled by Simon Wolf of Washington. D. C., gives the following figures of Jewish soldiers who served in the different wars of this country: Continental arm- les, 46; War of 1812, 44; Mexican War, 58; United States regular army, 96; navy, 78. In the Civil War: Staff offi- cers in the Union army, 16; staff offi- cers in the Confederate army, 24; offi- cers in the Confederate navy, 11; sol- diers classified according to States in both armies, 7038; unciassified soldiers, | 824: ascertained from other sources, 13; total, 8258. ‘When this country struggled for free- By a strange coincidence the | “Your country's trouble, as its fate, is your own.” | dom, nine Jews were among the sign- | ers of the protest against the onerous | | tax. Hyman Levy, Isaac Morris, Ben- | | jamin Levy, and Haym Salomon of | Philadelphia, gave their entire for- | tunes to the provisionary government | of the colonies to carry on the . ‘ruggle; | | Benjamin Jacobs ~d Samuel Lyon, of | { New York, did likewise. The Jews of | | Charleston, S. C., raised a_company of | | Istael’s youth and put them in the | field; Samuel Mordecal Noah served on | General Washington’s staff and after- | ward with General Marion, an¢ con- | tributed 30. )0 pounds sterling towards | the war fund. Major Frinks headed a ‘Llarge party of wealthy and infiuential | Jews from Canada, who came over to | offer their wealth and personal service | to the young struggling nation. The | | records of. those trying days are re- | plete with the recital of patriotic acts | { of men like Samuel Judah, Hyman | Levy, Jacob Moses, Jonas Phillips, | | Isaac Seixas and r any others whose | | names clearly indicate their Jewish | | parentage. The Jews of this country have re- sponded to the call ‘~ arms with the ! greatest alacrity and far in excess of | their number to the general popuia- | tion. From this city alone 109 Jewish youths, the flcwer of young Judaism, | enlisted in the .irst Regiment, fully | 10 per cent of the entire regiment. | Every other troop that went from here | had a quota far in excess of their popu- | lation under arms. Many of them have given up positions to serve their coun- i try. Hmanuel 8. Heller, a prominent at- | torney of this city who. besides a very | lucrative practice. has inherited quite | a fortune, is one of the most recently | commissioned officers in the California | regiment. Every regiment and batta- | lion that caume Into camp here, no mat- | | most important committees. ter whence it hailed, had its contingent of Jewish soldiers and recruits. Those comix from remote mountain dis- tricts, where very few Jews dwell, had within their ranks the only Jewish young men of their section. They serce in every arm and branch of the na- tion's defense with zeal and fidelity, never thinking that they are anything but Americans. In the worl clety the Jews have taken a very prom- inent part from the very inception. Their men and women have contrib- uted their time, means and talent to- ward the furtherance of the noble cause. The rabbis of this city have beéen conspicuous with word and deed, in enhancing the great work, and were among the first to raise their voices publicly to arouse the people to prompt and vigorous action. The con- tributions of the Jews toward the Red Cross funds have been conspicuous for their generosity, while 'some of the Jewish women have been assigned to Mrs. I. Lowenberg, as chairman of the hos- pitality committee, has accomplished a marvelous amount of work, and has evinced wonderful tact and ability in handling the difficalt position. Mrs. Louls Sloss has collected more funds for the cause than any other woman in this eity. M. H. Hecht, as chairman of the committee to provide a hospital ship, has been untiring in his efforts. Mr. Hecht, Mrs. Sloss and Rabbi Voor- sanger are among the pioneers of the | movement and among the most effi- clent workers. Mrs. Mack and Miss Gerstle, like Mrs. Lowenberg, and a staff of diligent Jewigh women, give thelr entire time and attention to the work, and are at thelr respective posts every day from early morn until into the night. 5 of the Red Cross So- | | death in its other form, I said to my- | self: ‘Well, old girl, if you're going to 11 b that nd waited fi be killed, killed you all.” “I shut my eves rest. All this occurred in several sec- onds—much less time than it takes to After that and until I v mind was a blank. “Some of the s rs say I was | over a minute tumble from the clouds. have any watch, or wouldn't have looked at it if T had one, but I can say that the time felt something like a few years to me. ot because the fright had unnerved me—for it did not —but because I saw and thought the things of a lifetime. “The canvas swept around me once more. I was wondering how much longer it would be until I heard a new sound. It was the cracking and rust- ling of heavy follage. I felt & shock to my back. There was more crunch- the | |ing of small branches, the canvas caught with a jerk, and I struc!i the ground. It seemed to me the descent Lad been made very quickly. “That dash against the tree seemedto awaken in me the thought that I was helpless in a balloon. It was an _a\\'fu} hit, and I think my back was slightly wrenched, though not at all sprained. I thought again for an instant, and the same sensations returned. Once more my sister's face came before me, and I could see the sights of my childhood. Somehow I felt a sort of delightful sen- sation in this, for it seemed to drive away my first idea that I was in a plunge to death. “From the time the balloon collapsed until I'landed on the hilitop I was in- side the canvas, and, struggle as I would, could not extricate myself. The gas almost suffocated me. I think this accounts for my semi-comatose condi- tion most of the way down. It was just like a person awaking to find himself sleeping in a room filled with gas. He is conscious enough of his surround- ings, but too weak mentally and phys- jeally to be of much assistance to him- self. With the weight of the balloon and the immense volume of gas it con- tained I was in a perilous condition, and if I had to stand it much longer T believe I would have been choked to death. “I struck the ground on my right foot and left knee, just as I would have alighted had I n from the trapeze when the balloon started. I was wrapped up in the paraphernalia and could not get out. Meantime the crowd, seeing that the balloon had burst, rushed over to the spot where I fell, and Mr. Johnson and others cut the canvas and ropes. “I was perfectly conscious, for when they called to ask me if I was hurt I replied, “Come here and see.”” Then I laughed. It was not an hysterical laugh, either. I was extremely glad, of course, that my doom was not sealed, | and enjoyed a good laugh over the ex- | perience, but at the same time I fully | realized how near I had been to the { end of my existence. | “Cowan came down very fast, but he didn’t make any race with me. It can be readily appreciated that my leap was extraordinarily quick, when it is told that Cowan,. who released himself from the balloon some . seconds before T became entangled, did not descend to the earth for over a minute after I touched it, and he came down at a mighty swift rate, too, I am informed. “I was myself again in fifteen min- utes. Friends assisted me to the plat- form in the park, supposing I was In- jured, and the report spread that I was | hurt internally, every bone in my body was fractured, and that I would not | live until morning. Why, at 6 o’clock, | forty-five minutes after the accident, I was actually enjoying supper. The bones in my back, as I said, are a lit- tle stiff, but otherwise I am in excel- lent condition. Indeed, I am inclined to think that the backache is due to a fall T received some time ago from a bicycle, the effects of which had not | completely disappeared when I started ballooning. The balloon is 80 feet high. A pho- tograph of a building 89 feet high taken at a distance of four blocks, about 1200 feet, by the same size camera showed building and persons standing near the same size as the balloon and figures in the other photograph. THE BALLOON WAS FULLY 1200 FEET HIGH WHEN THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED, AS WAS SHOWN BY PHOTOGRAPHS THAT HAPPENED TO BE TAKEN OF THE ASSENT BY SEVERAL AMATEURS. THE BIG CROWD WAS HORRIFIED AND EX- PECTED MISS NEVINS WOULD MEET A HORRIBLE DEATH, BUT THE FOLDS OF THE BALLOON SAVED HER, AND AFTER THE SHOCK WAS OVER SHE WAS @s LIVELY @S BEFORE THE ASCENT.