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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (March 19, 1905)
! V miR-PIN SAFFS LFF OF WOMM A WRJFT IN M JURSWR !IERK wu wild excitement among the crow.1 ' I that for months had bung around the ' CaM B I fornla Messenger" at Berkeley. The cry that JL I the atrshlp had escaped Its moorings rang through the town. Thousand Mn for points of rantage, to watch the elephantine plar of the huge machine as It drifted landward and seaward, and hovered lightly, and dipped dan gerously, over the spires of Berkeley. Soon It began to swiftly ascend. The fact of the escape, however thriJllng though It Was, did not ax?coumt for the tense faces and the strained voices rf the mass that surged here and there In a mad attempt to parallel the balloon's flight. It had taken a woman passenger with It In Its treach ( rous bound. The white face of the pretty wife of the young inventor qould be seen looking over the edge of the car. Her husband, making a megaphone with his hand, tried madly to shout directions to her. A thousand Voloes Joining m the desperate effort to reach her realised their own Im I ntency against that terrible height. ' I'.ut If she was not an aeronaut she was a brave little woman. Although she knew nothing of the Intricate ma-i-lilnery of ths great ship of which her husband was the iiventnr, she knew something of gas balloons In general. At first, when she realized that she waa really-adrift, she thoncht It was going to be no more than ar ordinary balloon ascension. She had seen many and had been with her hus band In a fnv. and she determined that whatever happened she would keep cool. Steers Away from the Sea. She turned to the rudder. That asjleast waa in good work ing order, and she began to steer the ship, keeping It from heading out to sea, and circling Its course over and above Berkeley. At first she could see her husband and the others running around beneath her. Then the objects of the earth bicame only a few tiny dots. For awhile there still floated upward the sound of the voices, strlpred of both their harshness and softness, and with the metallic quality of a far away graphophone. Then they became a faint vibration. From the first they had been i.nly a blur of unintelligible sounds. When even this could be Jlstlngulsned no longer, brave little Mrs. Heaton realised that she was plunging rapidly Into unknown altitudes. Soon the motor, which only had been set for a little while, and which had been running more feebly every minute, .topped entirely. She wns now adrift In a universe that held tne silence of death. With the stopping of the motor there came a new danger. The current from the engine operated the guide ropes that connect with the rudder. The terror of the little woman now was that she Would lose control of the ship and drift out to the open sea. With the determination not to be beaten, she grasped the helm with both hands and found that it still responded to her efforts. She breathed more easily for a moment, until sll at once phe wns filled with the certainty of a terrible dread. She wis confronted with a danger that is always a terror to aeronauts. Expanding Gas Brings Danger. The gas l:i th-- h lloon wi beginning to expand as It peached the high altitudes, and there was th? terrible chartee of Its tiurstlng. The tension was already great and the tittle woman looked with horror at the glossy side of the big bag straining dangerously as the tremendous Inner pressure In creased. With the energy of desperation she cHmfced Into the rope supports of the car In her effort to reach the cord that was attached to the gas valve. Finally with one mnd reach she got hold of It, but though she pulled with the might of all the strength that was In her v the valve refused to move. There was no more Mope of the release vent. There was no knife In the car. The sides of the balloon were becoming lighter and mora transparent. Tears Valve with Teeth. Finally, acting upon an Impulse that had lain dormant through the ages of evolution, hardly knowing how she did It, she cllmhcfl again in,tov the rigging supports of the car. She grasped the silk tube through which the gas was forced Into . ':iV ...... ' mm mm if tew "Mi warn g? A. r- MAS. GEORGE E. HEATON. the bulloon. She braced herself so that she could get hold of It with her teeth. Working at It desperately she tore a small hole In "the outer covering. Finally It became so large that she could Insert her- finger. Tearing Jit It she opened It enough to ex pose the Inner covering to where she could attack that, too, with the fierceness of that which devours. It seemed as If her bravest efforts were doomed to meet with defeat. The tough fiber of the cloth strained Into a tense, impregnable surface as It approached the bursting point, but would not yield to Impression. j It seemed as If fate was determined that the 'young wife should on.Iy rejoin her husband below by being hurled down to him on her way to eternity. Then a funny thing happened. " Funny and psychologi cally clear," said Mrs. Heaton afterward, " In my subcon scious mind even at that dlrzy height." She fell back upon a little everyday habit. It was Just the "way of a woman" reasserting itself In the midst of the primitive might of uncontrolled forces. It wa the triumph of the little Implement which leads all the machinery of the world in It accessibility. Hair Pin Does the Trctt She put her hand up to her hair instinctively and took out a tiny wire hair pin and began to puncture, puncture. At last she had Worked It In and back, and out and jforth. until the hiss of escaping ga.i through the small aperture told her that her efforts were no longer In vain. ' 1 The worst was over. , ' ' It did not look so to the husband chained Impotently to the earth and trying to bridge the chasm between them with his telescope. Long before she realized It he had known that she was going either to her doom or to a terrible fight with death. He had known It, when he had tried to shout directions to her with frantic energy. With his little glass It was long before he could make out that the tide had turned for the better. 1 . ire yu-i . I - " p " ' 1 1 II II 11 I II II I I . SI ' ' ,' ' . ' ' ' . I' - WRECK Or THE JII&-3HTP CALIFORNIA IUSSgMGEIS. It was still a matter of work and time for Mrs. Heaton to affect peroeptlbly the btloyancy of the balloon. She worked the hair pin around In the puncture and enlarged the hole a little..' .The pressure of gas aided her and soon there was a CusH of the vapor and a noticeable shrinking of the taut silk cover. J Comes Back to Earth. Slowly, at last the airship began to settle toward the earth. Slowly the great crowd of thousands who had gath ered below began to make out that the far object was be coming a little clearer. After a little while it became ap parent that the brave passenger so high had again taken hold of the steering gear and that the ship waa answering beau tifully to the helm. It was evident that she was steering not only toward Berkeley, but toward an open green space, where the beloved airship upon which centered her husband's hopes of fame and fortune would escape the spires and towers of the college town. A wild cheer came from, the thousands as they followed the course of the ship. , As the gas went out of the balloon, however, there was a new dancer. The ship careened In the wind, and lurched and swayed back and forth, and It was evident that the brave occupant was only maintaining her position by clinging to the rigging of the car. After all that she had escaped, was the CS33ebSS3SeSS$S3SS33SeS3S3SSS3S3S3S3SSSS3SSS3SS3SSS3S33S9SOe9 f-r . ' ' ' - airship to turn a complete somersault and hurl her to death? Once more the people of the great crowd held their breath. With strained faces they watched the last struggle so In significant in comparison with those she had already won. She won this, too. As the balloon neared the ground she braced herself against the sides of the car and prepared for the jar. There was none, however. The car touched the ground gently as the eager thousands reached to hold It. Mrs. Hea'ton emerged from the tangled mass of machinery, ropes, and wires unhurt, but shivering and white of face. It was many days before she had the merriment to recall that a little hair pin was the most useful th'lng which she had taken with her in her Journey to the clouds. T7?I AID AOTh MATD BIGGEST GRAMOPHONE. SAME IIEIGin. TO ROLL A CIGARET. WHO AS LOST IIE KIT.t WSECT'S EYE. TRA VEL IN CASHMERE. Take a strip of paper and a pinch of to bacco. Pull the tobacco out so that It lies evenly on the paper. It has Just been constructed in England. Its volume of sound Is equal to that of a fair slied orchestra. These men are the same height. Notice how ths clothes make the man. SHADOW PLAY IN ARAB AN CAFE. ma . 0 L m ' -2 -IB 1 it , U fool L Using the first fln'isnnd thumbs of both hunds. begin to roll the tobacco In the paper upwards and downwards. . . . uri'n.lfbuii1 t. .V...-:j-m.- . .... ' - . .- ' ' x. 1 An Insect's eye, sliced! lengthwise, looks like thi It Is a bundle of many little eyes t boiisiiTiiIs In Kims siuicles each of which at tet'do to Its own little patch of the field ot View. 11 REE BLOW, TWO PLAY. One of these six boys has lost his kite. Do you think you can And out which boy It is? If you take a pencil and, beginning at the top, follow it along the line of the brok' i kite string, you'll soon find the owner of the lost'.klte.. GATES1 FAMILY CAT. YOUR BRAIN. When the tobacco Isneutly rolled raise the lingers slightly toward the end of theclgaret and press gently. This will cause the un: gummed side- of the paper to beeohie tucked underneath the tobacco. Moisten the gummed edge, press It down, and with the thumb and fli nt finger nip off the tobacco protruding at the ends. The clgaret Is now complete. LEAPING THE SINGING. . ?"r i ' ' 1 1 ill ; . Traders In central Africa a few years back sold whole cartloads of ocarinas, little wind Instruments made of earthenware. To one chit f the idea occurred of having a giant ocarina constructed. The services of three natives are required to blow It, nnd there are two players, each of whom controls with bis hands four of the eight note holes provldi d. it In Cashmere palamiulns are um d still by 11 travelers. WSTLE GLOVES. m 1 These are " whistle gloves " each " finger " (f which rid In a wooden whistle. Each whistle, when blown, gives forth one note, mi II: nt 1 ueh player Is 1 qulppid with ten not of the total number of those required to maki up the tune being renderedt WORLD'S LARGES7 DIAMOND. It lives at John W. (Isles' home' at Si. What your brain is like. This is a map Charles, 111., and has a record ut killing five of the human brain, showing all the various nets at ona time. IJke lit owner, It cleans nerves. up every fining In sight when it can. UNSPLLAil.F. INK WELL. Shadow plays originated in China ages ago, were Imported to the court of Samarcand by Tamerlane's son and successor, were greatly enjoyed by the Sultan Saladlu. und are i.i.w popular throughout the east. Her Is a comic and wen tern looking scene as per (.', nied in an Arabian coffee house. The London Mirror prints these sketches to show the .characteristic attitudes as sumed by Mr. Alexander, the singing evan gelist, In conducting the big ihorunes at the Tone) -AlvnaiHier revival liieetlngv. ' I ,1 1 5 This ingenious Inkstand is made In Uermany. It doesn't spill a drop, even wlien it Lands on its heud. When not In use it is not covered, but singly loverted. The great diamond, weighing 3,ai2 carats, the world's biggest diamond, which witk recently discovered at Johannesburg. It measures four Hnd a half inches by twu and quarter Inches. Thu picture represents the exact slice of the diamond. V