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Hot Air Ballooning at the Turn of
the Century. ["Osawatomie Graphic," 17 May 1901, page 4, column 5] A COMEDY THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN A TRAGEDY. Prof. Kelley of Pomona made his balloon ascension last Wednesday according to his agreement, but with some additions and amendments not in the orginal program at all. A large crowd was out to see him, mostly town people. but a few were in from the country and they missed it as you never can tell what is going to happen in Osawatomie. Mr. Kelley had his balloon pretty well inflated when the wind caused it to sway to one side and it was torn on one of the supports and the hot air allowed to escape. he had to go to work to patch up a couple of huge rents and most of the people went home and got their suppers. Mr. Kelley went ahead with his work and pretty soon he was firing up again and had the old gas bag looming up. A short time before seven o'clock he was ready to let her go and the supports were cut away and the balloon shot up into the air when it was discovered that Ed Schwenk of this city, who was working inside the balloon to guard against it catching fire from sparks, had been caught in the ropes and was trying to release himself as he soared heavenward. Kelley grasped the situation at once and kept calling to him to hold on to the ropes and keep quiet and he would be all right. One of the ropes caught Schwenk around the left leg above the knee and, as he said "the balloon was going up so swiftly that when she jerked his feet from under him the earth was out of the way before his head hit it." He caught the rope and sat up an interested spectator of the wide-spread scene presented from the lofty altitude the balloon had reached. It saild away in a course a little north of northeast and Mr. Kelley cut loose and made his leap with the parachute just after they had crossed the Marais des Cygnes. About two hundred people followed them when they saw the course the airship was taking. After Kelley's weight was taken off the balloon shot up to a still higher altitude and Schwenk had it figured out that he was going to land near Paola and it was going to be a long time until supper, but he came down on the asylum grounds just north of the spur tack and made a fine semi-professional descent. The balloon caught in some trees near by and was soon packed and returned to town. Schwenk made bee line for the home of his brother-in-law, Hal Mohler, where he lives, and proceeded to eat supper with an appetite unimpaired by his unusual experience. Some of the crowd that followed the balloon had a more exciting time than they were expecting. One of the cows in the asylum pasture had her suspicions about "Six" Chapman and the crowd of colored people that he was with and started in to investigate. "Six" set the pattern by throwing his hat and running like a scared jack rabbit, and the rest of the crowd followed his lead by taking to the brush with surprising celerity. Alonzo Lessenden was standing near by enjoying the fun of seeing the colored folks scratch gravel, and the cow resented his conduct and started toward him. Being farm-bred this did not worry him a little bit until she came within a few paces of him and lowered her head and charged, and then the rabbit in him got the best of him and they do say that he threw dirt like a runaway automobile for about a hundred yards, the cow right after him and doing her best to make him understand that it was no friendly contest for points, but that it was a race for blood. "Six" and his crowd were safely ensconced in trees round about and encouraged the contestants all they could. But Mr. Lessenden was soon up a tree himself and there he stopped until some of the boys came along and shooed old Sukey away. Taking it all in all it was a very exciting evening, chuck full if incidents. people stayed on the stree until a late hour discussing the unlooked for happenings of the evening. Prof. Kelley fulfilled his contract to the letter and our people can have no complaint. He gave them their money's worth. He left yesterday for Pomona, his home.
BALLOON DREW CROWD Ottawa's first big Hallowesta was a huge success, an event which everyone of the thousands of persons on the streets last night enjoyed from beginning to end. ..... The balloon ascension yesterday afternoon in Forest park drew a crowd of between
5,000 and 8,000 persons. Carloads of spectators began arriving before 4 o'clock, and by
4:30, the time set for the ascension, the park was packed with automobiles. A stiff
southwest breeze caused Prof. G. A. Kelley of Topeka, the balloonist, to postpone the
ascension until the wind died, and by the time the bag was filled and he was ready to take
off it was almost 6 o'clock. The balloon went up quickly when released and by 6 o'clock
Prof. Kelley had made his parachute jump. The wind had in the meantime shifted to the
southeast, and Kelley was blown about 5 miles northwest of town. Pick-up trucks were sent
out to gather up Kelley and his equipment. After the event was over, there were so many
cars in the park it took them more than a half hour to get out. ["Ottawa Herald," 01 Nov 1938, page 4, column 1] The balloon ascension of Prof. G. A. Kelley brought out the fact that Ottawa has two residents who formerly engaged in this stunt, Ray Hartshorne and R. C. Duchesne. Both were helping Prof. Kelley with his preparations yesterday afternoon. Duchesne said he made his last ascent about 25 years ago, and then sold his equipment to a man in Lane, who on his first attempted ascent burned up the balloon. Hartshorne said it had been about 20 years since he had anything to do with balloons. Prof. Kelley was formerly a Pomona man, and made his last ascent in Ottawa 35 years ago. |
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