"TN. 6pectator," June 21St, 1S51 A disastrous ballcon ascent took
place from Batty's Hippodrome at Kensington on Monday evening. At six o'clock, the balloon, having in the car Mr. and Mrs. Graham, was released from its moorings, and rose slowly ; but it had not attained much altitude before it began to descend, the body of the machine struck on the point of a tall flag-staff, and a hole was torn through the silk, from which of course the gas escaped. Vain efforts were made by the aeronauts to descend. The balloon rose and fell, and swayed-about in the boisterous wind, and finally took a Northerly direction towards the Crystal Palace. The aeronauts, to avoid striking the side or the roof of the building, threw out all their ballast, and thus rose just high enough to clear it. The sand-ballast made an extraordinary noise on the transept as it fell: the visitors at the Exhibition wondered, but were not alarmed. The balloon drifted towards Grosvenor Gate, and thence took a new direction ; crossed Piccadilly and the reservoir in the Green Park ; and approached the houses lying between the Park and Arlington Street. The car lodged against the parapet of the Park front of Colonel North's mansion ; a gust of wind drove the balloon forwards, and coping-stones and brickwork gave way, breaking through the roof of the house. The balloon then drifted about among the stacks of chimnies, knocking off the pots ; finally it became jammed between two masses of brickwork. The police quickly ascended to the roof: Mr. and Mrs. Graham had been thrown from the car, and were lying senseless on the roof. They were carried to a neighbouring surgeon's, greatly contused and lacerated, and after a time had so far recovered that they could be conveyed home.
Previous page
