| Show SAILING THROUGH SPACE THE MAN A KITE amos evers of alpena W ava va returned home yesterday after one of of the most exciting adventures that has ever fallen to any man iu a the united sates if not in the world for the last half dozen years it has been the custom in the summer months for tha boys and men in this vicinity to amuse themselves by making huge kites of stout oiled paper and flying them with thick cord A worthless cur or cat or two was wag usually attached to the tail or bobs ind and great was the delight of the inhabitants when the frightened animal kicked and squirmed as the kite mounted into the clouds oads it was determined this year that all previous efforts in kite making should ge be outdone out done and three weeks ago work was begun on a monster affair the dimensions will give an idea extreme height 9 feet 4 inches width across thetos the top 4 feet 3 inches width across the bottom 2 feet extreme width across the middle 5 feet 6 inches the framework was built of tough hicker hickory shaved th inand stayed with one eighth eighth inch copper wire A double thickness of heavy muslin was stretched on each side aide of the frame and the place for fastening the flying eoa bortl was doubly braced with yellow pine scantling a quarter inch thick into this was screwed a ring bolt which was clamped on the other side with an iron pin in the rin ring itself was five inches in Nia weter and capable of bearing four or live five hundred weight the kite complete weighed ninety six pounds the tall tail was made fiade of sixteen feet rope weighed with lead instead of the usual tying cord yards of closely wound manilla rupe rope very light but as strong as a double link chain were procured pio cured welkko a au on thursday afternoon of last week The e kite was pronounced complete air and tady ready for a voyage in the sam was the man who original naKed nad the ides idea and when everything was finished sam called up the crowd to liquor abbra at Braggs s bar the party consisted of M 6 erbee berbee amos evers bill oaks or blind bill oaks as he be is better known ed walton and spence maynard they drank pretty freely for more than an hour and it was then proposed that a trial should be made of the kite to test its powers before the great fly came off the next morning the wind was blodi blowing 9 pretty fresh from smiths gorge gorge and after one or two unsuccessful efforts the huge frame caught the wind as three men ran with a rope down a steep incline tu cline toward laurel fork one of them carried tile the coil of rope over his shoulder while the other two paid it out As the huge kite rose in the air it required the utmost st of all three to hold it and finding this a difficult task they took a half turn around a tree stump and in that way gradually gave the kite mo more rope until it was seventy five yards in the air just then evers came out of braggs bragga barroom bar room he fie was very drunk but walked a fairly straight line theres a drink baitin fur youse fellers said he with a hiccough cough better sir git in ia an git it an then suddenly egiy espying the kite and the cord wrapped around the stump 11 1 why youve got her der up faint yer jes gamme tile end ol 01 0 that rope ill hold her while you ticker licker 1 I 1 nothing loath the three men assented and alter giving the rope another turn gave up slack end t to 0 evers and went into the bar no sooner had they gone than evers took one turn off the stump and abd the rope began to run and burn his bis hands he braced against a big stone and managed to get a loop over the stump again in such a manner as to form what sailors would call calla a couple of half haf hitch hitches qs this stopped stooped any more inore rope from running out but evers believed he could do better than that taking up ane slack he wr wrapped itano und and around his body under the armpits and made it fast in f rout front chest in three or four tight flat cnota kern out yere vere sam he cried kem out yere till I 1 learn you how to fly a kite this is what the party heard in the barroom bar room and aney lounged toward the door with a laugh As they reached the threshold the laugh turned to a cry of amazement and horror borror they saw amos E evers vers stoop and push the rope off the stump altogether in another instant they saw him whisked up into the airas air as though hoaas ho was a leather feather instead of a man inan weighing pounds lie he was just about heavy enough to make the kite maintain its equilibrium As he was jerked upward he gave an unearthly yell then his companions faintly heard him cry helal h e helal fur the lords sake bake boys boy s 11 but they heard no more for the unfortunate man roan was then nearly 1000 feet above their heads aney saw mm aim kick and struggle and grasp the rope in front of 0 him higher he was borne and fai fainter liter and fainter became his in less thau than tive live minutes he was a mere struggling speck outlined against the blue baky ane kite was still vis visible itle and was ris it must have been going boid at a terrill terranc i late ate of speed for poor evers was stringing r out behind behina like a peanut from a shi ships als mast in a few minutes more the outlines of his form could no longer be seen and at the expiration of fifteen ini minutes from the ti i e the me kite was let loose he had passed out of sight going in ia an ea easterly basterl sterl direction toward rich mountain a spur ot or tile the alleghenies anthe on ane following morning a party started out in the direction therit 1 had taken they rc returned turned at without any aDv tidings of theman the man who had been sa so strangely ay iy snatched away two days passed and nothing was heard of evers taree days foSS foK five nv six days clays a week and batill nothing it was then gelle generally rally conceded that the man had been lost and consolation was offered to the widow in the shape of a small keg of whisky a new sled wagon and a roule mule but yesterday morning amos evers evera turned up as large as life two gentlemen accompanied compa nied him into the place he sat bat down on a cracker barrel in the grocery and told his story in a few words and without any effort at self glorification alter agot I 1 got jerked off my feet he said 1 I biant diant know where I 1 was for a minnit abut but when that rope begin to tighten it knocked all the rum out ol 01 0 head I 1 guess I 1 hollered some seems to me I 1 was a mile high afore I 1 tried to dp anything first Firsti I 1 thought id cut the rope but finding I 1 was liable to fall too fur I 1 concluded to hang on and ses see ef I 1 ketch a tra top but I 1 auz a heap to high fur that after a while I 1 begin to lose my breath li kean then I 1 concluded some thin had to be done so sol I 1 be began bean an climb in that rope with the idee if of bustin a hole in the kite must a taken me five anve or six hours to climb twenty yards cos it was pitch dark when I 1 feels the kite a bobblin blin as though it had lost the bobs I 1 afraid to go any hil higher aber fur far fear she would drop too sud dint so I 1 slides back a little way aud and then she got agin finally I 1 says to my gelf belf better die quick and be done with it and I 1 starts to climb agin the old kite wobbled fearful I 1 felt that I 1 auz goin down ani amalin azin fast I 1 felt myself swish all a bi big buttonwood but I 1 git no hand li d hold bold so I 1 kepl kep on climbing clim bin the nearer I 1 got to tile the kite the more sue she wobbled and the more she wobbled the further down she came caille after a while she turns ker flummox flum mix and I 1 lands all iu a heap alongside of a little run in a place anar id never been before I 1 auz kind ol 01 0 foolish I 1 guess tor for I 1 wake up till bayli daylight and I 1 know what auz wrong I 1 meets a lot of people aud and these two gentlemen take me up to their bau bouse e aud and kep me for three or four days clays till I 1 got right again and after I 1 got on aily my feet I 1 had to stay a couple of days clays more anh some othir other gentlemen give us some lieker the place where evers landed after his wonderful flight through the air was mill brook hampshire county ahsue TO 70 miles as the crow bilies from alpena the gentlemen who first discovered him wel were wele e henry G beeson and geo george rge hackett both of whom attest the find insi of evors evers in an insensible condition lying beside the huge kite he was badly bruise dand could not speak lot loi several I 1 hours after being restored to they bursel liim him and then agreed to accompany him to his bia nome which they did evers in his terrible journey crossed seven rivers and two ranges of the alle allegheny alleghany Alleg 1 liany hany mountains ile he was suspended if in 1 tile tae air at least seven houis ivea borle r sun isun |
