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Show NINE CALIFORNIA PEOPLE CARRIED AWAY IN BALLOON. Narrowly Kst-nped Belli); Dumped Info the Sea, anil Finally Landed Fifty Miles From Starting Point. Uninjured. A captive balloon, containing one woman and eight men, broke from its fastening at Eleventh and Folsom Btreets, Son Francisco, Saturday evening, even-ing, and two hours later was landed near Pescadero, fifty miles from San Francisco and but a short distance from the ocean. The balloon at one time was out at sea, but was blown back over the land. I The balloon had been sent up several times during the afternoon with passengers. pas-sengers. It was fastened to the ground by a 1,000-foot rope cable, one and a quarter inches in diameter. While descending on the fifth trip, about 500 feet from the ground, the rope broke, fifty feet from the balloon. To the horror of the spectators the balloon rapidly shot up in the air to a height of 2,000 feet or more, and floated away in a southerly direction. Those who I made the involuntary trip were: Ed P. Dudley, the aeronaut; A. L. Dodge, Ed Foster, jr., Walter Leon, C. P. Vil- aecoq, J. h. Leonard, M. L. Howarth, John A. M. Swift, Mrs. J. P. Gun-saulus. Gun-saulus. Nine miles from Lallonda and about six miles from Pescadero lies Beatty Thompson's place. Thompson was up and out when the balloon came along by Wurr's mill, the grappling hook slipping through the trees, and raking along brushy patches of ground. By J this time much of the gas had been let out of the balloon and the power was weak. The rope that had snapped and caused the captive to become a runaway runa-way was sweeping along the ground, and when it came within Thompson's reach he grasped and bore down with all his weight. This stopped the flight. Soon the balloon was brought to the ground, and eight overjoyed passengers passen-gers and the aeronaut alighted and took supper with Thompson. Twice the balloon dipped close to the ocean, but rose each time. The passengers were badly frightened. Boers Lose 300 Men Charging British Lines A strong Boer force under General Botha attacked Colonel Benson's command com-mand near Brakenlaagte Thursday, capturing two guns. The attack was made during a heavy fog which enabled the Boers to surprise the British Brit-ish and inflict heavy losses before the latter recovered from the surprise. The Boers, who outnumbered the British, Brit-ish, attempted to annihilate the latter, keeping up a fierce fight for twenty-four twenty-four hours, during which they made several attempts to rush the British defenses, but were repulsed, sustaining a loss of 300. Reinforcements drove the Boers away or the British command com-mand would have eventually been taken. ta-ken. The British lost seven officers, including Colonel Benson, and fifty-four fifty-four enlisted men killed, and thirteen officers and 106 men wounded. |