At Manheim, on the 17th of July,
the day of his death his balloon, which was of paper, sixteen
metres in diameter, and twenty in height, took fire in the air,
and the aeronaut was thrown down upon the town. His fall was
mortal.
Harris, an old officer of the English navy, together with another
English aeronaut, named Graham, had made a great many ascents.
He conceived the idea of constructing a balloon upon an original
plan; but his alterations do not seem to have been improvements.
In May, 1824, he attempted an ascent from London, which had much
apparent success, but which terminated fatally. When at a great
elevation, it seems, the aeronaut, wishing to descend, opened the
valve. It had not been well constructed, and after being opened
it would not close again. The consequent loss of gas brought the
balloon down with great force. Harris lost his life with the
fall; but the young lady who had accompanied him received only a
trifling wound.
Sadler, a celebrated English aeronaut, who, in one of his many
experiments, had crossed the Irish Channel between Dublin and
Holyhead, lost his life miserably near Bolton, on the 28th of
September, 1824. Deprived of his ballast, in consequence of his
long sojourn in the air, and forced at last to descend, at a late
hour, upon a number of high buildings, the wind drove him
violently against a chimney.
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