W. H. Nelson was said to have been born in York,
Pennsylvania, around 1860. At some point, he became a parachutist
whose act involved jumping from a hot-air balloon. How he came to his risky
occupation is not known, but he and his partner, Otto Burke AKA Lochbaum, had
been touring the West Coast with a carnival show.
Red and Burke billed themselves as
'aeronauts'. Their act depended upon a balloon which, when inflated,
was fifty feet high and about thirty feet in diameter. On August 1,
1895, they were booked to perform in Phoenix at a vacant lot on Jackson and
Center Streets, where a merry-go-round had also been set
up. Coincidentally, this was the same lot where evangelists from the
Salvation Army had been preaching in a tent nightly for about a year.
Many bought tickets to see the ascent that afternoon.
The huge balloon was inflated and, when the ground ropes were untied, it rose
about thirty feet in the air. Unfortunately, the balloon sprang a
leak and collapsed; Burke received minor injuries in the fall.
On another performance, more tragedy struck. It involved Nelson this time. When the balloon had ascended several hundred feet into the
air, Nelson jumped. His parachute opened properly but, in the
gathering dusk, Nelson may have miscalculated his distance from the ground and
detached the trapeze bar from the parachute too soon.
The tragic demise of the aeronaut had a sobering effect on
the citizenry. Pious folk murmured that the accident was
divine retribution for using the Salvation Army’s meeting place for
entertainment purposes…and poor “Red” Nelson had paid the price.
There is more to this story! Come visit us at the PMMP for more about this incredible story!
--Story Shortened, Original by Donna Carr
No comments:
Post a Comment