In One Ear: Up like a rocket

The Daily Morning Astorian, July 19, 1890, announced that a “balloon ascension” would take place the next day, noting that the street cars would run to the starting point in Uppertown.

On July 21, “several thousand people visited Uppertown yesterday, in cars, wagons and buggies, on bicycles, tricycles and on foot,” waiting from one to four hours for the excitement to start.

Finally, around 6 p.m., the fire was lighted. The balloon was fully inflated in under 20 minutes, and was held down with ropes held by at least a dozen men. Then Prof. J.J. Romig (aka Prof. J.J. Romeo, Prof. Lee and Prof. Deering) made his grand entrance and “stepped inside the rope under the hoop attached to the parachute, which was suspended from the bottom of the balloon, and at eight minutes after six shouted, ‘Let her go.’”

“Instantly, the air ship shot upward like a rocket,” the paper reported, “and the bold aerial voyager was spinning up towards the sky, sitting on a rope like a short swing. In two minutes he had reached an altitude of nearly 2,000 feet, when he cut loose from the balloon and dropped but a short distance before the parachute opened out perfectly, and came floating down beautifully.”

“This makes 70 ascensions Prof. Romig has accomplished successfully,” the Astorian noted. “This time he wore a life preserver so that he would be prepared in case he dropped in the water.”