Waltham, MA – July 4, 1892

Waltham, Massachusetts – July 4, 1892

     On July 4, 1892, aeronaut Frank P. Shattuck of Malden, Mass., was scheduled to make a balloon ascension from Waltham.  An estimated 10,000 people had gathered for the event.  As the balloon began to rise it was caught by a strong breeze and pushed into some nearby tree tops where the basket was raked through the upper branches before becoming hopelessly entangled in some telephone and telegraph wires that ran near the Park Theatre. 

     The wind continued to buffet the balloon causing it to sway back and forth, at times coming close to the roof of the theatre.  There were some people on the roof who had gone there to watch the ascension that suddenly found themselves in danger of being brushed off by the giant gas-bag.  Shattuck, meanwhile, was trapped in the swaying basket 60 feet above the street.  At one point the basket dipped low enough for those on the roof to grab him as he leaped from the basket. 

     Source:

    Burlington Weekly Free Press, (Burlington, VT.) “Another Rogers Balloon – Frank Shattuck of Malden Has A Narrow Escape From death”, July 7, 1892

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