Quincy, Massachusetts – July 17, 1912
On July 17, 1912, 17-year-old aeronaut Lawrence Stafford, of Dorchester, Massachusetts, was scheduled to perform a balloon ascension and parachute jump at a place known as Hough’s Neck in the town of Quincy. Several hundred people had come to witness the event.
When the balloon had reached an altitude of 2,000 feet Stafford made his jump, but the parachute failed to open. He landed in shallow water in Quincy Bay and was killed.
Source:
Hartford Courant, (Conn.), “Parachute Jumper Falls To His Death”, July 18, 1912