site of what is now Madison Square Garden, in a
balloon built by Mr. Barnum to attempt to break the record for time and
distance of all previous balloon voyages. An account of this thrilling
trip is given in the following chapter of this book.

The history of the ascent Donaldson made from Toronto, Canada, on June
23, 1875, is in itself a sufficient refutation of the charges made less
than a month later, that on his last trip he sacrificed his passenger,
Grimwood, to save his own life. On his Toronto trip he was accompanied
by Charles Pirie, of the _Globe_; Mr. Charles, of the _Leader_; and Mr.
Devine, of the _Advertiser_. On this occasion Donaldson accepted the
three passengers under the strongest protest, after having told them
plainly that the balloon was leaky, the wind blowing out upon the lake,
and that the ascent must necessarily be a peculiarly dangerous one.
Nevertheless, they decided to take the hazard. Later they regretted
their temerity. Husbanding his ballast as best he could, nevertheless,
the loss of gas through leakage was such that by midnight, when well
over the centre of Lake Ontario, the balloon descended into a rough,
tempestuous sea, and was saved from immediate destruction only by the
cutting away of both the anchor and the drag rope. This gave them a
temporary lease of life, but at one o'clock the car again struck the
waters and dragged at a frightful speed through the lake, compelling
the passengers to stand on the edge of the basket and cling to the
ropes, the cold so intense they were well-nigh benumbed. At length
they were rescued by a passing boat, but this was not until after three
o'clock in the morning.

Of Donaldson's conduct in these hours of terrible tremity, a passenger
wrote:

"But for his judicious use of the ballast, his complete control of the
balloon as far as it could be controlled, his steady nerve, kindness,
and coolness in the hour of danger, the occupants would never have
reached land. . . . The party took no provisions with them excepting
two small pieces of bread two inches square, which Mr. Devine happened
to have in his pocket. At eleven at night, the Professor, having had
nothing but a noon lunch, was handed up the bread. . . . About three
o'clock in the morning, when the basket was wholly immersed in the
water, and the inmates clinging almost lifelessly to the ropes, the
Professor climbed down to them, and they were surprised to see in his
hand the two