read all of
its history, the _Barnum's_ voyage of twenty-six hours, seven minutes
was then and remained the world's endurance record until 1900; and it
still remains, in point of hours up, the longest balloon voyage ever
made in the United States.

The longest voyage in point of distance ever made in this country was
that of John Wise and La Mountain, in the fifties, from St. Louis, Mo.,
to Jefferson County, N. Y., a distance credited under the old custom of
a little less than twelve hundred miles, while the actual distance
under the new rules is between eight hundred and nine hundred miles,
the time being nineteen hours. This voyage also remained, I believe,
the world's record for distance until 1900, and still remains the
American record--and lucky, indeed, will be the aeronaut who beats it.

P. T. Barnum's "Great Roman Hippodrome," now for many years Madison
Square Garden, was never more densely crowded than on the afternoon of
July 26, 1874. Early in the Spring of that year Mr. Barnum had
announced the building of a balloon larger than any theretofore made in
this country. His purpose in building it was to attempt to break all
previous records for time and distance, and he invited each of five
daily city papers of that time to send representatives on the voyage.
So when the day set for the ascent arrived, not only was the old
Hippodrome packed to the doors, but adjacent streets and squares were
solid black with people, as on a _fete_ day like the Dewey Parade.

Happily the day was one of brilliant sunshine and clear sky, with
scarcely a cloud above the horizon.

The captain of the _Barnum_ was Washington. H. Donaldson, by far the
most brilliant and daring professional aeronaut of his day, and a
clever athlete and gymnast. For several weeks prior to the ascent of
the _Barnum_, Donaldson had been making daily short ascents of an hour
or two from the Hippodrome in a small balloon--as a feature of the
performance. Sometimes he ascended in a basket, at other times with
naught but a trapeze swinging beneath the concentrating ring of his
balloon himself in tights perched easily upon the bar of the trapeze.
And when at a height to suit his fancy--of a thousand feet or
more--many a time have I seen him do every difficult feat of trapeze
work ever done above the security of a net.

Such was Donaldson, a man utterly fearless, but reckless only when
alone, of a steadfast, cool courage and resource when responsible fo