1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 3 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. Listener. 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 2: Josiah, who has sent to us just a ton of 5 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:23,960 Speaker 2: very good episode suggestions sent in a request for an 6 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:28,520 Speaker 2: episode on the eighteen nineteen balloon riot. We do have 7 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:32,640 Speaker 2: a number of episodes on balloons and ballooning, including the 8 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:37,839 Speaker 2: Mongolfier Brothers and Sophie Blanchard and essay Andre's attempt to 9 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 2: get to the North Pole by balloon, and we have 10 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 2: mentioned in those episodes that balloons became a huge fad 11 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 2: starting in the late eighteenth century and into the nineteenth century. 12 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 1: I don't think we. 13 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 2: Have ever talked about how much rioting was associated with that. 14 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:02,960 Speaker 2: We have talked more about excite and not about tearing stuff. Apart, 15 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:07,600 Speaker 2: this eighteen nineteen incident that Josiah requested was not the 16 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:10,399 Speaker 2: only riot to talk about. In other words, we are 17 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:14,400 Speaker 2: going to cover several in this episode, but it is 18 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 2: not all of the balloon riots. Over the course of 19 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:21,679 Speaker 2: my research, I found various mentions of other riots as 20 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:26,600 Speaker 2: kind of asides or mentioned in footnotes or a newspaper 21 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 2: article would say blah blah blah, similarly to the thing 22 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 2: that happened to this other time, But then I was 23 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,479 Speaker 2: not able to find a lot of detail about that 24 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 2: other time briefly mentioned. It's also possible that there were 25 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:43,319 Speaker 2: other more documented balloon riot incidents that I just didn't 26 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:47,720 Speaker 2: happen to stumble over while working on this. These riots 27 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:51,440 Speaker 2: all involved large balloons filled with either hot air or 28 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:54,720 Speaker 2: a lighter than air gas like hydrogen or coal gas, 29 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 2: which is a mix of mostly hydrogen, methane and carbon monoxide. 30 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 2: Ones so we're talking about took place in France, the UK, 31 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 2: the US, and Australia. But the earliest precursors to these 32 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:10,040 Speaker 2: kinds of balloons came from another part of the world. 33 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 2: They date back to the third century BCE in China. 34 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:18,079 Speaker 2: These were flying lanterns also called sky lanterns, that were 35 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:21,720 Speaker 2: made from paper and open at the bottom. A candle 36 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:24,960 Speaker 2: or some other source of flames suspended under the opening 37 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 2: heated the air inside, causing the lantern to float. Sky 38 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 2: lanterns are quite small, you can launch them from your hands, 39 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:36,440 Speaker 2: and by the eighteenth century, various scientists and inventors were 40 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:39,280 Speaker 2: trying to figure out how to use that same principle 41 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:44,920 Speaker 2: to make much larger balloons. The first successful launches of 42 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 2: balloons that were big enough to carry human beings took 43 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:54,080 Speaker 2: place in France. After testing various materials and designs, brothers 44 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:58,799 Speaker 2: Joseph Michel and Jacques Etienne Mongolfier made a balloon from 45 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:02,240 Speaker 2: cloth and paper that had a diameter of about thirty 46 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:06,239 Speaker 2: three feet or ten meters. They lit a fire under 47 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:08,720 Speaker 2: the opening of this balloon to fill it with hot air, 48 00:03:08,919 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 2: and they successfully sent it aloft on June fourth, seventeen 49 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:16,079 Speaker 2: eighty three. They did not have anybody aboard that first time. 50 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:19,520 Speaker 2: That balloon stayed in the air for about ten minutes. 51 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 2: On September nineteenth, they sent a duck, a rooster, and 52 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:27,079 Speaker 2: a sheep up in a slightly smaller balloon, and all 53 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:32,640 Speaker 2: of those animals returned to Earth safely hooray. From there, 54 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 2: the Mongolfier brothers tried tethered balloon flights with people on board, 55 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 2: and then their first untethered flight with a human crew 56 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:44,839 Speaker 2: was on November twenty first, seventeen eighty three. We talked 57 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:47,840 Speaker 2: about the Mongolfier brothers in more detail in our episode 58 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:51,119 Speaker 2: on them that ran as a Saturday Classic on January 59 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:55,760 Speaker 2: twenty eighth, twenty twenty three, While the Mongolfier brothers were 60 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 2: working on hot air balloons, other people were working on 61 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 2: balloons with some other gas or gas mixture. Professor Jacques 62 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 2: Charles commissioned brothers and gen Robert and Nicola Luis Robert, 63 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 2: who is sometimes also called Marie Noel Robert, to build 64 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:18,920 Speaker 2: a balloon. They took a demonstration flight from the champ 65 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:22,440 Speaker 2: de Mars in August of seventeen eighty three. This was 66 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:26,840 Speaker 2: a varnished silk balloon filled with hydrogen gas. They made 67 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:31,240 Speaker 2: that hydrogen gas by pouring sulfuric acid onto iron filings. 68 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 2: This balloon successfully went aloft without a crew, but from 69 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:39,839 Speaker 2: there it drifted to the northeast of Paris. When it 70 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:42,719 Speaker 2: landed near the village of Geness, people who didn't know 71 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:46,159 Speaker 2: what it was reportedly attacked it with things like sticks 72 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:49,000 Speaker 2: and pitchforks. On December first. 73 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: Of that year, Nicola, Louis and Jacques successfully went aloft 74 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:55,719 Speaker 1: themselves in a hydrogen balloon, which was launched from the 75 00:04:55,720 --> 00:05:00,440 Speaker 1: Tuileriri gardens. Within a year, more than one hundred eighty 76 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:04,920 Speaker 1: balloon launches had taken place all around Europe, often before 77 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:09,720 Speaker 1: just enormous crowds. When the Mongolfier brothers sent those animals, 78 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:13,920 Speaker 1: aloft An estimated one hundred and thirty thousand people had 79 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: been watching, including King Louis the sixteenth and Marie Antoinette. 80 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:20,919 Speaker 1: When Robert and Charles took their first flight, it was 81 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 1: reportedly before a crowd of four hundred thousand people, which 82 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:29,800 Speaker 1: would have been more than half the population of Paris, 83 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:34,360 Speaker 1: and people were fascinated. Letters and diary entries from the 84 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:38,719 Speaker 1: late eighteenth century are full of references to balloons and 85 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 1: which launches people had seen, and how big the crowds were, 86 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: and what the balloon looked like. This includes numerous letters 87 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:49,480 Speaker 1: from American visitors who were in France for the negotiations 88 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:53,479 Speaker 1: of the Treaty of Paris that formally ended the Revolutionary War, 89 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:58,159 Speaker 1: so that includes Benjamin Franklin. Balloon hats for ladies came 90 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:01,680 Speaker 1: into fashion with puffy crowns and wide brims, and balloons 91 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:06,240 Speaker 1: were emblazoned on every kind of souvenir imaginable. A broadside 92 00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:09,960 Speaker 1: called Balloon Wish printed in Boston read quote in this 93 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:15,039 Speaker 1: wild romantic age, what fantastic whims engage high and low 94 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:18,599 Speaker 1: and old and young, all with balloon madness, rung balloon 95 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:22,760 Speaker 1: hats and frying pans, balloon ribbons, balloon fans, balloon gauzes, 96 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:27,560 Speaker 1: balloon caps, balloon hoops or balloon traps. Balloons and balloon 97 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:31,919 Speaker 1: launches were also depicted in stories, novels, poems, plays, and 98 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:36,039 Speaker 1: visual artwork. As an example, in seventeen eighty four, the 99 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:39,600 Speaker 1: Covent Garden Theater, which we just talked about in October, 100 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:44,440 Speaker 1: staged a play called Harlequin Junior or The Magic Cestus, 101 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:48,880 Speaker 1: in which past podcast subject Joseph Grimaldy was supposed to 102 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:52,680 Speaker 1: handle a real floating balloon that was scaled down for 103 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:57,600 Speaker 1: use on the stage. However, the theater scrapped this part 104 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 1: of the show after deciding it was quote very offensive 105 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:05,440 Speaker 1: and in some degree dangerous in the confined air of 106 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:05,920 Speaker 1: the theater. 107 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:09,720 Speaker 2: That decision makes sense because they had to burn material 108 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:12,400 Speaker 2: under this balloon to inflate it in the theater just 109 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:15,640 Speaker 2: seemed like a bad idea given the known propensity of 110 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:17,240 Speaker 2: theaters to catch on fire. 111 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:21,800 Speaker 1: In the theater lit by candlelight at this point, so 112 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:25,040 Speaker 1: if the balloon fell in the wrong place, double trouble. 113 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:29,280 Speaker 1: The culture in parts of Europe was so saturated with 114 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: balloons that some people actually got sick of hearing about 115 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: them almost immediately. In September seventeen eighty three, English author 116 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:40,080 Speaker 1: and playwright Samuel Johnson wrote a letter to Sir Joshua 117 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:43,040 Speaker 1: Reynolds that said, in part, quote, I have three letters 118 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:46,000 Speaker 1: in this day, all about the balloon. I could have 119 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:49,880 Speaker 1: been content with one. Do not write about the balloon. 120 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:54,560 Speaker 1: Whatever else you may think proper to say that cracks 121 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: me up. 122 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:57,120 Speaker 2: It's also kind of sad that he died a few 123 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 2: months later, so one of his final frustrations balloons balloons. 124 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 2: The term balloon omania appeared in writing for the first 125 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:12,040 Speaker 2: time two years later in a letter from past podcast 126 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 2: subject Horace Walpole to Madame du Defont, after Jean Francois 127 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:20,960 Speaker 2: Pilatre de Rosier died in a balloon crash while trying 128 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:25,400 Speaker 2: to cross the English Channel. Walpole wrote, quote, the balloon 129 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:29,120 Speaker 2: omania is I think a little chilled, not extinguished by 130 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:35,360 Speaker 2: Rosier's catastrophe. Walpole also expressed concerns about whether balloons would 131 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:38,559 Speaker 2: be used for military purposes, and that was something people 132 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:42,840 Speaker 2: had started thinking about basically right after those very earliest launches. 133 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:46,079 Speaker 2: We talked about that more in our episode on the 134 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:48,720 Speaker 2: balloons of World War Two that came out in March 135 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:53,319 Speaker 2: of twenty twenty three. This eighteenth century fascination with balloons 136 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 2: was interconnected with ongoing discoveries in the sciences that it 137 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:00,679 Speaker 2: started to evolve in the sixteenth century and the European 138 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:03,080 Speaker 2: intellectual movement that has come to be known as the 139 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:07,480 Speaker 2: Age of Enlightenment. People were similarly fascinated with experiments with 140 00:09:07,559 --> 00:09:12,520 Speaker 2: electricity that were also happening around the same time. By necessity, 141 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:15,720 Speaker 2: balloon launches were the most public of all the various 142 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 2: experiments that were going on. The balloons were huge, and 143 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:21,319 Speaker 2: even if they were launched from some out of the 144 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:24,280 Speaker 2: way place, people could still see them in the air. 145 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 2: People made and launched hot, air and gas balloons in 146 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:32,120 Speaker 2: all kinds of places beyond just England and France, and 147 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:35,839 Speaker 2: beyond just Europe. But in these two countries there was 148 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:39,200 Speaker 2: kind of a competitive rivalry going on. But there were 149 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:43,680 Speaker 2: also some differences in how ballooning developed in those two countries. 150 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:47,240 Speaker 2: A lot of balloon experiments in France were under the 151 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:50,960 Speaker 2: auspices of the French Academy of Sciences, and that meant 152 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:54,320 Speaker 2: that until the French Revolution, they were effectively being overseen 153 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:59,360 Speaker 2: by the scientific community and ultimately the monarch. But in England, 154 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:02,440 Speaker 2: the Royal Society didn't take up that same level of 155 00:10:02,559 --> 00:10:06,600 Speaker 2: interest in ballooning. So the ballooning community in England was 156 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:10,760 Speaker 2: more made up of adventurers who might work with scientists 157 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:14,480 Speaker 2: or allow scientists to bring instruments on board, but they 158 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:17,679 Speaker 2: could be focused a lot more on excitement and spectacle 159 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:22,120 Speaker 2: and showmanship than on research and discovery. But it was 160 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:25,280 Speaker 2: clear from the beginning that balloon launches could spark a 161 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:29,400 Speaker 2: backlash if they did not go as planned. On January sixteenth, 162 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 2: seventeen eighty four, just weeks after humans had successfully flown 163 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:36,439 Speaker 2: in balloons for the first time, Benjamin Franklin wrote a 164 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:41,240 Speaker 2: letter to Dutch scientists Jon Ingenhause. Franklin had previously sent 165 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:44,400 Speaker 2: Ingenhouse everything he had learned about balloons, and he said 166 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:47,680 Speaker 2: that if Ingenhause sent someone to France, Franklin was sure 167 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:50,320 Speaker 2: they could learn whatever they needed to figure out how 168 00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:54,000 Speaker 2: to make one for themselves from there. He said, quote, 169 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:56,839 Speaker 2: if you undertake to make one, I think it extremely 170 00:10:56,920 --> 00:11:00,200 Speaker 2: proper and necessary to send an ingenious man here for 171 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:05,000 Speaker 2: that purpose. Otherwise, for want of attention to some particular circumstance, 172 00:11:05,240 --> 00:11:09,439 Speaker 2: or of being acquainted with it, the experiment might miscarry, which, 173 00:11:09,559 --> 00:11:12,920 Speaker 2: being in an affair of so much public expectation, would 174 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:16,240 Speaker 2: have bad consequences, draw upon you a great deal of 175 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:18,359 Speaker 2: censure and affect your reputation. 176 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:21,840 Speaker 1: It is a serious thing to draw out from their 177 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:25,520 Speaker 1: affairs all the inhabitants of a great city and its environs, 178 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:29,840 Speaker 1: and a disappointment makes them angry. At Bordeaux lately a 179 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:32,480 Speaker 1: person who pretended to send up a balloon and had 180 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:35,679 Speaker 1: received money of many people, not being able to make 181 00:11:35,679 --> 00:11:39,640 Speaker 1: it rise. The populace were so exasperated that they pulled 182 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:42,360 Speaker 1: down his house and had liked to have killed him. 183 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:47,440 Speaker 2: We will talk about some other exasperated populaces after a 184 00:11:47,480 --> 00:12:01,560 Speaker 2: sponsor break. In seventeen eighty four, printmaker Jean Francois Genine, 185 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:06,240 Speaker 2: who had started calling himself an artist physicist, worked with 186 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:11,319 Speaker 2: Abbe Laurent Antoine Melin, who lectured in physics, to build 187 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:15,840 Speaker 2: a balloon. Their design actually involved three balloons. There was 188 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:19,480 Speaker 2: the primary hot air balloon and a gas filled balloon 189 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:21,920 Speaker 2: that would float above it, and then a balloon filled 190 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:25,320 Speaker 2: with cold air that would hang below it. They wanted 191 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:28,840 Speaker 2: to study the atmosphere and the behavior of the three 192 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:32,240 Speaker 2: balloons and the gases within them from the gondola that 193 00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:37,120 Speaker 2: was suspended below. They had financed their project primarily by 194 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:40,120 Speaker 2: selling tickets to the launch, and that was the case 195 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:44,960 Speaker 2: for a lot of balloonists. Even like the hardcore scientific balloonists, 196 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:47,960 Speaker 2: a lot of times were funding things with ticket sales. 197 00:12:48,679 --> 00:12:51,640 Speaker 1: They planned to take off from Luxembourg Gardens in Paris 198 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:55,520 Speaker 1: on July eleventh, seventeen eighty four. Although they had made 199 00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:59,480 Speaker 1: some successful test flights, this public launch failed when they 200 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:02,600 Speaker 1: were not able to adequately fill the hot air balloon. 201 00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:06,400 Speaker 1: It's not clear whether the balloon caught fire during the 202 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:09,680 Speaker 1: attempt to fill it, or if angry onlookers set it alight, 203 00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:12,160 Speaker 1: but it did catch fire, and once it was burning, 204 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:16,920 Speaker 1: outraged ticket holders burst into the launch area, tearing pieces 205 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:19,680 Speaker 1: off of the balloon and breaking up the viewing stands 206 00:13:19,679 --> 00:13:22,960 Speaker 1: to throw into the fire. One of the people who 207 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:27,360 Speaker 1: witnessed this was Benjamin Franklin Batch, grandson of Benjamin Franklin, 208 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:30,640 Speaker 1: whose diary entry about the day described some of the 209 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:36,080 Speaker 1: carried off balloon pieces as big enough to make a mattress. Afterwards, 210 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:40,600 Speaker 1: Milan and Jeanniet were ridiculed in the popular press, including 211 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:45,760 Speaker 1: people writing satirical songs about them. The September eighth, eighteen 212 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:51,480 Speaker 1: nineteen riot that inspired this episode took place in Vauxhall Gardens, 213 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:56,160 Speaker 1: not the ones in London, but gardens in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 214 00:13:56,320 --> 00:13:59,200 Speaker 1: that had been named for them. I think people in 215 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:03,679 Speaker 1: England also said that more like Vauxhall, the balloon belonged 216 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:07,960 Speaker 1: to a French aeronaut known as Monsieur Michel, who was 217 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:10,600 Speaker 1: going to go up in the balloon and then parachute 218 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:13,880 Speaker 1: down from it. This was just a few days after 219 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:18,520 Speaker 1: a failed balloon launch by a different aeronaut in Camden, 220 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:21,040 Speaker 1: and Camden is just on the other side of the 221 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:24,840 Speaker 1: Delaware River from Philadelphia, so a lot of people from 222 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 1: Philadelphia had gone to Camden to try to watch, and 223 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:32,000 Speaker 1: they had not been able to see a balloon. Vauxhall 224 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:35,440 Speaker 1: Garden was surrounded by a tall wooden fence, and hundreds 225 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:39,200 Speaker 1: of people had paid a dollar apiece, significant money in 226 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:42,920 Speaker 1: these days to come inside to watch. People who did 227 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:45,000 Speaker 1: not have a dollar or just didn't want to pay 228 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:47,440 Speaker 1: it tried to get a glimpse from the outside, and 229 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:50,800 Speaker 1: the crowd included people who traveled in from Camden or 230 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:55,120 Speaker 1: from other places around Philadelphia. The balloon was big enough 231 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:57,600 Speaker 1: that the top would be visible from the ground outside 232 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:00,800 Speaker 1: the fence once it was inflated, and people also climbed 233 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 1: onto roofs and into trees to get a better view. 234 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:07,640 Speaker 1: Counting the ticket holders and the people outside the fence, 235 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:12,560 Speaker 1: roughly thirty thousand people were estimated to be there. Monsieur 236 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:16,560 Speaker 1: Michelle started filling the balloon with gas at about two PM, 237 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:21,520 Speaker 1: and at seven pm it still was not ready. According 238 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:24,920 Speaker 1: to an article in the Rhode Island American published about 239 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:27,640 Speaker 1: a week after the incident, one of the reasons it 240 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:31,160 Speaker 1: was filling so slowly is that an impatient spectator had 241 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:33,120 Speaker 1: thrown a rock at it, and that rock had made 242 00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:36,520 Speaker 1: a hole that was continually letting gas out of the balloon. 243 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:42,000 Speaker 1: On the other hand, the Washington, DC Daily National Intelligencer 244 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:46,160 Speaker 1: said this rock puncture happened after the balloon had been 245 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:50,240 Speaker 1: somewhat filled at least and was partially aloft. Most of 246 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:52,960 Speaker 1: the documentation I found on this whole incident was in 247 00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:56,240 Speaker 1: news reports, and all of them are slightly different from 248 00:15:56,240 --> 00:16:00,360 Speaker 1: one another. Vendors were selling food and drink at this event, 249 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:04,120 Speaker 1: and after a while a lot of the spectators were intoxicated. 250 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:07,520 Speaker 1: A detail that most of the accounts agree upon is 251 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:10,520 Speaker 1: that a boy in his mid teens climbed the fence. 252 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:14,040 Speaker 1: In some accounts, one of the garden attendants struck and 253 00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:18,360 Speaker 1: killed him. In others, the boy struck someone inside the 254 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:21,520 Speaker 1: fence with a stick, and that person either hit him 255 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:24,600 Speaker 1: back or hit a couple of children who happened to 256 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:29,600 Speaker 1: be nearby. Rumors spread that either this teenager or a 257 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:32,920 Speaker 1: young child had been killed, or maybe one of them 258 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:35,720 Speaker 1: really had been killed. All of this unclear. 259 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:40,120 Speaker 2: Whatever exactly the details, it sparked a riot in which 260 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:43,280 Speaker 2: the onlookers from the outside of the fence burst through it, 261 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:48,000 Speaker 2: tearing the balloon to shreds and lighting a lot of 262 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:52,880 Speaker 2: the garden on fire, including its pavilion and benches. Musicians 263 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:56,120 Speaker 2: had been hired to play for the day, and rioters 264 00:16:56,200 --> 00:17:00,240 Speaker 2: smashed their instruments. People robbed the vendors of their food 265 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:03,080 Speaker 2: and their alcohol and other wares, and somebody stole all 266 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:07,120 Speaker 2: the ticket money, which was about eight hundred dollars. Multiple 267 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:10,919 Speaker 2: people were injured, and by nine pm Vauxhall Gardens was 268 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:15,679 Speaker 2: basically destroyed. Its owner sold the property in the aftermath, 269 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:18,560 Speaker 2: and it changed hands a couple of times before eventually 270 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:23,600 Speaker 2: being rebuilt and reopened as an outdoor theater. In eighteen 271 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:26,399 Speaker 2: thirty eight, an ascent that was supposed to take place 272 00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:31,280 Speaker 2: in Cremorne Gardens in London similarly went wrong. The event 273 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:33,960 Speaker 2: was described this way in a nineteen oh seven book 274 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:36,760 Speaker 2: about the gardens quote. It was announced to ascend on 275 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:40,240 Speaker 2: May twenty four, and people began to assemble in the 276 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:43,639 Speaker 2: grounds at noon. By seven o'clock there were nearly five 277 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:48,399 Speaker 2: thousand spectators and behind a huge tarpaulin the balloon was 278 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:52,000 Speaker 2: supposed to be in the process of inflation. The balloon 279 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:54,080 Speaker 2: was attached to a platform in the middle of the lake, 280 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:57,639 Speaker 2: and its peculiarity was that it had to be inflated 281 00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:00,760 Speaker 2: by chopped straw burnt in a brazier under the orifice 282 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:04,720 Speaker 2: of the bag. The size of the furnace had been miscalculated, 283 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:08,520 Speaker 2: and after the balloon had twice been set on fire, 284 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:13,240 Speaker 2: the intrepid aeronaut decided not to ascend. Some of the 285 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:16,880 Speaker 2: spectators considered that at any rate the balloon could be punished, 286 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:21,439 Speaker 2: and a well directed volley of stones soon left the 287 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:25,520 Speaker 2: monster prostrate on the lake. An attempt was made to 288 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:28,720 Speaker 2: drag it on shore and tear it in pieces, but 289 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:31,879 Speaker 2: at this moment the cord broke. Some of the rowdier 290 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:35,520 Speaker 2: spirits now sought out the proprietor, hoping to duck him 291 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:38,480 Speaker 2: in one of his own ponds, and when this failed, 292 00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:43,840 Speaker 2: they attacked the glass planes of the Lion's conservatory. Not 293 00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:47,760 Speaker 2: seemed like a great idea, but suddenly the police appeared 294 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:51,720 Speaker 2: and Vesuvius burst forth in all of its fury, and 295 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:56,280 Speaker 2: when the fireworks were over, the visitors quietly dispersed. In 296 00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:58,840 Speaker 2: case that last bit is not totally clear, this park 297 00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:01,920 Speaker 2: had a panorama of Mount Vesuvius, and they set off 298 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:04,479 Speaker 2: fireworks from there at night, and they basically started the 299 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:07,399 Speaker 2: fireworks display to try to get everybody to focus on 300 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:12,560 Speaker 2: something else. A riot in Sydney, Australia, on December eighteenth, 301 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:17,320 Speaker 2: eighteen fifty six was also similar. French balloonist Pierre Magre 302 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:22,000 Speaker 2: hoped to make Australia's first successful balloon flight. Roughly five 303 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:24,800 Speaker 2: thousand people had gathered by two pm, which is when 304 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:28,080 Speaker 2: he was supposed to start inflating the balloon with hot air, 305 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:31,359 Speaker 2: but he didn't actually get started until three PM, and 306 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:34,919 Speaker 2: the crowd continued to grow and to become more and 307 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:39,000 Speaker 2: more impatient. As the balloon slowly filled, people started to 308 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:41,520 Speaker 2: doubt that it was even possible to inflate the balloon 309 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 2: because it seemed like the material was just too heavy. 310 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:48,359 Speaker 2: They added more fuel to the fire. Things started to 311 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 2: move a little bit faster, and eventually the balloon did 312 00:19:51,359 --> 00:19:54,680 Speaker 2: start to ascend, but the cords that had been used 313 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:57,080 Speaker 2: to tether it were dangling, and one of them got 314 00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:01,280 Speaker 2: caught in something. The effort to un tangle that trailing 315 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:03,960 Speaker 2: cord wound up releasing a lot of the hot air 316 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:07,640 Speaker 2: out of the balloon. As the balloon started to deflate, 317 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:10,840 Speaker 2: people from the less expensive outer part of the viewing 318 00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:15,720 Speaker 2: area rushed to the inside. Either the balloon caught fire 319 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:18,240 Speaker 2: or someone set it on fire. I feel like that's 320 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:22,080 Speaker 2: a frequent refrain in this episode. Somebody had possibly kicked 321 00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:24,399 Speaker 2: the fire that had been used to fill it, and 322 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:26,720 Speaker 2: then people started chanting burn. 323 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:30,199 Speaker 1: The balloon, Burn the balloon. The fire spread to the 324 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:33,000 Speaker 1: tent where the wine and straw used for fuel had 325 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:37,080 Speaker 1: been stored, and that caught fire as well. Megra was 326 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:41,360 Speaker 1: forced to flee during the early stages of its inflation. 327 00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:44,560 Speaker 1: This balloon had been suspended from a cord that was 328 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:48,720 Speaker 1: draped between two poles, and in this chaos people started 329 00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:52,280 Speaker 1: knocking down the poles. One of them hit two children 330 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:56,240 Speaker 1: as it fell. Eleven year old Thomas Downs was reported 331 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:59,800 Speaker 1: to have died of a skull fracture two days after this. 332 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:04,640 Speaker 1: An inquest found Meg to be responsible, describing him as 333 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:09,919 Speaker 1: the quote perpetrator of the sham balloon incident and censuring 334 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:13,800 Speaker 1: him a little more than a year later, on February first, 335 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:17,520 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty eight, Joseph Dean went aloft in a balloon 336 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:21,600 Speaker 1: filled with coal gas, taking off from Cremorne Gardens in Melbourne, 337 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:26,439 Speaker 1: Australia and succeeding where Pierre Magra had not. Then, on 338 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:31,520 Speaker 1: February fifteenth, Charles Henry Brown did the same. Both men 339 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:34,240 Speaker 1: had been hired by George Coppin, who was a theater 340 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:38,720 Speaker 1: entrepreneur who also funded both of the ascents. But according 341 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:42,760 Speaker 1: to Brown's account, this crowd was angry with him when 342 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:46,280 Speaker 1: he returned. This might have been because they got bored 343 00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:48,680 Speaker 1: since he had taken off really late in the day, 344 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:52,120 Speaker 1: or it could have been because Coppin had offered a 345 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:55,800 Speaker 1: reward for the safe return of the balloon. If something 346 00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:59,280 Speaker 1: went wrong with the launch, people might have wanted to 347 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,439 Speaker 1: claim that reward, even though nothing had gone wrong and 348 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:06,360 Speaker 1: Brown was still in possession of the balloon. In Brown's 349 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:09,399 Speaker 1: words quote on my descent, I was treated in a 350 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:13,320 Speaker 1: most brutal manner by the people assembled. Why I know not, 351 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:17,120 Speaker 1: but they tore the hair from my head, bruised, crushed, 352 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:21,119 Speaker 1: and almost suffocated me, besides damaging the balloon by tugging 353 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:24,399 Speaker 1: at and trampling on it. This does not apply to 354 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:27,080 Speaker 1: mister Hugh Peck of Collingwood, to whom I am under 355 00:22:27,119 --> 00:22:30,480 Speaker 1: the obligation of returning the balloon to Cremorne in safety 356 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:34,800 Speaker 1: and declining to receive any remuneration for his trouble. Mister 357 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:38,120 Speaker 1: Needham of the gas works assisted in extricating me from 358 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:43,000 Speaker 1: the savages. Probably the most thoroughly documented and well known 359 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:47,000 Speaker 1: balloon riot took place in Leicester, England, in eighteen sixty four, 360 00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:49,840 Speaker 1: and we will get to that after a sponsor break. 361 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:03,640 Speaker 1: Sixty four Leicster balloon riot involved a balloonist who had 362 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:08,320 Speaker 1: become particularly well known because of an earlier incidence that 363 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:13,800 Speaker 1: did not involve a riot that was Henry Tracy Coxwell. 364 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:17,520 Speaker 1: Coxwell was born in eighteen nineteen and had trained originally 365 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:19,760 Speaker 1: as a dentist, but he had shifted a lot of 366 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:23,720 Speaker 1: his focus to ballooning after taking his first balloon flight 367 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:29,320 Speaker 1: at the age of twenty five. He undertook numerous balloon launches, 368 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:33,640 Speaker 1: primarily in and around London, including in London's Vauxhall Gardens 369 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:38,879 Speaker 1: and Cremorne Gardens, which were ticketed money making entertainment events. 370 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:44,879 Speaker 1: This earlier incident also involved doctor James Glacier. Glacier was 371 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:47,760 Speaker 1: born in eighteen oh nine and he was a meteorologist 372 00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:52,800 Speaker 1: who wanted to conduct experiments aboard balloons. He undertook twenty 373 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:56,679 Speaker 1: eight balloon ascents during his career, many of them with Coxwell, 374 00:23:57,080 --> 00:24:00,119 Speaker 1: often with funding from the British Association for the van 375 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:05,720 Speaker 1: of Science. The two men had launched from Wolverhampton, England, 376 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:09,919 Speaker 1: on September fifth, eighteen sixty two. Glacier was equipped with 377 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:14,800 Speaker 1: photographic plates, what bulb thermometers, a hygrometer and other instruments 378 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:17,560 Speaker 1: to study the atmosphere and weather as they ascended to 379 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:22,080 Speaker 1: high altitudes. They also had several pigeons aboard to see 380 00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:26,520 Speaker 1: how those pigeons would fly at high altitudes. We don't 381 00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:29,560 Speaker 1: really need to get into the detail, but only one 382 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:34,040 Speaker 1: of the pigeons seems to have survived this journey. By 383 00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:36,919 Speaker 1: one forty PM, they had reached an elevation of about 384 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:40,840 Speaker 1: four miles or more than twenty one thousand feet. They 385 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:44,720 Speaker 1: continued to ascend in about ten minutes. After that, Glacier 386 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:47,760 Speaker 1: realized he could no longer see the mercury column in 387 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:50,879 Speaker 1: the wet bulb thermometer, or the hands of his watch, 388 00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:54,440 Speaker 1: or any other fine detail on any of his instruments. 389 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:59,200 Speaker 1: Glacier asked Coxwell for help, but just then the balloon's 390 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:02,480 Speaker 1: valve line came entangled and Coxwell had to fix it. 391 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:07,320 Speaker 1: Glacier had already noticed that Coxwell seemed winded, and Glacier 392 00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:09,919 Speaker 1: had attributed that to the physical work that he was 393 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:13,879 Speaker 1: having to do around the balloon. But shortly after Coxwell 394 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:17,520 Speaker 1: went to fix this valve line. In Glacier's words, quote, 395 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:20,760 Speaker 1: I laid my arm upon the table, possessed of its 396 00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:24,280 Speaker 1: full vigor, but on being desirous of using it, I 397 00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:28,760 Speaker 1: found it powerless. It must have lost its power. Momentarily 398 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:32,399 Speaker 1: trying to move the other arm, I found it powerless also. 399 00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:35,679 Speaker 1: Then I tried to shake myself and succeeded, but I 400 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:39,679 Speaker 1: seemed to have no limbs, and looking at the barometer, 401 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:43,199 Speaker 1: my head fell over my left shoulder. I struggled and 402 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:46,040 Speaker 1: shook my body again, but could not move my arms, 403 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:49,400 Speaker 1: getting my head upright for an instant only it fell 404 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:52,760 Speaker 1: on my right shoulder. Then I fell backwards, my back 405 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:55,560 Speaker 1: resting against the side of the car and my head 406 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:59,720 Speaker 1: on its edge. In this position, my eyes were directed 407 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:02,480 Speaker 1: to me mister Coxwell in the ring. When I shook 408 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:04,920 Speaker 1: my body, I seemed to have full power over the 409 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:08,040 Speaker 1: muscles of the back, and considerably so over those of 410 00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:11,720 Speaker 1: the neck, but none over either my arms or my legs, 411 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:15,680 Speaker 1: as in the case of the arms, so all muscular 412 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:18,879 Speaker 1: power was lost in an instant from my back and neck. 413 00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:22,560 Speaker 1: I dimly saw mister Coxwell and endeavored to speak, but 414 00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:27,199 Speaker 1: could not. In an instant, intense darkness overcame me, so 415 00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:30,600 Speaker 1: that the optic nerve lost power suddenly, but I was 416 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:33,520 Speaker 1: still conscious with as active a brain as at the 417 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:36,560 Speaker 1: present moment. Whilst writing this, I thought I had been 418 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:40,720 Speaker 1: seized with asphyxia, and believed I should experience nothing more, 419 00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:46,480 Speaker 1: as death would come unless we speedily descended. Glacier then 420 00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:49,560 Speaker 1: lost consciousness and a few minutes later became aware of 421 00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:54,200 Speaker 1: Coxwell trying to rouse him. Coxwell had nearly lost consciousness 422 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:57,240 Speaker 1: as well and had started to lose control of his limbs. 423 00:26:57,800 --> 00:26:59,879 Speaker 1: Coxwell had realized that they had to get to a 424 00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:03,119 Speaker 1: lower altitude, and since he couldn't use his hands, he 425 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:05,480 Speaker 1: had managed to open the valve to release some of 426 00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:08,320 Speaker 1: the gas from the balloon by grabbing the cord with 427 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:12,359 Speaker 1: his teeth. Coxwell still couldn't use his hands by the 428 00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:16,200 Speaker 1: time Glacier regained consciousness, and Glacier tried to treat them 429 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:20,800 Speaker 1: by pouring brandy over them. The last barometer reading that 430 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:24,359 Speaker 1: Glacier was able to record as they ascended suggested that 431 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:26,560 Speaker 1: at that point they were at an altitude of about 432 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:29,560 Speaker 1: twenty nine thousand feet, and then after that he had 433 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:33,680 Speaker 1: lost consciousness, but they were still climbing when he lost consciousness, 434 00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:36,280 Speaker 1: and they are estimated to have reached an altitude of 435 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:40,479 Speaker 1: thirty seven thousand feet or just over seven miles in 436 00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:44,920 Speaker 1: other words, in the cruising altitude ranged for today's commercial airliners. 437 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:49,600 Speaker 1: Neither man fully understood what had happened to them physiologically, 438 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:53,679 Speaker 1: at that elevation, but his words spread about the terrifying flight. 439 00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:56,600 Speaker 1: It was obvious to everyone that they would have died 440 00:27:56,640 --> 00:28:00,439 Speaker 1: if Coxwell had not managed to open that valve. This 441 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:05,160 Speaker 1: experience did not discourage Glacier from his scientific pursuits on balloons, 442 00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:09,800 Speaker 1: though he got back to work almost immediately after regaining consciousness, 443 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:13,879 Speaker 1: and twenty one of his scientific balloon flights happened after 444 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:18,560 Speaker 1: this one. Almost two years later, on July eleventh, eighteen 445 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:22,119 Speaker 1: sixty four, Coxwell, who was famous from this earlier experience, 446 00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:25,040 Speaker 1: planned a balloon ascent that was to take place at 447 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:29,720 Speaker 1: a Forester's fete at a racecourse in Leicester. The Foresters 448 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:33,280 Speaker 1: are a friendly society also known as a Mutual Aid Society, 449 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,800 Speaker 1: which had been established as the Ancient Order of Foresters 450 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:40,160 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty four. For this, Coxwell was going to 451 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:43,520 Speaker 1: test a new balloon called the Britannia, and it was 452 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:45,480 Speaker 1: going to be attached to the car that he had 453 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:50,560 Speaker 1: used for his experimental flights with Glacier. The plan was 454 00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:54,160 Speaker 1: for a group of passengers, including two women, to go 455 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:58,120 Speaker 1: aloft with him. Coxwell later wrote a letter to the 456 00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 1: editor at the Times describing what happened. He noted that 457 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:04,720 Speaker 1: no real barrier had been erected around the launch site 458 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:06,920 Speaker 1: and that he had to quote beg hard for a 459 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:09,960 Speaker 1: policeman to be present. He had heard that there were 460 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:13,120 Speaker 1: only eight on site for an event with an estimated 461 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:18,000 Speaker 1: fifty thousand people. According to an eyewitness statement, no arrangements 462 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:20,640 Speaker 1: had been made for keeping the ground around the balloon clear. 463 00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:24,320 Speaker 1: There was just a temporary barrier which was quickly knocked 464 00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:27,080 Speaker 1: down by the crowd, and that made it impossible for 465 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:29,360 Speaker 1: Coxwell to do what he needed to do with the 466 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:31,480 Speaker 1: balloon before the flight could even begin. 467 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:36,240 Speaker 2: According to Coxwell quote, early in the afternoon, a gentleman 468 00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:39,800 Speaker 2: reported to be a provincial aeronaut gave it out that 469 00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:43,320 Speaker 2: the balloon then present was not my largest and newest balloon, 470 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:47,720 Speaker 2: but a small one. This was a cruel libel, and aroused. 471 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:51,680 Speaker 2: I was told an angry feeling among the visitors. The 472 00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:55,560 Speaker 2: lack of policeman to maintain order soon manifested itself, For 473 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:59,200 Speaker 2: on a band entering the balloon ground, the boards were 474 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:02,680 Speaker 2: carried at once, and thousands of persons broke in and 475 00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:07,280 Speaker 2: harassed my operations excessively. It was in vain that I 476 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:11,040 Speaker 2: entreated for and that several gentlemen succeeded in clearing an 477 00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:16,120 Speaker 2: open space the deficiency of strong barriers having afforded access. 478 00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:20,080 Speaker 2: All subsequent attempts to stop the tide of human pressure 479 00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:21,720 Speaker 2: proved unavailing. 480 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:26,240 Speaker 1: The crowd demanded that he take off immediately, but he couldn't. 481 00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:28,960 Speaker 1: Some supports that had been put up to hold the 482 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:32,280 Speaker 1: balloon while it was being inflated needed to be taken down, 483 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:34,960 Speaker 1: but the crew that was supposed to do that wasn't 484 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:38,560 Speaker 1: even there. Coxwell threatened to let the gas out of 485 00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:41,720 Speaker 1: the balloon unless the crowd got itself under control, because 486 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 1: they were creating a dangerous situation. Police officers arrived and 487 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:49,240 Speaker 1: they started trying to clear the area around the balloon, 488 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:53,000 Speaker 1: but when Coxwell started releasing the gas, the crowd became 489 00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:57,160 Speaker 1: enraged and attacked it. There were also rumors that police 490 00:30:57,160 --> 00:31:01,960 Speaker 1: officers had struck a woman. Police sergeant led Coxwell away 491 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:04,560 Speaker 1: from all of this, but in his words, quote, my 492 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:08,120 Speaker 1: clothes were soon torn, and then the cry was raised, 493 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:11,720 Speaker 1: rip him up, knock him in the head, finish him, 494 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:15,880 Speaker 1: et cetera, all of which would have inevitably been executed 495 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:21,040 Speaker 1: had I not followed the inspector's advice. The crowd set 496 00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:24,280 Speaker 1: fire to the balloon car and tore the balloon to pieces. 497 00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:28,360 Speaker 1: Many of these pieces were then sold as souvenirs. The 498 00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:31,880 Speaker 1: balloon's hoop was not flammable, and the crowd paraded it 499 00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:36,520 Speaker 1: around the streets. Coxwell attributed this incident to a lack 500 00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:40,720 Speaker 1: of foresight in not providing enough policeman for a forester's bet. 501 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:45,200 Speaker 1: He asked the foresters for compensation for this incident and 502 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:48,000 Speaker 1: for the destruction of his equipment, but because of the 503 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:52,520 Speaker 1: Aid Society's rules, this wasn't something they could just do immediately. 504 00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:54,800 Speaker 1: There was like a whole process that had to happen 505 00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:59,240 Speaker 1: before giving away the Society's money. Other people in Lester 506 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:03,200 Speaker 1: raised funds totaling more than eight hundred pounds to try 507 00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:06,840 Speaker 1: to compensate him. Although Glacier doesn't seem to have been 508 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:10,640 Speaker 1: involved in this ascension attempt, the destruction of the balloon 509 00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:13,320 Speaker 1: and the car that he had used for his experiments 510 00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:17,960 Speaker 1: did cause a setback in his meteorological research. He later 511 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:20,920 Speaker 1: returned to the sky in one of Coxwell's old balloons, 512 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:23,560 Speaker 1: equipped with a new car, but it seems like the 513 00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:25,960 Speaker 1: two men had a more personal falling out at some 514 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:29,800 Speaker 1: point after this. The details regarding that don't seem to 515 00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:34,880 Speaker 1: be well documented. The twenty nineteen movie The Aeronauts stars 516 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:38,840 Speaker 1: Eddie Redmain as James Glacier, but Henry Tracy Coxwell is 517 00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:42,360 Speaker 1: just not depicted in the movie. It seems like this 518 00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:45,840 Speaker 1: was one of the last big balloon riots, not because 519 00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:48,520 Speaker 1: of some kind of change in the psychology and dynamics 520 00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:52,640 Speaker 1: of sometimes drunken crowds, but because ballooning stopped being such 521 00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:55,640 Speaker 1: a huge fad and it stopped drawing those kinds of 522 00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:59,560 Speaker 1: crowds of expectant onlookers. 523 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:05,800 Speaker 2: And that there's balloon riots. I have some listener mail 524 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:09,440 Speaker 2: to take us out. This actually is from a little 525 00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:12,560 Speaker 2: bit ago. This is from Christy who wrote after our 526 00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:16,240 Speaker 2: episode on Soap. Christy wrote and said, Dear Holly and Tracy, 527 00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:19,160 Speaker 2: I love listening to the podcast during my commute. I 528 00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:22,960 Speaker 2: probably only have my PhD in s y MIHC if 529 00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:25,400 Speaker 2: I was the kind of student who skips classes because 530 00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:27,360 Speaker 2: I've listened for a very long time, but I've also 531 00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:30,680 Speaker 2: had a couple of year plus gaps. In your recent 532 00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:34,520 Speaker 2: episode on Soap, you mentioned an earlier not technically soap 533 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:37,680 Speaker 2: product related to wool. It's a bit of a tangent, 534 00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:41,000 Speaker 2: but I thought you might enjoy hearing about suwant fermentation. 535 00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:44,320 Speaker 2: It's a method of cleaning raw wool that relies on 536 00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:47,960 Speaker 2: fermentation of natural sweat and minerals in the wool with 537 00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:52,200 Speaker 2: rain water to create a cleaning substance. Supposedly also stinks 538 00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:54,520 Speaker 2: like you wouldn't believe, so I may put off trying 539 00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:57,120 Speaker 2: it until I have somewhere it wouldn't bother me to 540 00:33:57,200 --> 00:34:00,280 Speaker 2: let it sit. Thank you so much for the work 541 00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:03,480 Speaker 2: you put into thoughtfully selecting and researching topics, presenting them 542 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:05,520 Speaker 2: with care, and sharing them own way that is both 543 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:08,840 Speaker 2: personable and informative. As a pet tax, please see my 544 00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:12,160 Speaker 2: ten year old dog Zelda. While we usually say she 545 00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:15,600 Speaker 2: is a Sheba husky mix, looks like Sheba size of 546 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:19,480 Speaker 2: a husky, Her adoption paperwork listed four different variations on 547 00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:22,640 Speaker 2: breed mixes, and a DNA test said she was a mutt, 548 00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:26,640 Speaker 2: high percentage of Asian slash Arctic breeds, and a moderate 549 00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:31,480 Speaker 2: percentage of terrier. All my best, Christie, this is a 550 00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:35,840 Speaker 2: cute little puppy dog. I am not good at a 551 00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:39,040 Speaker 2: described I'm like, what do I want to say about 552 00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:42,480 Speaker 2: this dog? A kind of fox? Like face and ears 553 00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:46,840 Speaker 2: and a mostly kind of buff and hand color coat, 554 00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:52,319 Speaker 2: looking very happy sitting under some hydranchas in bloom. Thank 555 00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:54,880 Speaker 2: you so much for sending this dog picture and about 556 00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:57,680 Speaker 2: suant for vacation. I'm not a thing that I had 557 00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:01,759 Speaker 2: ever heard of, and in fact misread when reading the 558 00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:07,440 Speaker 2: email initially as Sue it, which is not quite the 559 00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:12,239 Speaker 2: same thing, not at all the same thing, really, If 560 00:35:12,239 --> 00:35:14,239 Speaker 2: you would like to send us a note about this 561 00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:17,279 Speaker 2: or any other podcasts, where a history podcasts at iHeartRadio 562 00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:20,400 Speaker 2: dot com, and you can subscribe to the show on 563 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:22,879 Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app and anywhere else you'd like to get 564 00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:31,080 Speaker 2: your podcasts. Stuff you missed in History Class is a 565 00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:35,480 Speaker 2: production of iHeartRadio. 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