Montgomery County Sentinel

Floyd Gibbons

ADVENTURERS' CLUB

Hello, Everybody!

"Shot Into the Sky"

By FLOYD GIBBONS

Famous Headline Hunter.

HOW would you like to hear the story of the greatest thrill in life of a man whose business is giving thrills?

You would? Well, listen then to Romeo Moreau. From his name you might think that Romeo's thrills are along romantic lines, but you would be only half right.

Romeo Moreau is a professional daredevil and he thrills 'em thousands of the air! He is a balloon performer and parachute jumper and back in 1933, while in the employ of a balloon company he got the scare of his adventurous life.

Have you ever seen the "human cannon ball" at the circus get shot out of his cannon? Well, that death-defying stunt is only part of the star act that Romeo performs.

Romeo gets into his cannon, suspended from a balloon! Cannon, Romeo and balloon then go soaring into the air, and when all are some thousands of feet in the sky Romeo fires himself out of the cannon, and after falling freely for a breath-taking minute opens the parachute and floats gently to the ground.

At least that's what happens when everything goes right. But one night, Romeo says, things went wrong. Romeo had done the stunt many times at carnivals and fairs throughout the country—in the daylight—and when the boss asked him to perform it at night by searchlight, Romeo agreed.

The occasion was the celebration of Labor week by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, held at a carnival lot, and Romeo decided that you had to give those ex-soldiers a hot show to thrill them. It turned out hotter than he expected.

The night was damp, Romeo says, and it took some time to dry out the balloon, but along about midnight the boss gave him the signal to climb into his coffin-like cannon, and with a sweep the big balloon shot into the air.

It Was All in a Night's Work to Romeo.

Romeo carried a lighted cigar with him with which to set off the fuse, and he puffed it placidly waiting for the balloon to gain the desired height.

Down on the ground 20,000 spectators crammed the grounds and thousands of automobiles lined the country roads—their headlights making a weird pattern on the ground. Powerful searchlights shot their rays into the air and lit the balloon up splendidly.

The boss on the field congratulated himself on the thrilling spectacle, and as the balloon reached an estimated height of 4,000 feet he shot a signal bomb into the air, which was to tell Romeo it was time to turn himself into a human cannon ball.

They Saw the Aeronaut Shoot Out from the Cannon.

Romeo lit the fuse.

Bang! The faint report from the cannon came to the ears of the spectators, and through the smoke and fire of its explosion they saw the tiny body of the aeronaut shoot out from the cannon's mouth to fall like a comet toward the distant earth.

Thousands of throats set up a mighty shout of applause and car sirens clamored at the exciting spectacle. One group alone stood silently staring upward—their anxious faces pale in the dead white of the searchlights. They were the balloon crew and the boss, who alone knew what had happened.

The audience thought the live sparks falling from the body was part of the act. But the boss and the crew knew that something had gone wrong.

A Thrill for the Crowd—AND the Performer.

The jumper's parachute was afire, and unless a miracle happened Romeo was on his last jump. There was only one hope and that was that the sudden opening of the chute might put out the flames before they had burned too far.

Suddenly the chute opened—a breathless moment as a puff of smoke stood out black and menacing against the white of the silk—then it faded away and the tiny body swung—safe for the moment—but falling all too fast.

While the thrilled crowd roared its approval of the act, the boss and his crew hurried in a car to where the chute was heading.

They found Romeo alive but suffering from burns and shock, and as they carried him away he told them the story.

What happened was this. When Romeo lit the fuse—damp from the night air—it sputtered and back-fired, and in a second he found himself enveloped in sparks.

Human Body Afire in the Night Sky.

It was too late to stop the action of the cannon, and with the thought of sure death in his mind he shot into space afire!

As he fell, Romeo—with the steel nerves of a performer—tried to beat out the sparks in the silk of his folded chute pack. It was impossible so he jerked the rip cord and hoped for the best. The chute opened as we know, but as Romeo swung underneath it he saw with horror that the fire had burned several holes in the fabric.

Romeo thought each second would be his last—that one of the holes would rip under the strain and drop him like a rock to the ground—but the miracle had happened and he was safe.

The whole fall took only a few minutes, but Romeo says it seemed like hours to him as he floated there—like a soul on the River Styx—between life and death!

And that, boys and girls, was the greatest thrill to a man who deals in thrills.