Macon Beacon

RAIN MAKERS.

An Interesting Discovery Made By One of the Party in a Balloon.

The active work of sky bombardment to produce rain was commenced near El Paso, Tex., by Mr. Ellis and his associates shortly after 10 o'clock Friday morning. To prove the immense force exerted on the air currents by even a slight explosion Mr. Ellis, the hero of the sensational ascension of Thursday, relates a peculiar experience. While he was almost a mile above ground, and probably three or four miles from the starting point, Prof. Kessler exploded some half dozen charges of dynamite. These charges were small, four sticks of the explosive, weighing each one-half pound, were set off at a time. "Yes," said Mr. Ellis Friday, "I felt the effects of these explosions. First I saw the puff of smoke. A few seconds later came the dull deadened reports; then to my great surprise the side of the balloon nearest the scene of the explosion collapsed slightly, with a sharp crack, the folds continuing to quiver and vibrate from the effects of the shock for several seconds after. If that does not conclusively prove that explosions cause a commingling of upper air currents, I would like to know why and if the concussion resultant upon that charge of only two pounds of dynamite should produce such results, what must be the effects on the currents when we touch off one of these balloons, containing 500 cubic feet of one of the most powerful explosives ever invented? My instruments worked perfectly, and the data I obtained is already on my record."