BALLOON TRIP ON A DARE (09-08-1908)

BALLOON TRIP ON A DARE.

Young Man at Young Woman’s Word Makes Ascent and Lands Safely.

SAN JOSE, Cal., Sept. 7. — Accepting a dare from a young woman, Fred Biaggi, the 18-year-old son of a prune rancher, yesterday made an unheralded aeronautic ascent that thrilled hundreds of spectators.  Running forward just as W. I. Warring, the professional parachute artist, cut loose from the ground, Biaggi sprang into the cordage at the mouth of the bag and was carried upward to a height estimated at 6,000 feet.

Warring, with his parachute, cut loose at an elevation of 2,500 feet, and with Biaggi as its solitary passenger the balloon drifted over the hills of the coast range until it was almost lost to view.  His weight prevented the sudden escape of the gas, and after two hours of suspense among his friends, he returned to town, having landed without injury.
Originally published in The New York Times on Tuesday, September 8, 1908