NOW AGE THIRTY-EIGHT, and with sufficient income from his recent successes in India, Van Tassel decided to travel to London and develop a new strategy for exhibitions. He left India on July 31, 1891, having worked with the Freitas sisters to perform in front of eight rajas in both Burma and India.1 While in London, he reportedly made several ascents and parachute descents in mid-August at a naval exhibition there, although yet again it seems that reporters may have confused Van Tassel with Percival Spencer, who is known to have performed at the same exhibition.2 However, one thing is certain: while in London, Van Tassel made arrangements to return to India and provide a sponsored balloon ascension for the Graphic, a London-based weekly illustrated newspaper. He planned to make use of a very large new balloon for a spectacular cross-country journey from Calcutta to Bombay, a distance of 1,400 miles.3 It would be the first flight of its kind in India. Van Tassel left London for Paris, to secure this new balloon, which was reportedly made of silk and had a capacity of 100,000 cubic feet.4 He was accompanied by a reporter from the Graphic, who was to provide an accounting of the journey and flight for the newspaper.5 After purchasing the balloon, they traveled to Turin, Italy, and from there to the coastal port of Brindisi, Italy, before departing in early September for a return to Southeast Asia.6
His return to India is mysterious. It seems he first visited Sumatra to continue his daredevil ways before heading to Bombay.7 And things did not go well in Sumatra. He was reported to have died, having “fallen 500 feet from his balloon.”8 Details of the near disaster are difficult to obtain, but the stories suggested that he parachuted through the hatch on a ship, fracturing his skull.9 It seems that Van Tassel traveled rather quickly from Sumatra to Calcutta, where once again, for a third time in his life, he was reported in newspapers as having met a “shocking death”:
It was in India that he had one thrilling escape. On the banks of the sacred Ganges he ascended in the presence of the Majarajah [sic] of Boad. Boats had been provided to use in case of a mishap, and when the aeronaut and his parachute dropped into the rain-swollen torrent, the native boatmen stood by in wondering helplessness. The life-preserver that he had strapped around him saved Van Tassel from sinking, but the current sent him swiftly down the river, so swiftly that when the boatmen recovered from their surprise and set out after him they could not overtake him. For seven miles he swam and drifted down stream, and finally the sacred river threw him, weary and chilled upon its sodden banks.10
However, the very much still alive Park Van Tassel responded to the international press, indicating that the repeated reports of his death were premature. It remains unclear if the real Park Van Tassel was making the jumps or if some imposter was doing this in his name.
As further evidence that all of the above was likely the result of a different Park Van Tassel, it is known from passenger lists that the real Park Van Tassel arrived at Bombay from London on October 4, 1891, aboard the Peshawur.11 Thus it is either that the real Van Tassel traveled back and forth to London a second time after his mishap in Calcutta in September 1891 or he never did make it to Sumatra and Calcutta, and the stories were the result of an imposter.
Despite this confusion, it became increasingly clear that Park wasn’t going to be attempting further parachute jumps on his own, because the manifest from the Peshawur indicates that Park arrived with a woman, Jeanette “Jenny” Rumary.12 Jeanette was born in 1865 to George John Rumary and Jane Tingley. At times Jeanette claimed to be either Park’s wife, daughter, or another relation. Whatever the actual relationship, with quite a difference in age, they came to India calling themselves “Mr. and Mrs. Van Tassell,” with Jeanette eager to take the place of the Freitas sisters in jumps with parachutes as a part of a revised Van Tassell Troupe. Nothing is known of Jeanette’s background or her prior experience in ballooning, but it is clear that they met in London during his trip. The previously arranged cross-country flight from Calcutta to Bombay was pushed to early 1892, when prevailing winds were thought to be more appropriate.
A balloon ascension and parachute descent by Jeanette, performing as Jeanette Van Tassel, at Victoria Gardens in Byculla (a suburb of Bombay), was postponed from October 16 to October 18 due to an inability to get the gas balloon inflated in time, likely because of issues with piping. The large gathering of people who assembled on October 16 were disappointed, having already waited three and a half hours.13 Arrangements were made for Jeanette to carry one thousand small printed advertisement cards to be dropped from 1,000 feet during her ascent.14 Four of these certificates would be promissory notes for Rs 500, also entitling the holder to receive a discount of 25 percent on goods purchased at Southwell & Austin, Limited, a dressmaker on Hornby Row in Bombay.15 The commissioner of police made sure that those who were turned away on October 16 were given access on October 18. For unknown reasons, he also prevented Jeanette from carrying the tissue paper certificates aloft. The issues with the gas piping were fixed, and the balloon was filled rapidly, well before the scheduled ascent at 4:30 p.m. The gardens, roads, and rooftops all became filled with people as Jeannette appeared at 4:45 p.m. in a satin, yellow-gold robe designed by a prominent costumer by the name of Wörth.16 She took her position on the trapeze bar and at 4:50 p.m. she was released to the sky. Just in case the balloon headed to sea, she went aloft with a life buoy attached to the parachute ring. At about 3,000 feet, Park Van Tassel ordered for a gun to be fired. Jeannette jumped, and after a rapid fall of about 100 feet, the parachute slowly expanded. She floated down to a landing on the roof of Elias David Sassoon’s bungalow near Victoria Road. A ladder was required to get Jeanette and the parachute down from the roof. Twenty minutes later she was driven back into the gardens with Park and a man named Southwell Piper, who was likely their booking agent. Those in the exhibition area applauded Jeannette as she went back to her tent.
However, it seemed that one of the sailors who helped with the launch forgot to tie the escape valve in an open position to allow gas to slowly escape from the balloon, limiting the height of its flight. Free of Jeanette, the balloon shot higher in the sky. At about 5:30 p.m., it either burst or released its gas. It came down in rapid fashion in the direction of Butcher’s Island, landing either on the island or in the sea.17
Van Tassel continued to express his interest in a balloon journey from Calcutta to Bombay, perhaps to remove himself from the perils of parachute jumping or simply to be heard in the newspapers over the din of other daredevil parachute jumpers. A reporter noted:
When Mr. Spencer was performing on the balloon in Calcutta, it will be remembered that he thought at one time of trying a trip through the air to Bombay, and wished some gentleman to accompany him, but somehow or other the trip never came off. I see that Mr. Van Tassell is now thinking of carrying out the same idea, and of doing through the air what Lieutenant Varges lately did on horseback. The trip might be a very pleasant one if the wind currents could be dependent on, but that is the difficulty. A month spent in a balloon like Jules Verne’s intrepid explorers of Africa, looking down upon smiling villages, toiling ryots,18 grazing herds and flocks, as well as upon the haunts of the elephant and the tiger, with an occasional thunderstorm sending flashes of lightning round one’s head, all this would be pleasant indeed. But against this would have to be set the chance of getting drowned in the sea, or landing among the snows of the Himalayas. Landing in any part of India would be safe enough. If the wind currents can be relied on to blow steadily from the north-east at this time of the year, the journey might be accomplished, and would be a highly adventurous one. It is not, perhaps, generally known that balloons can travel very much quicker than railway trains. The highest recorded speed, I believe, is over two hundred miles an hour; so that with a strong breeze, and the advantage of a direct route and no stations to stop at, a balloonist might get from [sic] Bombay in a few hours.”19
In November, newspapers noted that Park was accompanied by “Miss Jeanette” rather than “Miss Valerie” or “Miss Gladys.”20 However, confusion remained about their marital status. For instance, in late 1891, “Mr. and Mrs. Van Tassell” provided two parachute exhibitions in Bombay—one by Park, the other by Jeanette—which were both successful. However, during Jeanette’s flight, the parachute did not open immediately, causing great concern.21 Their exhibitions in Bombay were honored by the presence of Colonel George Robert Canning Harris, the fourth Baron Harris, more generally known as Lord Harris, a British colonial administrator and governor of Bombay.22
On December 21, 1891, a telegram from Bombay to the press in San Francisco announced that Park Van Tassel would be traveling to Mysore to assist in rainmaking for the maharaja. The concept was simple enough, but it remains unknown if it was actually ever tried:
The parachutist Van Tassell, who visited Shanghai last year, has lately returned from England to India and will proceed under special agreement to Mysore, where the Maharajah, who has taken up the idea of rain-making operations, wishes to utilize his experience. Mr. Van Tassell believes he will not have the slightest difficulty in producing rain by the methods so successfully employed in America; namely, by explosions of dynamite, etc., at altitudes varying from 3,000 to 4,000 feet by means of balloons. Should these experiments succeed, and Mr. Van Tassell receive sufficient inducement and assistance from Government, he will at once erect a balloon manufactory to meet requirements. Mr. Van Tassell’s next idea is, some time in December, to make a trip in one of his large gas balloons across India, from Calcutta to Bombay . . . . The aeronaut proposes to take with him a photographer, and he is said to have also reserved a seat in the car for an artist from one of the London illustrated papers, and in this way hopes to make the trip as full of interest to himself as to the public at large, by a publication of his experiences in cloudland, with sketches and photos of the various scenes passed over during the long aerial voyage.23
Park and Jeanette continued to Benares (now Varanasi), Allahabad (now Prayagraj), Delhi, Lucknow, Calcutta, and many other cities in India, performing parachute acts.24 In Calcutta they visited the portrait studios of F. Kapp & Co., which produced a set of cabinet cards that showed them in their aeronaut attire. Given that air currents for the Calcutta-to-Bombay flight would be best near the end of December, the journeys were generally in the north of India, making travel to Calcutta easier.25 However, as time went on and they still awaited delivery of their large cross-country balloon, Jeanette made additional parachute jumps at other locations in India. At Madras (modern-day Chennai), on Saturday, January 16, 1892, huge crowds gathered near the Elphinstone Hotel, on the roads, on the rooftops, everywhere—“the people who did not witness the ascent might almost be counted on the fingers of one’s hand.”26 Even the governor was a witness. At 5:15 p.m. the inflation began, but a high wind caused Park to be concerned. Despite the wind, Jeanette launched at 5:40 p.m. At first the balloon flew from Black Town (now Muthialpet) toward St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica, but at an altitude of about 7,500 feet, Jeanette encountered a new current and started for Kodumbaukum (now Kodambakkam) instead. She released to a successful parachute jump and landed in a set of paddy fields. Jeanette returned to the hotel to a hero’s ovation. A reporter quipped, “In the way of aerial ‘shows,’ Miss Van Tassell’s ascent and descent is unique and is the most graceful performance that can be imagined.”27 They left Madras on January 25 with their business manager, a Mr. Colville, headed for Calcutta to complete Park’s arrangements for his voyage across India.
Park noted to the press that “[India] was the only country in the world where such a trip could be made, there being no high mountains to disturb the currents of air which run steadily across the continent.”28 He felt it would be possible to travel as fast as 35 to 100 miles per hour at altitude, making the 1,400 miles in about fourteen to twenty-four hours. His balloon was being finished in Bombay in February 1892, and he expected it to be delivered to him in Calcutta by the end of the month. Two passengers for the flight were already chosen, a special correspondent of the Graphic and a friend, “Mr. Mears.”29 The balloon was suggested to be capable of lifting 5,000 pounds of total weight. Van Tassel noted, “When a short distance from terra firma, I take some tissue paper cut into small squares out of my pocket and regulate myself accordingly as they float by my side, and land with their force. As soon as the car touches the ground, I tell my visitors to step out. Then I get out, and as soon as the car is clear I burst my balloon with one rip, and up she goes for a quarter of a mile and collapses.”30
On February 13, 1892, Park and Jeanette made arrangements for a balloon ascension and parachute descent at Calcutta as a part of a large flower show at the Agri-Horticultural Society Gardens.31 As it turned out, the large barracks and parade grounds occupied by the Seventeenth Bengal Infantry were directly opposite the gardens. As the balloon launch neared, at about 4:45 p.m., the soldiers began to clear away the crowd that was assembling on their parade grounds to avoid paying the fee to be closer to the balloon. These spectators did not leave as quickly as the soldiers desired. When the troops forced the issue, the spectators rushed en masse across the road in front of the garden gate. An Inspector Creagan and several European constables attempted to clear the massive crowd from the gateway. In the confusion, a noncommissioned military officer got in the way and was arrested by the police and taken away. Several key individuals tried to pacify the soldiers by suggesting that the local police would control the rest of the scene and that the soldiers could return to their barracks. However, when the soldiers realized that their officer had been arrested, they requested his release and police officers refused. This sent the soldiers into a rage. They began “upsetting stalls, breaking bottles, and assaulting people . . . then commenced a fusillade of bottles, stones, pieces of bricks, anything that came handy, against the gate and anybody inside the gardens.” A European by the name of Constable Donahue was caught up in the melee outside the gardens and was injured, requiring rescue. Meanwhile, the honorary secretary of the gardens, a Mr. Blechynden, was badly cut above one of his eyes after trying to come to the assistance of a Superintendent Hogg.
All this confusion happened shortly after the inflation of the balloon. While those inside the garden and its balloon enclosure were mindful of events happening just outside, Park continued filling the balloon with hot air and smoke, “engendered by burning box-wood saturated with kerosine oil in a flu, through which it passed into the balloon.”32 Dressed in “a suit of tight-fitting clothes,” Jeanette took her seat on the trapeze and assistant Slade Murray gave the signal to let go by firing a rifle. Jeanette ascended to about 2,500 feet and waited for the balloon to cool and slowly begin its descent. As it did so, the parachute expanded and she jumped, floating to Earth gracefully in roughly two minutes. Jeanette did her best to steer away from a grove of trees but just grazed one, which snagged the parachute. She remained suspended in a branch and then managed to get back safely to the ground, suffering a tear in her skirt. She returned to the enclosure to applause and the promise of another jump.
With the parachute jump complete, the crowds began to disperse without further incident as a strengthened police force of ten European constables, ten mounted sergeants, four European inspectors, six local officers, and sixty local constables kept the peace. An inquiry began shortly thereafter to better understand the cause of the initial riot.33 Park and Jeanette fled to Madras to wait for things to calm down. They had returned to Calcutta by early March 1892 to make preparations for the cross-country balloon trip.34 Their preparations made international news, even as far as Scotland, France, and Spain.35 An exhibition was planned for the Tivoli Gardens. Park was using only smoke balloons, as gas was not conveniently available. A newspaper reported, “By some chemical process of his own discovery he can readily fill his large hot air balloons, of which he has several.”36
While in Calcutta, Jeanette made a parachute jump dressed in a yellow and crimson silk costume. The ascent was fine, but her descent ended in a “green slimy tank at Entally.” Four locals rescued her and brought her back to the starting point to a grand applause.37 Still waiting for the proper currents, from Calcutta they moved to Dacca (modern-day Dhaka), where another parachute jump was made on March 16, 1892. The launch location was just opposite the Ahsan Manzil, the palace of the nawab of Dacca, along the banks of the Buriganga River. At 6:20 p.m. Jeanette launched with the balloon, climbing to more than 6,000 feet.38 She jumped and the parachute opened perfectly, but at the end of her flight, a large Casuarina tree in Ramna Park snagged her parachute, leaving her about 20 feet up in the tree, dangling from the parachute. Several locals attempted a quick rescue with a makeshift bamboo pole for her to climb down. However, just as she put her weight on the pole, the bamboo broke and she fell the remaining 20 feet, severely injuring her spine.39 For the next two days she became increasingly ill, and on the morning of March 18, 1892, Jeanette Rumary died from complications of the injury. News of her death was carried internationally.40 Some reports noted that Jeanette was believed to be eighteen at the time.41 Descriptions of the event itself suggest that the rescue went awry:
The vast crowd assembled on the occasion on the fetes given by the Nawabs of Dacca watched the parachute as it detached itself from the balloon at a great height, and it was observed that it opened out and began to descend as evenly and gently as could be wished, but, unfortunately, when approaching the ground, the machine caught in the bows of a casuarinas tree. Even the Miss Van Tassel retained her presence of mind, and quietly disentangling herself from the cords and trapeze, secured a firm hold of the tree at a height of about 20ft. Here some spectators hastened to her assistance, and tried to help her down with the aid of bamboo rods lashed together. It was while endeavoring to slide down these that the frail bamboos unfortunately broke, precipitating the unfortunate young lady to the ground, and causing a shock to the spine producing paralysis, from which she died on the following day.42
On March 17, a correspondent for the Calcutta Englishman wrote,
The Nawabs of Dacca, ever anxious to entertain their friends, arranged with the aeronaut Mr. Van Tassel that he should exhibit at Dacca, and the 16th instant at 5 p.m. was the time fixed for the ascent. Accordingly all Dacca mustered on the bund and in all the riverside houses to witness the performance. The ascent was to take place from the opposite bank of the river, facing the Nawab’s Palace, the Ahsan Munzul [sic]. Mr. Geo. Garth invited his personal friends to his house, from which an excellent view was available, and soon after 4:30 all his guests had assembled. An hour passed without any visible sign of the balloon. The many thousands on the bund exhibited some impatience, every now and then a murmur arising like that of the sea. At 6:20, a gun was fired, and a mighty roar from the multitude announced that the balloon was free. Quickly it mounted high into the air- so quickly that by the time it reached the opposite bank of the river the aeronaut was scarcely distinguishable, and the balloon itself, which is 78 feet high by 8 [sic] feet diameter, looked a comparatively small object. Within some five minutes of the time it left the ground we saw the parachute open out and become detached from the balloon. There was no sudden drop or fall of any kind, and Miss Van Tassel was descending as gently and apparently as easily as could be desired. The wind took the parachute in a north-westerly direction, and it fell eventually near the race course, catching on a casuarina tree in its descent.
Miss Van Tassel was able to extricate herself from the trapeze and to secure a hold of the tree at a height of from ten to twenty feet. Some spectators ran to her assistance, and tried to help her down by means of bamboos, but one of the bamboos broke and the lady fell to the ground, striking her head. Dr. Nicholson was sent promptly to the spot in the Nawab’s barouche, which conveyed the lady to her quarters at the Dak Bungalow, where she still lies. Her injuries are pronounced not to be dangerous, but concussion of the brain is feared. Of course we are all saying that it is a pity she attempted to descend from the tree until proper means could be obtained. But such regrets are vain, and we can only hope for the best. As for the exhibition it was most successful, the balloon ascending 6,000 feet. It is possible that Mr. Van Tassel himself may make an ascent before he leaves this district, as this accident may prevent his keeping an appointment with Kapurthala Raja for the 21st instant.
Since writing the above, I have been to enquire regarding Miss Van Tassel, who, it appears is not so well to-day.”43
The same correspondent continued on the following day, March 18:
As I have telegraphed to you, Miss Van Tassel died from the effect of her injuries this morning. The event has come upon us with a shock, and a most painful feeling prevails throughout the community. It was generally believed that the lady’s injuries were slight, and the doctor’s reports tended to encourage the hope that she would be better in a few days. But it would seem that her fall, which was upon the face and breast, resulted in some injury to the spine, high up. She suffered great pain, but her sufferings were of short duration. The day after the accident, the patient became feverish, but it was not till yesterday that paralysis was seriously apprehended. In the latter stage of her illness, Miss Van Tassel was unconscious, her husband [sic], was by her side, attending to her night and day, and one of the Dacca ladies rendered all the service in her power during part of the time. More as a matter of form than anything else, an inquest was held, the inevitable verdict being accidental death. The interment took place in the Dacca cemetery at 4:45 p.m. and an affecting scent took place at the grave. During the Burial Service, the sorrowing husband [sic] broke down and gave way to his grief. Mr. Colville, the Manager, was also overcome by his feelings, and after the Burial Service burst forth in a eulogium on the deceased. A native of California [sic], the late Miss Van Tassel was about eighteen years of age.”44
While it is quite likely that Jeanette Rumary was from the United Kingdom and not California, it is almost assuredly the case that she was twenty-seven at the time of her death. “Mrs. Van Tassell” was interred in the Christian Cemetery at Wari (now Narinda) in Dhaka. There are also no known records of a marriage to Park Van Tassel during their time together, although that was certainly possible. In Sydney, the Evening News confused Jeanette’s death considerably, suggesting that she had died “while giving an exhibition of her skill in Austria” and that she was the same “Miss Van Tassell” that had visited Sydney “not long ago”—an obvious confusion with the Freitas sisters.45 Similar misconceptions that Jeanette was the same as either Val or Gladys came from London,46 and the incorrect news reports were further propagated throughout Australia and likely other British colonies. The Evening News even published a photo of Gladys, suggesting that it was one of the last photos of the “unfortunate lady parachutist, who died on the morning of March 18.”47 Additional confusion spread, with some reporters absolutely convinced that the “Miss Van Tassel” associated with the death in Dacca was Valerie Freitas. This confusion was challenged by a reader of the Allahabad Morning Post on April 20, 1892:
I note in the Morning Post of the 21st an article on Miss Jeannette Van Tassell’s death, wherein you state that another Miss Van Tassell is now trying her hand at aerial navigation at Ahmedabad. Allow me to state that the young lady who has just lost her life has only made six balloon ascents and parachute descents in her life, but that Miss Valerie Van Tassell, who is now here [Ahmedabad], has made successful ascents and descents all through Australia, Java, China, Japan, Manila, the Straits Settlements, Burma, and the following places in India: Hyderabad, Poona, Mysore, Jeypore, Bhavanagar, Junagad, Indore, Jamnagar, Ahmedabad, etc. This statement I am prepared to prove at any time, and I defy Professor P. A. Van Tassell to contradict it. Miss Gladys Van Tassell, who is now in Germany making ascents and parachute descents, is the sister of Miss Valerie, who joined the Professor of that name in Australia two-and-a-half years ago, but left him in July last in Bombay. Professor P. A. Van Tassell then went to Europe and brought out the lady whom he called Jeannette, and she made her first balloon ascent in Bombay.48
Indeed, after parting ways with Park Van Tassel, Valerie Freitas (now married to J. C. Owen) had continued making balloon ascensions and on the evening of Sunday, March 20, 1892, had made a successful balloon ascension and parachute descent at Ahmedabad, performing trapeze acts on the way up. She landed on the roof of a hut near the Parsi Fire Temple and received only bruises to her right eye and hands. While many crowds watched from the banks of the river, few paid the entry fee to be closer to the balloon enclosure. She was cheered loudly upon her return to the point of launch at Gaekwad Haveli.49
It is likely that Park Van Tassel was unaware of the continued exhibition by the Freitas sisters. But utterly distraught by Jeanette’s death, Park abandoned his attempt at a balloon voyage across India “owing to serious illness,” likely in the form of depression.50 He took a hiatus from exhibitions for the remainder of spring and into summer 1892, drifting throughout India.