BY MID-1887, VAN Tassel had finally worked up enough courage to jump from a balloon via parachute. With Baldwin now an international sensation for his parachuting in England, Park was increasingly eager to capitalize on their invention. He proposed making his first jump to the directors of the Agricultural Society in San Jose as a part of the twentieth annual fair of the Santa Clara Valley Agriculture Society,1 scheduled for August 15–20, 1887. The plan was to have Van Tassel ascend to a height of about 7,500 feet on August 18 at 1:30 p.m. and then jump, simultaneously pulling the rip cord to collapse the balloon and deploying his parachute to land safety.2 The directors agreed to share 75 percent of any gate receipts over $800 (roughly $25,000 in today’s dollars) with Van Tassel. In 1930 he recalled, “I built my first parachute from a picture in a dictionary. Parachutes had been known of course for years. In fact, men had made descents in them in France, but these were so frequently fatal that the parachutes were known as man-killers and balloonists restrained themselves with dropping at most a live pig. But I figured, if a live animal, why not a live man. Needless to say my parachute and my jumps with it were successful.”3
On August 18, a huge crowd assembled at Agricultural Park. It was believed to be one of the largest crowds ever at the park, second only to a visit by President Ulysses S. Grant as a part of his world tour. At 2:00 p.m., Van Tassel and Charles Oliver (performing as Park’s “brother” Charles Van Tassel) stepped into the basket. Although it isn’t clear through newspaper reports, plans had apparently changed; Charles was on board to guide the balloon back down to Earth after Park’s jump rather than Park releasing the rip cord at altitude. Just as the ropes were being cut for launch at 2:20 p.m., a fifteen-year-old “demented youth” named Rosenthal jumped into the basket. His additional weight brought the balloon back down to the ground. Rosenthal lay in the bottom of the basket, refusing to leave. The reasons for his choice to climb aboard are unknown, but perhaps he simply felt that by doing so, he would save the life of the man who would be jumping from aloft to his certain death. Rosenthal was finally forcibly removed from the basket by Deputy Sheriff Kamp.
The balloon was re-prepared for flight. However just at liftoff, the precariously attached parachute detached itself from the balloon and fell to the ground. As the balloon was already ascending, no parachute jump would be made. They continued in the balloon, over the southern portion of San Jose at an altitude of roughly 2,500 feet. At a distance of 5 miles from Agricultural Park, the duo prepared for a landing. Park climbed outside the basket, hanging at arm’s length to help with the landing, but just as they neared the ground, a sudden thermal updraft carried the balloon skyward for 500 feet. Park hung on to the outside of the basket, unable to climb back in. Charles opened the exhaust valve and they descended rapidly to a landing, dumping both “Van Tassels” and all the sand ballast out of the basket. Having released its load, the much lighter balloon raced skyward again, continuing on to the southeast, to the very limit of their vision. Nearby farmers heard a very large bang that was mistaken for thunder. The balloon had burst, perhaps due to the pressure of the expanding gas, descending in shreds to the ground. The Eclipse was no more, an estimated loss of $1,600 for Van Tassel. Strips of oiled silk were found scattered over an area of about 10 acres.4
Van Tassel’s activities for the remainder of 1887 are a mystery. However, by January 25, 1888, things were back on track with a new balloon, the National, inflated for the first time and christened with champagne by C. F. Townsend at the Mechanics’ Pavilion in San Francisco in front of friends. Including the basket, the National stood 105 feet tall, with a diameter of 45 feet.5 In February 1888, the Los Angeles Herald advertised that Van Tassel was to make a balloon ascension on February 21 at 2:30 p.m. in Los Angeles.6 On that date, local newspapers reported that two seats in Van Tassel’s new balloon were available for purchase, for an ascension at Los Angeles’s Agricultural Park.7 It remains unclear if there ever was a flight on February 21. However, at least according to one report, a successful flight was made on February 23 with a druggist from the Stewart Hotel as Van Tassel’s only passenger.8
Van Tassel had flown balloons at many locations in California but never at San Diego, as the railroad had only recently been completed to that town of about forty thousand. The general manager of the Coronado Railroad Company, E. H. Story, reached out to Van Tassel to arrange an ascension on March 25, 1888. Van Tassel came to San Diego to work out the deal, staying at the Horton House downtown on March 9–10.9 The ascension was arranged for Coronado Heights, an area of newly auctioned lots just north of what is now Imperial Beach and south of where the Hotel del Coronado had opened its doors earlier that year, on February 19. Initially, organizers suggested that Clara would jump by parachute from the balloon, but Park put a quick end to those thoughts. To fill the balloon in a reasonable time, gas from the nearby San Diego Gas and Electric Light Company was used. The filled balloon would then be transported by boat across San Diego Bay. Filling started on Saturday for a launch on Sunday. To accommodate the expected crowds, the city arranged for two ferries instead of one to make the harbor crossing between Coronado and San Diego. But as the date for the ascension approached, it became rather clear that there weren’t enough ferries to accommodate everyone. The launch was postponed a week to provide additional time for preparation.10 On March 31, newspapers described the filling and the crossing of San Diego Bay with the inflated balloon on a barge. It was towed to the Coronado Heights wharf, where it was to lift off at 2:30 p.m. on April 1. Van Tassel assured organizers that if he did not ascend to an altitude of 1.5 miles, he would refuse payment.11 Although plenty of clean, light gas had been secured in advance for filling the balloon, Van Tassel noted that the gas that was supplied was instead a mix of “water, wind, and tar.” With a severely reduced lifting capacity, the balloon went nowhere. Van Tassel’s pride was once again on the line.12 San Diego Gas and Electric Light personnel expressed their regrets and vowed to supply “the real article: unadulterated coal gas” on Sunday, April 15. The San Diego and Coronado Ferry Company and the Coronado Railroad Company guaranteed to refund all fares if Van Tassel didn’t ascend and reach 1.5 miles above Earth.13
On April 15, a large portion of San Diego traveled by ferry across the harbor to Coronado and from there south to Coronado Heights to witness the great balloon feat. There, Van Tassel’s large balloon could be seen, filled and ready to fly. Yet again, the gas simply did not provide the required buoyancy, and the sun remained behind clouds, which did not help in heating and expanding the gas further. As it was clear that no passengers were going up with him, Van Tassel began emptying the basket of ballast so that buoyancy might be sufficient for liftoff. Finally, with only a few pounds of sand remaining, Van Tassel slowly took to the sky. He threw the remaining ballast overboard and climbed, much to the pleasure of the large crowd. A newspaper reported that the balloon looked “no bigger than a man’s hand” before it drifted off to the northeast, across the bay toward Chula Vista, where Park fortunately landed safely, despite having no ballast remaining to adjust the descent rate. Spectators and newspaper reporters considered the flight “a brilliant success,” and transportation of the large crowd, estimated at well over twenty thousand, also went off without a hitch.14 As it turned out, that same day the town of Ocean Beach, to the west of San Diego, held a celebration for its first anniversary, including a balloon launch by Emil Melville. Both events were advertised side by side in the local papers. Much of San Diego and National City were left empty that day as most everyone attended one of the launches. Watching balloon launches had an unusual effect on some. Two days later, San Diego police officers arrested a disturbed man. After witnessing Van Tassel’s flight, he became sure that his body was filled with gases sufficient for liftoff. He ran around town asking everyone to hold him down and wouldn’t stop until they complied. The police labeled him a “balloonatic.”
Meanwhile, Baldwin continued to make tremendous income with his daring high-altitude parachute leaps from balloons in England. Dismayed by this, during the spring of 1888, Park and Clara Van Tassel continued to think of ways make a living by ballooning. Park arranged to provide an ascension on July 4, 1888, at Los Angeles as part of Independence Day festivities, under the auspices of the well-known Fredericksburg brewery near Agricultural Park.15 However, this wasn’t going to be a typical arrangement. As the date drew closer, newspapers announced that both Park and Clara would ascend together in the balloon, but from a height of 1,000 feet, Clara would be the one leaping from the basket to return to Earth via parachute, not Park. No woman in the West had ever made a parachute jump from a balloon. Although history suggests that the first woman to jump via parachute in the United States was Louise Bates in August 1860, at Cincinnati, Ohio,16 Los Angelenos in 1888 were obviously not aware of the prior history and were utterly perplexed by the proposition. Why would any woman consider Independence Day, of all days, as the appropriate date to commit suicide by jumping from a balloon?17 But the marketing plan worked well, as the controversy surrounding the attempt generated significant interest.
On July 4, 1888, Los Angeles was in the midst of a heat wave, and its citizens took an early start on their festivities. By 9:00 a.m., an estimated one hundred thousand people crowded Agricultural Park. Fearing for Clara’s life should she actually be crazy enough to follow through with the parachute jump, someone sent a message to the chief of police, demanding that Clara be prohibited from launching. Chief Cuddy agreed and ordered Detective Tom McCarthy to be pre-positioned for the launch at 1:00 p.m. McCarthy was given orders to stop Clara from going up in the balloon unless she gave her word of honor not to make the leap. However, long before 1:00 p.m., word of the police arrangement made it back to the Van Tassels. They decided to launch as quickly as possible to avoid the detective. By 10:00 a.m., the crowd got word that the wind was favorable and Park Van Tassel was preparing his balloon with gas at the Haymarket. A rush of spectators made their way to the Haymarket to see the balloon in the finishing stages of being filled as it swayed back and forth in the gentle breeze. The race was on.
The Van Tassels had also arranged to be accompanied on this flight by D. E. Barclay, deputy county recorder for Los Angeles County. Barclay was also a balloonist and had shared at least one previous ascension in Los Angeles with Park Van Tassel, in 1886. However, with the rush to fly, word was sent to find Barclay as quickly as possible and get him to the balloon so they could launch. Barclay was located and ran to the Haymarket to find the Van Tassels already seated in the balloon and ready to go. Barclay hopped in. The balloon was tethered to Earth with just one rope. When Park gave the order to “cut her loose,” the balloon rose quickly into the sky at 10:47 a.m., roughly three hours ahead of the well-advertised launch time.
Affixed to the side of the balloon was a parachute, ready to spring to life like an umbrella when required. The balloon took a northeasterly heading, with the crowd below following its path, making their way back to the city streets and forming a large throng at the corner of Seventh and Main Streets, with mounted marshals maintaining crowd control.18 The editors of the Los Angeles Herald had asked Barclay to write an article about the events, considering the rumors about Clara’s proposed jump to be rather preposterous. Barclay later described the scene:
The balloon contained about 250,000 [cubic] feet of gas19 when we started up. Incident to an ascension is an upward jump of the balloon immediately after it is cut loose from its moorings. The jump of our balloon was a memorable one. It carried us to an altitude of about 2,000 feet. Professor Van Tassel, Mrs. Van Tassel and myself were in the cage. When we had attained that altitude we found no clearly defined current of air. A calm, so to speak, was prevalent. Our height, we all agreed, was not sufficient to admit of the parachute jump being made with safety. Our ballast consisted of several bags of sand and numerous bundles of papers, dodgers, etc. Some ballast was tossed out, but we finally decided to release some gas. This we did and came to within about 1000 feet of earth when a good wind current was struck. We shut off the gas valve and rode with the current, taking a gradually upward course until we were about over, or a little to one side of the Jefferies place, and near the Arroyo Seco. At that time, I shall judge we were 5000 feet in the air. Van Tassell all along was extremely wary. Every moment he would glance up at the parachute we carried, swung from the cage. The ‘chute, as he called it, seemed all right. Finally he said he guessed the time had come for the leap. Mrs. Van Tassell was cool and collected. Van Tassell pulled the ‘chute down into the cage. The parachute is shaped much like an umbrella, and just about twenty feet in diameter at its mouth. Pendant from it are two ropes, provided with hand rings at their ends. To these rings Mrs. Van Tassell’s hands were strapped. Also pendant from the center of the apex of the corner of the now inflated chute is a rope. About Mrs. Van Tassell’s waist we fixed a stout strap in circingle [sic], and the end of this we attached to this rope. All was ready. Van Tassell bade his wife good-by, and so did I. She was cool as an iceberg as Van Tassell cleared the parachute from its moorings. She stepped on the edge of the cage, looked down once and then stepped off into space. We shot heavenward at once, a distance of about 500 feet. ‘Van’ was so nervous he crouched in a corner of the cage. I peeped down and saw the parachute dashing toward the earth like a rocket. My heart was in my mouth for a moment, but when I saw the old ‘chute’ fill out and sail downward at an easy gait I knew that the first parachute descent in the world by a woman was a complete success.
Van Tassell had arranged with his wife that should she reach the earth in safety, she was to hail him by waving her handkerchief. As soon as we could collect ourselves, Van Tassell told me to pull the valve cord. This cord, when pulled, releases the valve, or plug, holding the gas in the balloon. I pulled it with a will and we were soon descending at a fearful rate. I tried then to release the valve but failed, and it looked as if we were going to get the worst of it until we got within about 300 feet of the ground. We were tossing out all the ballast left, when the balloon lightened a little. When the cage was within about ten feet of the earth, we both leaped out and landed in safety. As we carried no grapples or anchor we had to let the balloon go scooting over the ground. We made our way at once to Mrs. Van Tassell and found her standing on a sandy heap. About her had gathered a half a hundred people, among them being Messrs. J. D. Yoakum, Shumway, Jeffries, Poor, Smith and others of Pasadena. Mr. Smith and Mr. Shumway had already released Mrs. Van Tassell from the ‘chute. She was a little bit jarred but not injured in the least. All of us shook hands. Mrs. Van Tassell said the ‘chute did not work until she had fallen 200 or 300 feet, she thought. Her descent was made easily and gradually. It was a grand feat and I think it but just to Mrs. Van Tassell to say that she was the coolest and bravest of the party of three. Mrs. Van Tassell reached the earth, I should judge, about a mile the other side of the wagon road bridge over the Arroyo Seco.20
While news of this feat spread quickly in the West and across America, it took time for it to reach the far corners of the world. For instance, in New Zealand, the Lyttelton Times reported the event on February 14, 1889, a full six months after it took place. However, the majesty of what had been accomplished was not lost to the New Zealand press: “Professor Baldwin, who has been astonishing all the world by his perilous and daring descent from a balloon, with the aid of a parachute, has been put in the shade by the exploits of a woman—Mrs. Van Tassell—who quite recently performed the wonderful feat of leaping from a balloon at a height of 4000 ft, steadied only by a parachute.”21 Reporters in London were so amazed that a woman would dare attempt such a feat that they felt the reports must surely be untrue: “Those yearning for new modes of being rid of their better-halves will please note this latest invention. But then the story has travelled far.”22
The following day, Park Van Tassel went to Pasadena to recover the balloon. He found it in a collapsed state and without much damage. Meanwhile, congratulations flooded in to Clara for her brave feat. The Van Tassels immediately announced plans to travel to Seattle to repeat the remarkable parachute descent.23 They left Los Angeles by train for San Francisco on July 12.24 Upon arrival in San Francisco, they were interviewed by a reporter from the San Francisco Examiner at their home on Turk Street. The 165-pound Clara was described in the paper as “big, young, handsome, and blonde.” The reporter wrote:
“It is only a question of nerve,” said Mrs. Van Tassell, when asked about her exploit. “I made up my mind that I could jump from a balloon as well as Baldwin, and when I make up my mind to do a thing I do it. Don’t I, Van?”
The Professor looked at the woman who wasn’t afraid of a mile jump and meekly admitted that what she said was true.
“So, when we were over a clear place,” continued the lady, “they opened the valve to hold the balloon stationary and give the ‘chute a start to open a little, and then I said good-by and jumped. I had been warned that my arms would be jerked from their sockets and expected a tug, but though I dropped thirty feet like a shot before the parachute was well open, there was no shock, and I felt no great strain on my arms.
I often dreamed of falling immense distances, and I wanted to see how it really was.
I ain’t exactly a bird nor an angel, but it’s just about what I imagine the sensation of flying is. It was beautiful! Though I went through that 6000 feet in five and one-quarter minutes, I didn’t seem to be going fast, and never lost my breath. I swung hundreds of feet one side and the other for the first 4000 feet, but after that I just floated down an incline to the ground, and alighted with no more shock than would be caused by jumping off a chair.
I wasn’t the least bit frightened from the start. One arm was strapped to the parachute, and there was a belt around my waist, so I could not fall away from the parachute.”
“Did you do any thinking while you were falling?” asked the reporter.
“I only thought about my landing, whether I would drop on a big tree that was just under me, or on a house that I saw. I luckily missed both.
I was anxious to get a reputation, and I did, and I expect to make a fortune by jumping from balloons. Don’t I, Van?”
Prof. Van Tassell meekly acquiesced.25
As a test before their trip to Seattle, the Van Tassels arranged for a parachute jump on Sunday, August 19, 1888, at Agricultural Park in San Jose. Clara’s parents must have been in utter shock when reading the announcements in the local paper. However, the Van Tassels had difficulty even getting airborne. Just as the basket was being fitted to the inflated balloon, the balloon completely split open near the top and collapsed. The large paying crowd was far from amused. A boisterous mob soon made its way back to the ticket office, looking for refunds. Upon seeing the approaching angry mob, the ticket sellers threw a cash box containing only a few dollars in that direction while they ran in the opposite direction as fast as possible with the rest of the take. The mob then turned to follow the aeronauts instead. Clara was escorted from the park by Deputy Sheriff Jay Hall and Bob Anderson. After making their way to Hall’s “buggy,” they drove to Clara’s home on Center Street near the park. The buggy was followed by the mob, and several hundred people remained in front of the house for thirty minutes. They were prevented from entering the house by special officers who guarded the gates. Eventually Clara’s father came out to inform the mob that Park Van Tassel was not in the house and never had been. Upon hearing this, the crowd dispersed. While no one was hurt, Clara considered the angry mob to be far more dangerous than parachute jumping from a balloon. She spent the night at her parent’s house.
Her husband had left the park in a different direction without attracting attention. Once Park and Clara had left the area, their manager/assistant, Frank Frost, returned to the scene, pulled out a pistol, and yelled at the crowd: “You’re a nice set of cowards to stone a woman, ain’t you? Now stone me, but stone hard and fast or I’ll make some of you sick. You think I’m Van Tassell; well I ain’t but I’ll fight any two of you if the balance will see fair play. If you won’t just look out, that’s all. I am not afraid of a thousand cowards that would stone a woman.”26
After that display, no one bothered Frank as he packed up the balloon. Park Van Tassel later blamed the incident on the gas company for supplying low-quality gas made of petroleum with very little lifting capacity. He said that the large tear in the balloon was caused by Van Tassel deflating it after realizing it would never fly.27
The event had other serious ramifications. A man named Otto Curdts had attended the balloon ascension. In the melee that ensued, another man, George Dibble, had pushed Curdts into Clara Van Tassel. Curdts was angered and told Dibble, “We’ll have this out when we meet again.” They met later at Santa Clara and got into a shouting match. A fight ensued, with several of Dibble’s friends jumping on Curdts, hitting him in the face with either a knife or a pistol. With a broken nose, Curdts pulled his pistol to ward off further attack. As he held it with two hands, someone grabbed him from behind in a choke hold. His gun fired, hitting Dibble. Not long thereafter, Dibble died of his injuries. Curdts managed to escape the choke hold and fled the scene by jumping into a car, proceeding to Hestor Schoolhouse, where he washed the blood from his face. From there he went to his home on Lenzeu Avenue, changed clothes, went to Max Schmidt’s saloon, and finally made his way to the Southern Pacific Depot, where he convinced a conductor that he needed to get away, and fast. He traveled by train to San Mateo, San Francisco, Alameda, and Stockton. Convinced that police were on his tail, he traveled to Pleasanton, where he was finally captured by Sheriff Sweigert and Constable Haley. It remains unknown what became of Curdts, but it is clear that the scene at the Van Tassel ascension was a violent one and not at all what the Van Tassels had in mind as preparation for their trip to Seattle.28 The event also reinforced the divide between Clara’s parents and Park Van Tassel, with Clara caught in the middle.