Abstract:
Do you ever wonder what people did to entertain themselves before cars, radio, TV, movies, and video games, back in the “dark ages” of the 1870s? Aside from going to church, maybe the county fair—that was it, besides working seven days a week. So when an exhibitionist came to town with a balloon, well, that was a happening.
Throughout the country in 1872, Professor Donaldson—the “crazy balloonatic”—frightens hundreds of thousands of citizens half out of their wits with his daring trapeze-balloon antics. … “Wash” survives one dangerous exhibition after another. … His disregard for danger makes him the most noted and sought-after aeronaut of the period.