A daring young man and his flying trapeze

Although in this instance, the trapeze was suspended from a hot air balloon that ascended over Chariton during early August, 1902, and Lloyd Courter, 27, on a bet, rode it skyward, then descended to earth via parachute, somehow managing to avoid J. L. Brown's pond.

Balloon ascensions were a common form of entertainment at the time and crews traveled from town to town --- a couple of men to manage and pilot the balloon and an "aeronaut" whose job it was to perform tricks on the trapeze dangling from it.

Insurance liability was not a major issue at the time, and upon occasion bystanders --- like young Mr. Courter --- were offered the opportunity to stand in for the aeronaut.

+++

The photograph here, plucked from Ancestry.com, shows the family of Chariton's Tunis and Jennie (Lynn) Courter, including Lloyd at right in the back row with his parents and sister, Elsie (Newell). Other siblings in the front row are (from left) Clifford, Tessie M. (Berkman), Hugh and Jennie M., who did not marry.

Lloyd, who was operating the Maine Restaurant on the square during 1902, still was single and living at home at the time. He did not tell his parents of his planned ascent, figuring that if he did they would object so strenuously he'd have to abort the mission.

Here's how The Chariton Herald of Aug. 7, 1902, reported the ascent:

+++ 

The balloon ascension last Saturday afternoon was a sensation in more ways than one. Instead of the regular aeronaut, John Reed, going up with the big gas bag and dropping in the canvass sun shade, Lloyd Courter, of the Maine restaurant, in response to a bluff from his friends and to win a few side bets, swung himself off the surface of the earth seated on the trapeze stick when the big balloon sailed skyward, ascended a half mile, more or less, almost straight up, and then --- at the signal of a shot fired from below --- cut himself loose from the balloon, dropped for a couple of hundred feet at the rate of a couple of million miles a second, and then, his parachute catching the wind, he rode safely and gracefully to earth and landed in J.L. Brown's pasture northeast of the square.

Lloyd declares that he was not in the least nervous before, during or after his perilous feat. He had his heart tested just before the balloon started up, and it was found to be beating at its usual rate. While the great height was being reached, the amateur cloud-rider says he was as cool as if standing on solid ground. Only during the first dash of the parachute toward the earth did he feel scared, and after the parachute began its regular descent, he recovered his breath and landed safe and sound, escaping the pond in the pasture by little more than a rod.

Counting the amount subscribed for him, the bets he won, etc., Courter cleared about $31 by his feat. The chances were great, but he escaped safely, and is now receiving congratulations on his nerve and beautiful ascension. His parents did not know that he was to make the ascent, or they would have objected so strenuously that he would no doubt have backed out. He was fastened to the trapeze by a stout rope snapped to his belt, so that if he should get dizzy and fall off he would still be held up until the balloon came down.

+++

About two years after his exploit, Lloyd moved west to Sacramento, California, where the remainder of his life was spent. He married Helen Chapman and they had two children, one of whom died young. He died in Sacramento during 1948 and is buried there.