[Marshall] Texas Republican, May 19, 1860
We are requested to state that Miss Myra Rossella, or Prof. Samuel Wilson, will make a balloon ascension in Marshall, on Saturday, May the 26th, at 4 o’clock, P. M., with the largest balloon in the South, being 4 feet in diameter and 65 feet high, and containing six hundred square yards. On the night before the ascension, Prof. Wilson will give a free lecture on aerial Navigation, describing his various ascensions in Mexico, Cuba, California, and other parts of the world. He claims to have made over 200 ascensions. Such a sight has never been witnessed in Marshall, and will consequently attract the attention of the country for many miles. In this connection, we publish the following from the Central Texian, published at Anderson, Grimes county:
“We learn that on Wednesday last Miss Myra Rosella made a successful balloon ascension from the town of Navasota. The fair aeronaut soared to the distance of about a mile, and after satisfying herself and the spectators generally, returned to terra firma but a few hundred yards from her place of departure.”