Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-11-14
A SUCCESSFUL Savior v'-TuE FL,

a SUCCESSFUL "AviroR !'-THE Fly
ING SHIP SAILS OFF on A WAsuoE ZEPHYR!
SAGEs OF SUTHERLAND TRIUMPH
ASri!-While the San Francisco folks
have been worrying themselves and
bothering their poor brains with futile
endeavors to invent, cat, contrive, man
ufacture and make work something that
could sail or fly in the air, like an aerial
ship or bird, there has been quietly de-
veloping among the sages OF the Vir-
ginia slope Of Mount Davidson, right
here among US unsophisticated Washoe-
-ites, a genuine "Avitor;" one that not
only could but did fly; not exactly like
n bird, We may say, but it flew, never
theless. The philosophical principles
governing its motive power and general
buoyancy were of such q nature that its
first fight was not perhaps very extern
sive, but it was q decided success. His
name was not "Norval on the Grampian
Hills" but we will call him "Hermes;"
not because it was his name, but be-
cause he is deserving of the appellation.
He lives in the southern end of Virginia
city, not over q mile from the Divide,
aud is neither a miner, teamster or mer-
chant, but a ';jolly good fellow" as his
friends say. "Paddy is the boy who is
fond of his glass;" according to the
song, and so is Hermes; very fond; q
little too fond. Whisky gets the better
of him very frequently, aud recently he
has 1t times been troubled with wild,
distorted visions and strange fancies
Keeling through his brain, aud cold,
writhing, snaky sensations in his boots.
Night before last, whether induced by
The recent lecture OF Mr.. Todd, or the
seances of Mrs. Foye, poor Hermes was
unusually troubled in his mind, and
tossed recklessly from side to side in
his bed. This time it was his head that
was demoralized, and in his distcmpered
imagination that head swelled and swell
led, until it was larger than a flour
barrel; larger than a barn, larger than
Mount Davidson. His hair dropped of
in little wads, until at length his great
white, shiny scalp was as destitute of
capillary covering as q steam boiler. 1t
grew lighter and lighter, untilballon-like
it raised him out of bed. Then his arms
grew long, and gathering up the flaps
of his shirt torn to the arm-pits, he cx-
tended them ont on either side like the
wings of a bat, for he now felt inspired
with the idea that he could fly through
the air over the great broad earth like
q big bird. How be would astonish the
eyes of his fellow citizens OF Virginia
and Gold Hill as he scared at will above
their house tops and s,eeples. He sprang
to his window which was some twenty
feet above the ground, took out both
upper and lower sashes, and perching
himself for q moment upon the sill,
spread his snowy pinious abroad and
took fight for the top of Cedar Hill.
There was a sound as though something
dropped. Loud cries Of distress rang
upon the sharp morning air, and a good
Samaritan, hearing, sailed forth to the
rescue. They took him in. They put
arnica upon his bruises, and q beef
steak upon his left eye. They patched
up with sticking-plaster his badly dam
aged bugle, and picked the rough stubs
and splinters Of sage brush from his
lacerated hide. No bones were broken,
therefore at his earnest request no doc
tor was sent for. The matter is all care
fully hushed up, and nobody knows any
thing about it. Hermes lies aching in
his bed, slowly recovering from the
shock, but has q sly twinkle in his we'll
optic as he says "Well, never mindI
boys, you've got me this time, that's ST
but | Jest know dam well I'd a fetched
her all right if I hadn't missed the right
flop to my wings when fust started
off,"
-