The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-07-18

my wild flight, which Of course aggra-
waited the offense. Your honor, I assure
you Riquet seemed to comprehend it
ALI They put me In prison and my
donkey in the pound to await the trial.
only ask Of you to give orders that
Riquet shall be well cared for. This is
the whole story. l have told It truth
fully. ! am here because l am, guilty.
In fact, we are both Of US guilty. But
/ still maintain am not a genuine thief.
Respectfully your servant, JOSE.
81 shall not leave until after this
trial." said to my friend. ~ wish to
hear your judgment In the case of this
poor fellow"
"There is something better than that
which you can do" he replied. 81 am
not at liberty to do it, but you can find
this farmer who claims the donkey. II
You pay him the price of the donkey
and small sum in addition that will
end it ALL"
No sooner said than done. For 100
francs | could have the little animal
then and there, and the man was only
too glad to withdraw the complaint.
We returned Riquet to his first mas
ter. One looked as happy as the other.
have since seen them living peacefully
together, going from village to village
selling small wares. True friends are
tare.-Translated from the French of
jacques Morand for Romance by Anna
K. Almy.
"Certain European powers are pos
sessed Of powerful airships SO perfect
and complete that in the event Of war
with the United States they could be
sailed over New York or any of the cities
near the seaboard and no power on
earth could serve to check them before
they had completely annihilated the
cities attacked"
The above paragraph in a. Chicago
newspaper, extracted from a longer in
terview reported with me, is going the
rounds of the press, accompanied with
many doubling criticisms.
Independent of professional secrets, Of
which there are many among aeronauts,
there exists evidence that the dangers
referred to are very real. To make this
plain l may recall the trip made in
hydrogen gas balloon by the woman
aeronaut, Carlotta, in July, 1888, when
she followed prescribed and devious
route across Brooklyn, New York and
Jersey City, using variety of wind cur
rents simply by noting their elevations
and floating on one or another at will
by the usual method Of dispensing gas
or ballast.
The route was from Washington Park
baseball grounds, Brooklyn, over the
city hall, down to the Battery or Castle
Garden; thence up the East river past
tho Brooklyn bridge; then at right
angles across New York and to tho Des-
brosses Street ferry; thence diagonally
down and across the North river to the
Pennsylvania Railroad depot, and thence
up the whole length Of Jersey City to
Secaucus. Hundreds of thousands Of
people in these three great cities wit
messed this flight, as the hour was be-
tween and D p. M, when the cities
workers were going home.
A swift return current high up made
1t possible for the wind navigator to re-
turn in about ten minutes. A speed
test was made at the same time Of the
resources Of civilization for rapid tran
sit below by boat, car, carriage and ele-
waited road. To trave. the same distance
in this way required nine changes and
two hours time.
Now assume that Carlotta's ballast
cast out along the route had consisted
of inhammable compounds and destruct-
i've explosives (not dynamite, but some
thing deadlier, which cannot be fred
from cannon), and one need only trace
on the map the course noted to realize
that broad swath of carnage and fame
would have more than taxed all the re-
sources Of these three cities-its finest
police, its anbulances and hospitals and
its magnificent fire departments.
So much for the work of an old fash
Toned gas balloon in the hands of skill.
full air navigator. AS a matter of ordi-
nary professional business | am ready
to contract to duplicate this exhibition.
Recent tests by foreign powers with
modern artillery, firing at balloon tar
gets under favorable conditions mot OBJ
tainable in actual balloon warfare), in
dictate that little is 10 be feared by the
aeronaut. The mark itself is relatively
small when distant.
Let any investigating marksman try
his rifle on a toy balloon at moderate
rifle range, and then remember how
much easier Of manipulation is this arm
compared with cannon.
How many Of the cannon protecting
New York are adapted to elevations al
most overhead What would be the
results Of cannon balls or shells return
ing on the city after projection upward7
On the other hand, 1t is quite easy to
slide the most dangerous missiles broad
cast or on slant, with guiding planes,
in any direction from the airship.
The aeronautic services of foreign ma
lions possess captive balloons for recon-
noissance or complete observation Of
everything in sight, from above, over an
immense area; signaling, including the
transmission of cipher messages long
distances by electrical flash lights, with
the Morse code Of long and short flashes
or any other, and search lights indicat-
ing the position of an enemy at night
without revealing the position Of the
vessel, fort or point to which the bal
loon is anchored.
Tho value Of these aids to modern
warfare can readily be appreciated.
What is the position of the United States
In this matter? England, France, Spain,
Portugal, Germany, Holland, Belgium,
Russia, Italy, China and less important
nations are well supplied with valuable
aeronautical apparatus, schools of prac-
tice, ETC., and many have construction
plants and experimental divisions work.
ing more or less in secret on the con-
struction of power driven airships.
As early as lss4-5 Commandant Rey-
nard, of the aeronautical establishment
of the French war department, made
five trial trips with La France, on each
of which he was able to return to the
point Of departure, and obtained max
imum speed Of fourteen miles an hour