The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-12-21
PARTICULARS OF LILIENTHAL'S s
 DEATH.

i SllIttll lllu5hIdl."~l1GNl IS lOIl JpuIltil' PARTICULARS OF LILIENTHAL'S
 DEATH.
 With wings having 8 surface of twelve to fourteen square metres. he could take sufficiently long flights to serve his purpose of observation and practice in strong, gusty wind, but he very rightly considered experiment. ing in strong wind to be too danger ous, and with a light breeze about twenty square metres were found ne- cessary. This enormous surface, however, could not be handled with the same certainty and exactness as the older wings and as his system of steer ing consisted in shifting his weight within the surface upon which it was suspended, he had hit upon the simple expedient of placing two surfaces one above the other.
 This system promised from the be- ginning to be a very marked advance In former days Lilienthal had tried over and over again, to make small pa per models that would soar like birds, and had always been disappointed. Now tWo-story models, which resem- bled beetles rather than birds, scared in the most astonishing manner He would let them off from the top of the, artificial cone which he had erected at Lichterfelde, and they would take long and sometimes circuitous flights into the surrounding fields, and never showed the slightest tendency to take ''headers"-a peculiarity very fre- quently hitherto observed in soaring models.
 These experiments, therefore, seemed to prove that not only would two story surface be more easily steered, because definite shifting of the cen- ter of gravity to one side would have a more marked effect (since the lateral extension of the whole structure was little more than half of that formerly used), but would also show a greater stability, result all the more to be ex- pected as the center of gravity of the system was placed more than meter below the upper surface.
 Experiments, which were begun without loss of time, seemed to bear out this conclusion. Lilienthal ap- peared to have suddenly gained In power and in the faculty of shaping his motion at will. It seemed to be only question of time or opportunity that the great step would succeed of de- scribing a complete circle in the air (which always appeared to us to be the key to a definite, if not complete suc- cess), when the disastrous accident oc- cured which has cost the bold experi- menter his life.
 The following is, as nearly as I can remember it, the report of the mechan- ic who used to build Lilienthars wings, and to help him with his experiments
 On Sunday, August 9, Lillenthal had gone out to the village of Rhinow, where he used to practice on the bare sand hills in the neighborhood. No body was with him except his meehan- ic. The weather was exceptionally fa- vorable, light wind blowing from the east with a velocity of about 5-6m. per second.
 | Iiiienthal had selected one of these new two-story surfaces, which, in considerable number of trials from the artificial cone in Lichterfelde, had shown itself to be especially successful He took one flight, by way of warming to his work. and then prepared himself for a second, and gave the word to his man to look at his watch and note the duration of the flight. The man saw him soar down until he was, nearly above the foot of the hill then sudden ..a a. to a height of 30m. above the ground according to his mans estimate-and there he stood apparently motionless in | the air
 This was a frequent occurrence, and gave no cause for alarm at first; but now the man saw how Lilientha1 grad ually lowered the fore edge of his wings more and more without obtain ing the desired effect of getting way | forward and downward. The man felt uneasy at this, pocketed his watch, and began to run toward the spot where his master was hanging suspended in mid air, Suddenly he saw the apparatus heeling over forward still more. and then Lilienthal came down with it with great force, head foremost rolled over pIlGS UT lNlCt dLttI SlIIhlIlS lHe SIOuuu and, remained motionless
 | When the man reached the spot he found the apparatus much shattered, but MT. Lilienthal apparently unin- jured and without consciousness. The local physician was instantly sum- | moned, and at first declared that noth- ing serious had happened. Lilienthal was brought to the neighboring inn, and within two hours recovered his senses. He seemed to have felt no | pain, because he immediately declared he would soon get up and continue practising. However, his arms and legs were lamed. It appears, that his spine was fractured.
 The man left him to the care of the physician, and took the next train to town to fetch his brother When the brother came he found that he had swooned again; and he did not recover his consciousness until death set in, which occurred the same night.-Hano- yer Letter to Nature.