The San Francisco call., 1896-11-22

carried a powerful headlight, sufficiently
| strong to send out long bright rays in to
the darkness. 1t appeared to be going in
| a westerly direction and seemed to be
gradually descending as 1t disappeared
over st. Mary's College. She reported the
affair to her brother, who is a motormar
on the cemetery branch of the Piedmont
| road.
Last night a little after o'clock, as a
| crowded car was going out toward Pied
mont, the attention OF the passengers was
| attracted to a peculiar-looking contrivance
high up in the sky. The most peculiar
feature of it was powerful headlight and
another light which seemed to be in the
bottom of the machine and to shine
directly on the earth. 1t came into view
from the direction of East Oakland, passed
over Piedmont, and according to the story
of the passengers seemed to descend in
such manner as to indicate that il would
land somewhere in san Francisco.
Many OF the passengers took up their
morning newspapers to-day expecting to
see full description OF the peculiar object
that they had seen SO plainly, and were
| surprised and disappointed to find no re-
| port whatever of it.
They were so convinced that it must
| have landed across the bay that some of
them telephoned to San Francisco last
| night and made inquiries regarding it.
| AS nothing was known # it it is presume /
that it must have changed its course and
landed somewhere else, for nothing can
| persuade those who saw il that il was not
a genuine airship under full control.
All those who saw this strange object
| agree in its description and declare that il
closely resem bles the illustration that ap-
/ rad in 1rru fnc
alrshlp that scores of people witnessed as
| 1t passed over Sacramento last Wednesday
| night. Some of them dis inctly saw the
/ propelling arms and declare that thew
| were in motion, but all are positive that
the machine was brilliantly lighted. and
that the lower light shed large arc on
| the earth as 1t passed over, while the
headlight could be seen for a great dis
tance ahead of the machine.
One OF the most mystified observers of
the airship was Charles H. Ellis, the ar
morer OF Companies A and F. Mr.. Ellis
! is middle-aged man and very deliberate
| in his manner OF expression, and one not
likely to be easily deceived. He declared
this evening that he was as skeptical az q
man could be when he first read about the
Sacramento airship. He also declares that
| he had no alternative but to believe his
| own eyesi hit.
II was going home to nv dinner about
haih- pdSt y idSt n4Gul, H6 Sdlu and was
in the neighborhood OF Twenty-fourtb
street and New Broadway, when | saw a
strange-looking thing in the sky. 1t was
coming from the eastward and at first I
could see nothing but bright light.
When first saw 1t the two lights appeared
to be one and thought it was brilliant
| meteor. 1t was getting dusk. but the sky
was cIouded and just dark enough to per
| NIT any one to see plainly. The sky was
sufficiently dark to make a background
which would render any such object
visible
''As it came nearer l could see that
there was some dark object along with the
light. When it was nearly overhead /
could clearly distinguish that it some
what resembied a balloon travelling end
on, with bright light ahead, another one
beneath it, and with what appeared to be
wings both before and behind the light
1t was at great height above sthe earth.
probably thousand feet, but not SO nigh
as to make it impossible to distinguish
what IL was. l did not want to believe
that 1t was an airship. as / had regarded
the previous report of one in the light of
joke. This time, however, I had no al
ternatlve. l had to believe what ! saw.
"As soon as it passed over st. Mary's