The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1896-04-21
cur family Story,
An Inventory Who GOtRiCh

q poor man; the old home was
mortgaged, my invalid parents looked
70 me for support, and, suffering my
self from two gun-shot wounds, n of
which persistently refused to heal,
made the prospects look rather gloomy
for q man in his early twenties.
| had dabbled some at inyenting,
took out several patents, which, how
ever, proved only moderately remun-
erative, and finally decided to take
Greely's advice, go to Kansas, avail
myself of the soldiers land act, acquire
o farm and trust to the. development
oil, the country for the rest.
In pursuance Of this resolve, I found
myself q year later in Norton County,
on a quarter section Of what was SAID
to be as fine land as the sun ever shone
upon. L had tolerably fair success,
guaged by the local methods had my
"adobe Z" house, a good team mt and u
fair amounto Of range stock; but, as time
advanced, between the grasshopper
pest and no corn Ii year, and it's
selling the year following ut ten cents
rGPer bashel, the frequent visits of cy-
clones, etc, made the pursuito of wealth
q rather unpromising one. The idea
kept gradually growing on me that
there were better things in store.
Ali this time the invention fever had
h6N0T qulIS lSiO uc' L udu Ldhcu SOulc
books with me and had gradually
added to my stock such scientific works
as were within my comprehension.
The somewhat visionary project OF
navigating the air had occupied
my attention for o long time, and
the exhilarating effects of the rare
atmosphere in that latitude, | sup,
pose, intensified the faculty. / had
read some Of Iillienthal's and Har-
graves experiments, and later OF
Langely's and Maxim's Investigations
In the same line, and L had rome SO far
as to construct q machine on what l
had deemed correct principles, but,
through lack OF ready means and
available material l had not yet reach
ed the flying" point.
One day in June q foreign tourist,
bemonocled and beleggined, made APP
plicatiOn at the dOor of my dolby " for
shelter from an impending storm
which was already %darkenlng the
western sky. My years of isolation
had made me Indifferent to companion
ship, but the proverbial hospitality Of
the plains should not be violated in
my case, and l babe him enter. soon
found out that he was q representa-
tive of a foreign college and that h /,
had a general commission to ~investi-
gate the fora and fauna minegalogy
and geology Of the country for his
alma mate and when ! further found
that he had also investigated the To-
tricacies of aerial navigation, my heart
at nee warmed up to him, and all my
reserve left me. [ was even cOntidiDg
enough to show him my crude draw
ings and explain my theories, and he
was gracious enought to say hat was
on the right track and would no doubt
3 aunntnnllu silnnna1 Harn ,yuS q ,n.n
said /, who is appreciative without
being ELUSIVE, and in the two weeks
he stayed with me, making daily
,ainCursiOns into the surrounding coun.
try, | had unbosomed myself complete
ly to him, my past life and future
hopes and prospects, and | inwardiy
wondered why we could not always
be together, SO enthusiastic was /.
Finally, upon leaving, he remarked
that this was no place to get on" as
he termed it., and he advised me to sell
out and move farther west, in the
vicinity Of Denver, buy IL small piece of
Nground suitable for an :" experimental
station" n as he was to be for a year
stuying the mineralogy of the noun
tain districts, he would make his home
with me, and we would "~collaborate +"
on perfecting the flying machine.
He had already quite an extensive
scientific, chemical n mechanical
y apparatus shipped to Denver for use in
making and recording the results of
his observations.
This was enough for me. quickly
found a purchaser in the person OF Il
"a n SPECTATOR from Falls City, Neh.,
and two months later vas installed at
Platte Canon, on the middle fork of
the Platte River, about thirty miles
south OF Denver. Here, for something
lii ten months, we labored together
perfecting our aerOplane, and at each
succeeding trial came nearer and
nearer to the realization of our hopes.
We had already succeeded in flying
with an easy, well controlled motion
from n rise of ground to another,
and at.last were making the finIl prep
arations for the supreme effort which
was to decide w~hetheror not we should
abandon the project. We added a
little more wind surface" to the
sails at one point, provided for a few
more revolutions per minute Of the
naptha motor, q on u fine Scptcm-
Der morning, favored by u brisk breeze,
we, taking u seats in the aluminium
basket. severed the last cord thai held
us TO earth.
Slowly and majestically our craft
arose like a thing OF life until we were
ABOVE JfrTGSLTlhi ODSIFuCUlOnS 10 air
currents, when me met a strong south
west breeze, actuated by which we be
gan q rapid northwest course. "Isn't
1t gloriousp ?" said |. "Magnifcent,"
said he. Both Of us were lost to all
sense of danger by the unparalleled ex-
hilaratiOn of the experience.
We we're suddenly confronted with
the perilousness OF our position by the
near approach TO the mountains about
Boulder. We had been travelling at a
terrific rate, and, to add to our con-
sternation, the rudder, from sore
cause, failed to work, and we we're
at the mercy Of d constantly increas-
ing wind. Larger and larger grew
the trees and roqksl61 the mountain
side as we approached them at rail-
road speed, and we knew that the
inevitable was at band. Neither OF
ua~sp6ke a word, but intuitively
Grasped hands. and our eyes met-an.
! other version of two souls with but q
single thought" Each with u dis
engaged hand c~lasping the side of our
fraii basket, the crash came.
n 4 II n
care you alive" This from my
companion who, with one arm hanging
limp at his side, with the other was
laboriously and painfully striving to
extricate himself from the collapsed
and ruined machine. 81 believe | am
Il replied, for, though momentarily
100000 ~ Observation-Disclosures tho inyI