The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1896-11-24
A CALIFORNIA MAN THE
INVENTOR.
FLIES OVER TWO TOWNS.
San Francisco Lawyer TELLS All About II
Says ~ Was Built hv a client Of
His and that IL ~ Grand Sue
cess Has Flown t3o Miles
and Ts Capable OF "trip
TO Sew york

SAN Francisco Nov 23 The
Chronicle prints a story which indicates
that the air-ship la practicable form is
an established fact
About I o'clock last Monday morn.
ing the inhabitants OF Sacramento.
who were astir at that hour. claim to
have seen an airship passing rapidly
over the city. Some merely said they
saw bright light. while others went
50 far as TO say they saw cigar-shapcd
flying machine. and heard human
voices from It, The resident, OF Oak
land also say they saw the same sight
few nights ago
George j.. Collins. reputable lawyer
OF this city, says the airship is
reality. Mr.. Collins says: "lt is per-
fectly true that there IS al last suc-
cessful airship in existence. and th.
California will have the honor OF brir 3.
ing 1t before the world. have know.
of the affair for some time. and am
acting as attorney for the inventor
He is "a very wealthy man. who has
been studying the subject of hving
machines for fifteen years. and came
here seven years ago from the state Of
Maine in order to be able % pcrfcct.his
ideas away from the ewes of other in-
ventors.
| IL saw the machine one night last
week at the inventors invitation. 1t
| is made of metal is about 1870 feet
long and is built TO carry fifteen per-
sons There was no motive power as
far as ! could see-ccrtaiulv no steam
IL Is built on the aeroplanc system aud
has two canvas wings eighteen feet
wide and a rudder shaped like birds
tail. The inventor climbed into the
machine, and after he had been NOV
ing some of the mechanism for mo-
ment | saw the thing begin to ascend
from the earth, very gently. The
wings Tapped slowly rs it rose. and
then little faster as il began to move
against the wind The machine was
under perfect control all the time
when 1t got to height of about
ninety feet, the inventor shouted to
me that he was going TO make a series
of circles and then descend lie .n-
mediately did So beginning by making
a circle about 100 yards in diameter,
and then gradually narrowing IL until
the machine got within thirty feet OF
the ground. 1t then fell straight down.
very gracefully, and touched the earth
as lightly as "A falling leaf
"The reports from Sacramento the
other night were true II was my
clients air-ship the people saw II
started from Oroville, in Butte county,
and flew sixty miles in "A straight line
ldirectlY over Sacramento. After rum
ming up and down once or twice over
the capital, my friend came right on
distance of another seventy miles and
landed at a spot on the Oakland side
lof the bay. where the machine now
lies. guarded by three men The i'm
ventor found during his trial trip that
his ship had a wave-iike motion that
made him seasick II is this defect
that he is now remedying.
in another six days the trouble
will be done away with. and Il Is then
his intention TO Immediately give the
people of San Francisco q chance to
see his machine. lie will fly right
over the city, and across Market street
a dozen times. lie can fly with 10 10
New York tomorrow If he wants 10.
'lle has forsalen the ideas of Maxim
and Langtry entirely In building the
machine. and has constructed il ON an
absolutely new theory"
In spite OF Mr.. Collins statement
there are many sSeptics who say fatty
they do not believe his story. It is al
most incredible that an airship 1jO
feet long could be secreted in any
building near san Francisco without
the fact bsing made public.