The evening times., 1896-12-03

of the city sawit, and many men claim they
distinctly heard the voices OF the men in
the ship
NJ. t Shelly, a gentleman Of the highest
esteem in Sacramento, says: Il distinctly
saw the airship. 1t had a very powerful
headlight attached toit, and one time when
the craft careened somewhat SO as to par
TALLY obscure the light l got good view
of the vessel itself. 1t was cigar shaped.
and was propelled by largt Gings, evidently
operated by electricity"
The San Francisco papers, which have
handled the story at length, announce that
the inventor OF the ship is a Dr. L. H. Ben
1anIin. an Eastern man OF great wealth, who
has spent seven years and 81 90 900 IN per
fecting his machine.
DR.. Benjamin's attorney is said to be &.
W. Collins, a well known lawyer in the
Crocker Building, San Francisco Mr.. Col
llns talked freely about the ship, but would
not say whether or not DR.. Benjamin was
the inventors real name. He said the
only reason for maint aiming secrecy at pres
ent was to wait for final action by the Pat
ent office on the inventors patents, which
We're now pending.
The only queer side to the story was
that any one could keep a flying machine
SO feet long hid in or about San Francisco
without a single he wspaper man being able
to locate it, And this il the story be true,
PROF, LANGLEY SAYS IT'S A FAKE
These are all the facts the Eastern pub
lie has to go upon in judging the merits of
this strange story from the Pacific slope.
and Prof Langley, who is the one recog
nized authority on aerial navigation in this
country and who shares his position I'm the
world with no one, save the English inveD-
tor. Maxim, declares the story on its face
to he ca nard-
Prof. Langley undoubtedly knows about
the difficulties of aerial flight. But he also
within few months has given proof of its
possibility in certain limits. Hi own work
ing model. are codome,'' as he styles 1t, has
made a continuous flight OF mile or more,
with strong promise of better things. Prof.
Laneleyh has worked at his problem for years,
and spent great deal of money in his cX-
perimcnts, using his own money just as
freely as he has used that appropriated to
the work by the Institution or subscribed
by wealthy scientific friends.
He is not by any means d communicative
man, and has taken great pains TO keep
newspaper stories concerning his work from
getting arloat. Last September, how
ever. he and his close friend and fellow
worker Prof. Bell, gave out an authoritative
statement to the effect that more than
usually successful trial had been made of
the areodome down at Broadwater, where
all the experimental work has been done.
At this time the machine, which was a
working model, with an eighteen foot spread
of wings. sailed mile straight away,
and subsequently, scared in spirals to
height of half a mile.
This much Prof. Langley has done him
self, but he does not believe that any Cali
fornian inventor has succeeded In making
machine that will carry fifteen people and
fly from San Francisco to Sacramento
and back. Times man yesterday inter-
viewed him OH the subject, and at the first
mention of the San Francisco story, the
professor said
mo, have nothing to say. / certainly
should not wish to comment upon story
which regard, and every one else seems to
regard. as a ndiculouse fake"
Being constantly in touch with such
matters, have you any private information
aside from what has appeared in the pa
pers?"
No; none whatever I am very busy
now. If you will excuse me-"
Outside of possible personal prejudice
OH the subject, both OF newspaper stories III
general, and other peoples flying machines,
Prof. Langley's opinion is of the highest
value. He is an authority on aerial Tight
and he says decidedly that DIR. Benjamin
has not flown.
NO PATENTS FROM CALIFORNIA.
The claim of the California inventors At
torney, Mr.. Collins, that the only thing his
patron was waiting for was the completion
of the patents on the ship in Washington,
wouldsecm to be without foundation in fact.
There are no airship patents from Califor-
MIA parties now pending before the Patent
Office. This much was stated yesterday
by Commissioner Seymour.
When asked by a Times man what there
was in the way of flying machine patents
pending. Commissioner Seymour said: ''Of
course. cannot tell you anything about
the patents that are pending before the
office. That is contrary 10 the rules; but
he added with a smile, Il can tell you that
there are no flying machine patents now
pending from California"