The record-union., 1896-11-23

nent | did wonder if my senses had
deserted me. The passengers all
reached out to look overhead, and those
inside wanted to see what those out
side were gazing at; so when they re-
quested me to stop the car that they
might all look, was practically forced
to oblige them. They got out in the
road and looked up at the airship, the
most surprised crowd I ever saw in my
life. There it was, sure enough, right
overhead, and travelling on at a good
rate. with its light blazing away, and
the most uncanny looking thing I ever
saw.
"Airship or anything else, it was the
most remarkable looking object, and
am at loss now to convince myself
that I actually saw it. It was alto
gether wonderful sight, and nobody
could have ever made me believe that
l would ever see such thing. It was
perfectly clear, and not only /, but all
the passengers saw 1t and watched it
till 1t disappeared. / thought it must
have landed across the bay, and 1 was
somewhat surprised this morning to see
that no mention was made of 1t in the
papers. I would really like to have
that thing found so that I could satisfy
myself as to how 1t worked, for a more
interesting thing I have never seen"
Miss Hagstrom, who resides on Tele-
graph avenue, saw the same object
about six weeks ago. The feature that
impressed her most was the bright
light which she distinctly saw. On re-
turning home she told her brother Of
what she had seen, but nothing more
was thought of it until she read recent
ly that a similar object had been seen
in another part of the State.
Charles Hagstrom, the brother of the
young lady who witnessed this queer
object in the sky, is also in the employ
of the Piedmont and Mountain View
Railways.
When my sister first told me what
she had seen I treated it as a Joke"
he said this evening, "and placed little
credence in her story, believing that
she had seen nothing more mysterious
than a falling star or meteor. When 1
heard the same thing had been seen
elsewhere, last week, and heard again
last night of what was seen in this part
of town, / am now convinced that my
sister saw the same thing. I have
talked to several people to-day who
witnessed the object last night, and
they are all confident that 1t was moth
ing more nor less than a genuine air
ship"
w. J. Rodda and his wife, who reside
at a grocery store at 2042 Broadway,
were also witnesses to the strange aerial
visitor.
When we first saw it, said Mrs.
Rcdda tonight, 1--WE thought it was
balloon, and II dt were not for the bright
light 1 should still be inclined TO think
it was peculiarly shaped balloon, but
I never knew of "a balloon to carry
bright lights and travel at nighttime
the way that did. I could not see any
fans myself, but others say that they
most undoubtedly saw the propellers
which sent the thing along. AS it
passed over 1t angled downward, and if
1T kept on In the same direction 1t should
have landed somewhere across the bay.
at once concluded that 1t was the same
machine that had been seen in Sacra-
mento. I believe that airships will be
brought to perfection, and I wouldn't
be the least bit surprised to hear that
some one had already built practical
machine of that kind and was operating
with it In this neighborhood."
Many OF the passengers on Yost's car
live out at Piedmont and all are Of the
opinion that they saw real airship.
An Oakland artist who crosses to San
Francisco every day said this evening
that the airship was seen from Golden
Gate Park yesterday afternoon. II was
coming home last night he said, 'in
company with a friend who had been
out to Golden Gate Park. He told me
that he and others had seen an airship
during the evening and that 1t closely
resembled the picture Of the one pub
lished in the Call He said that they
tried to explain it by all kinds Of means.
but they came to the conclusion that it
was the same machine. Tt was dusk
when they saw it and the remarkable
brilliancy on 1t attracted their atten-
ton. I shouldn't have thought any more
of it, but to-day in this city I heard
several people discussing it,
1t is the prevalent opinion that some
one in Alameda or neighobring counties
has solved the problem Of flying in the
air, and has been for some weeks put
ting his experiment to practical test.