New-York tribune., 1896-09-27
PARTICULARS or LILfENTHAES DEA1H.

Hanover letter to Nature.
With wings having surface OF twelve & toaoaTIten Id,
to serve his purpose OF observation ana practce III
a strong gus;y wind, but ne very rgntiy con, oo
sidered oxpermenting In a strong wind 10 ne 100
dangerous. and with a light breeze about twenty
square metres were found necessary ms ms, emUf h
mons surface however, could not he handled with
the same certainty and exactness as the oiueI
wings and as his system OF steering consls,eh ~,
IL was suspended. he had hit upon the simple eN-
pedien of placing two surfaces one aPovf ,n h
very marked advance. In former days lhiienthaI
had tried over and over again TO make small paper
been disappointed. Now this problem seemed TO 3s be
solved These wo-siory model wcn me moe, astnn
;shing manner lie would let them off from the
op ;ph,erfelde V and they would take long and some
times circuitous flights into the surrounding heluS,
ana never SAoeeuaritv 1,erv frenuontIy hitherto
observed i'm soaring models. . 1900
that not only would two-story surface be more
easily steered, because definite shiitne OF tne t
centre of gravity TO Ghe h aers eSemon of the
whole structure was little more than han or tnat
formerly used). hut would also show greater sta
bitv a result all the more to he expected as the
centre of gravity of the system was placed more
'ltx Exnsr,ments which we're begun without loss Of
time seemed TO bear out this conclusion i'hehthal
AZ peared to have suddenly gained In power ana IN IN
tba faculty of shaping his motion at Will. 1T
seemed to be only question OF time or opportunity
sSo. ,he great step would succeed Of describing u
cnmnlete circle IN the air (Which always appeared
corp' 81 up ,o he the KEY TO a definite. if not complete
success). when the disastrous acciueht occurrcu
T'he following is as nearly as can remember II,
tho report of the mechanic who used TO bulld
IjIenthal's wings. and to help him with his expert
on Sunday. August Q. Lienthal had gone out to
tho village OF Rhinow, where he used TO practise
on the bare sand hills in the neighborhood Nobody
Was was Ssxtccnsptionay favora BILE light wind blowing
from the east with velocity Of about '-Sm' per
IiIientbal had selected one of these new two
story surfaces which. in considerable number OF
trials from the artificial cone i'm lichterlede, hau
shown itself TO be especially successful re TOOK
one flight by way OF warming TO his work ana
then nrenared himself for "A second. and gave the
word 10 his man to look AT his watch ana note thc
duration Of the flight The man saw MN soar ,ai
down until he was nearly above the foot cStne HILL
then suddenly a gust OF wind set in, lifted him up
10 a height Of som. above the mountaineering 10
his mans estimate-and there ne stood apparently
This was a frequent occurrence, ana gave no
cause for alarm at hrst; put now 'e man saw "pM ,
wings more and more without obtaining the de-
sired effect of getting way forward and downward
The man felt uneasy AT THIS, pocKeteu ms Wdtcn'
ond rcenn TO run toward the spot where his mas
Ter was hanging suspended I'm mldair suddenly ne
saw the apparatus heeing over lorWaiu SUI si.ii more
md then l,licnthal came down with IL with great
%arce head foremost rolled over once or twice after
striking the ground. and remained motionless
When the man reached the spot, he found the
,naratus ,nuch shattered. but Mr.. Lilientha ap-
narenty uninjured and without CONSCIOUSNESS. lhe
local physician was instantly suinioheH' @ non H. ann anu az
frst declared that nothing serious had happened
IrInr,bai was brought TO the neighboring inn. and
Within two hours recovered his senses. lie seemed
to have felt no pain, bccinse ne T.
tny Uowever his arms and legs were lamed. IL
appears that his spine was fractured
ord ,ooL tho next train to town 10 fetch his
brother When the brother came. ne found thar ne
had swooned again; and he dl" m1 lover ms or,
sciousness until death get in. which occurred the
same night