The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-11-06
StOry Of Modern Witchcraft
rErnm the Recnrd-Herald.l

practical and sane a man as any wise
sporting man could ask. sitting IN tne
Palmer house buffet the other night told
this story:
Never mind about me- I got away
bad at the Overland meeting, and came
down to Manitou to drink UP the sui
phur spring and keep my hand in with
roulette at Old Town 1t was running
wide open then, a sort of compromise.
between the Colorado Springs paradise,
the Manitou society heaven, and the
Garden of the Gods. which, by the way
looks more like page from Dantes IN
ferno' than a park. garden or home OF
the deities
I got a room in a widows cottage up
in the foothills above RuXton's canyon,
and from there made long walks INTO
the mountains and over the Cheyenne
canyon, where Helen Hunt is buried and
where the Seven Falls drop thousand
feet in relays and never look cheap tlll
they get down to rock bottom ana now
away in the shape of a kind OF Skokle
creek-
ION one of my lonesome rambless
among the peaks l ran across one OF
those half canvas, half wooden shackS
that are so plentiful in all mountain re-
sorts. 1 was burnt up for drink, so
went in and tagged the proprietor Tor
moistener He gave me water, ana
asked me to sit down. We got pretty
we'll acquainted. and when he heard that
I was a gambler he admitted that l
was the very kind of a man he was
looking for. He asked me If had ever
been interested in aerOStaticS and when
I said that / had been and was, though
/ didn't know what it meant. he told
me that he had invented a flying ma
chine. and that all he wanted to set him
on his feet was man like me, who was
willing to take chance and who would
finance first public appearance be-
fore a large, paying crowd.
L admitted that / thought the scheme
might be worked provided his flying ma
chine worked and then he showed ii
to me. It was nothing but wings, SO far
as I could see. great, spreading wings
of white. shining metal which he eX-
planned was aluminium. / admitted that
] didn't know anything about balloons,
flying machines or anything of that
kind and he went into the history of
the whole business He told me that
human ignorance, prejudice and Stingi-
ness had thus far been the chief obsta-
Gle to successful navigation of the air,
and that at an earlier day religious
superstition had defeated and destroyed
some Of the most remarkable efforts to
fly. He told about some archbishop
who. having witnessed the successful
flight of an aerOnaut from one noun
tain peak to another. had Immediately
caused the scientist to be burned at the
stake for Witchcraft.
I'VE got down to brass tacks after a
while, and I said that if he would give
me a private exhibition of his flying
ability I'd take him to Denver and pull
make some money. I stayed all night at
his shack. and he explained the work.
ings of his invention. 1t was, as I told
you. mostly wings, but there was piece
of harness which reached from the butt
of the wings to his feet, by means of
which he claimed to be able to launch
himself from the earth. In other words.
once hitched up to his contrivance he
could by a few vigorous strokes with
both legs set up such vigorous flap
ping of his wings that he rose at once.
After that it was mostly a question of
slow, steady leg strokes, the manipula-
ton of the wings with his hands, soar
ing, posing and finally sinking by fold
ing his pinions.
Beyond Cameron's Cone thousand
feet or more below the cliff that faces
south, there is a wide, smooth table land
of perhaps a thousand acres 1 was to
go there in the morning while he. winged
and ready, was to launch himself from
the cliff, mount. stoop. soar, descend
ahght and in every way demonstrate his
ability to fly. When I got to my place
about noon I could descry him only by
the reflection which the sun cast from
his bright wings. He looked like an ant
aloft, and ! sat down in the shade of
small oak and waited. Presently I saw
his wings spread. He seemed to leap from
the precipitous edge of the cliff against
the wind. ! felt sick and dizzy as I wait
ed for his fall. But instead of falling he
hoated ont across the chasm like bird
Then the wind. which was against him
drove him back and upward like kite
The wings were motionless, but he circled
and rose as you have seen buzzards circle
and mount with wings that seem rigid
Then he swung out across the abyss and
away. quartering toward the east as fast
as eagle ever flew; then poised again
and came swooping like a hawk toward
the table where I lay, fascinated watch
ing him. 7 thought he would be dashed
TO pieces against the ground but when
he was perhaps 400 feet above me, descend
ing like dead missile | saw the strokes
of his legs. The great, cleaning wings
smote the air rapidly. and he stood still
In mtdair, leaning. as it were against the
breeze. and then, in swiftly narrowing cir
Giles, circled downward gently toward the
earth. He alighted not more than a hun
dred yards from me. drew in his wings
and called out, Come and set me down.
1 unhltched him and gave him a drink
from my flask. He was winded but still
strong. and he saw that I was delighted
with the demonstration. I don't remember
what I said, but it was all praise We
carted the machine back up the mountain
and I started for Denver the next dav I
engaged Elitch's Garden for every Sunday
for month and broke into the DaDers
for all kinds of space about Professor
Woody and his flying machine. The prob
lem of aerial navigation was solved and
he was interviewed for whole pages. The
sale of tickets was enormous The one
thing essential to a successful flight said
Woody was a perch high enough.
borrowed all the money I could get-they
wouldn't advance me the box office re-
ceipts-and when Saturday came 1 had
erected a sort of scaffold nearly 100 feet
high.
There must have been 10000 people on
the grounds at o'clock Sunday, when
Woody mounted the ladder with his ma
chine. It was an impressive moment Ut
ter silence reigned while he was getting
into his harness. At last he stood upon