The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-08-18
UP 100 FEET; MAN ON BOARD.
THEN HAMILTON FALLS UNHURT
FROM LUDLOW'S .AIRSHIP.
Tho Acroplane Makes what Its builder
Calls . Successful F1ight-Started
Ake Great Kite With tho Help Of
an Auto-small Boy Buried Under II.

An AutO-SWSh nOy nuTieu s""o' ~
With her once white canvas wings torn
and bedragged and her bamboo bones
crushed and broken, that great bird Isaac
Iudlow's airship No. s lies disabled beside
the old Colonial mansion at Seventy eighth
street and West End avenue She's dead
airship now, but she has flown and carried
human freight from the ground 100 feet
into the air, feat that MIR. Ludlow and
others say has never before been accom-
plished. All this happened at the foot OF
West Seventy eighth street.
First there was procession when
marched from Mr.. Ludlow's home, $50
West Seventy eighth street. to the riverside
carrying the airship It's great wings, thirty
feet long by fifteen wide. filing most OF
the street and causing even the Oldest OF
truck horses to wiggle their ears.
As in the former trials, the motive power
used to raise the aeroplane was an automo-
bile, which was attached to the flying mo
chine by long rope. much az the small
boy is attached to his kite. When all was
ready and Charles Hamilton OF Houston,
Tex, the hero OF other attempts. had taken
his place the signal WAS given for the auto
mobile to start. The big 80 horsepower
auto took up the slack Of the rope with
Jerk, and Hamilton, perched on a small
rope seat In the center Of the airship. was
raised fifteen or twenty feet from the
ground.
Just as the crowd had got it's breath and
started to cheer the rope attaching the
aeroplane to the automobile broke and the
flying machine foated slowly to the ground
A second attempt ended in the same way.
but on tho third the machine rose in the air
$50 feet or co. Then the rope broke and it
plunged to the ground.
Hamilton was not on board on this ascent
but he was undaunted by the thought OF
what might have happened. and in spite
of the fact that the aeroplane's rudder,
an arrangement Of lateral and perpendicu-
lar canvas planes intended to keep the
machine from plunging, had been carried
away by the Last accident he prepared to
make fourth trial.
This time the automobile was started
slowly and the rope held. As tho auto
moved along the river bank scarcely faster
than a man can walk. the flying machine
rose gracefully into the air. apparently
unhampered bv Hamilton's weight. 1t
scared q hundred feet, the length Of the
rope and then floated easily while Hamilton
smiled and waved his hand at the crowd.
It might have been there yet II q proper
engine to drive airships had been invented
and No. had had 1t on board.
AS it was. the trouble began when the
automobile reached the end Of the roadway
along the docks and was obliged to stop.
What happened was Just what happens
when q small boy who has tried to get his
kite up on calm day stops running. The
kite settles more or less gradually TO the
earth and 30 might Airship No S, had she
: When the auto stopped the aeroplane
fiuttered In midair for moment. and then
With a sheer to starboard turned on her
side and shot toward the ground with
arrowlike swiitness. There was a ripping
Of canvas, q crashing OF the bamboo frame;
rush forward Hamilton parted the tangle
Of sticks and walked out, cool and smi, ing
as ever, with not a scratch on him. He
had chung to his seat and owed his safety
to the tough bamboo frame which had
broken his fall.
It was interrupted in the middle by q wild
bowling which came from the disabled
airship. The ruins were lifted and out
crawled a small boy who had been caught
in the earthward flight and who was nearly
frightened to death. but otherwise unin-
Mr.. Ludl6w was much pleased with bis
experiment and It's happy ending. He
saws that all he needs now ID a proper motor
and the problem Of serial navigation Is
solved. He will continue his experiments
at brighton Beach until he has proven
that a man may descend safely with the
In speaking Of the performance Of No. S
Mr.. Ludlow said: "Prof. g. p. Langley
OF the Smithsonian Institution employed q
catapult, Herr Lillienthal jumped from a
hilltop, M. Leger used launch on the Seine
River and Prof. Montgomery dropped his
eeroplane from a balloon. but never until
to-day has an airship OF this kind risen
from the ground into the air carrying with
It human being. It Is great triumph