The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-03-13

OF Largest Airship At World's 1aAr
Would Organise an "Aero Club" -
Paris1AA Eedel-Hsw He Sails HI
Great Ship.
Hippolyte FransaAu, tAs French m
vantor and owner OF the biggest or al
HE a1rships seen It the St Louis
worlds fair, now proposes to make st
Louis tho nrst American city to tAke
up. asronautics as permanent science,
says the St Louis Post-Dispatch.
He has come from Paris to interest
bt. Louis In the sport OF balloOning. He
would organize a st. Louis aero club
similar to the Paris Aero club and
would cause to be constructed a big
aerodrome, or balloon garage, equipped
with the apparatus necessary to COM
mon supply Of gas.
The ultimate idea q n. Francois Is
quite startling. Like Count de la
Vaulx, president Of the Paris Aero
club. hs believer that St Louis will one
day become the home Of the science OF
aeronautics. These Frenchmen believe
this because they say st. Louis is, geo
graphically, an ideal airship city. They
are convinced America, with Its great
riches il to work out the flying prob
lem. They say that st. Louis, because
there are 10 great waters about it to
imperil ballooning. is to be the scene
of tho solution. They say that New
York, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia
and the big cities of the east are i'm
possible for this purpose because OF
their nearness to the Atlantic. Chicago
offers a like peril In the great lakes.
St Louis is far from great water.
Count de la Vaulx during his visit to
the fair said: ~ have never seen an
other city SO admirably located for
ballooning as st. Louis. 1t is so far
inland that a balloon could not be
swept to sea by any whim of the wind,
and you are thus free from the only
real danger confronting us in France"
NJ Francois sees in St. Louis the same
point Of vantage. He came to the fair
with his big airship late In the fall.
He planned a fight, but accidents to
LILY S1llp uclOJ uulll luC ldl1 Auo
almost ended. He returned to France
and rebuilt his ship. A few days ago,
quite to the surprise Of the communi-
ty, he returned to st. Louis. His aD
nOuncement was even more surprising
than his temperance. People in St
Louis had thought they had seen the
last Of the foreign aerOnauts. M. Fran
co.'s suddenly appeared to say st. Louis
had only seen the first of them. If the
people of st. Louis will respond to his
mission, he says, he will make this his
home and bring hither his ships.
Nj. Francois is not planning to leave
his native land for anything more than
scientific reasons. He is patriot He
proved it during the fair when he an
nounced that he had not come to try
for the 100000 prize, but merely to
fly "for the glory Of France" That he
did not fly far was not his fault He
tried to. The caprice Of fortune and
some few little faults in the construc-
ton Of his ship denied him the chance
he had thought to have had of showing
the world what Frenchman can do.
One day he assembled, with his aids
holding the ropes. The next day he set
out in earnest, but his great ship did
not clear the fence and snagged upon
it, bending the frame. The next day
he started again, but that time a nail
In the doorway Of the aerodrome tore
a rent In his ship, causing it to sink.
That wound up the worlds fair career
of NJ. Francois. He packed his ship,
babe US adieu and set out for Paris.
Il WI come back and show you what
i can q, he said, smiling in that grim
way OF determined men. Long ago ST.
Louis forgot him; even longer ago it
forgot his promise to return. # ne
had thought himself particularly hum
bled or az all d!scredited in its eyes
st. Louis had not thought so. He was
grouped with many that had gono
down in failure but failure in which
there was no dishonor
Il have come back" he said a few
days ago, presenting himself before
Calvin n. Woodward, a member Of the
faculty at Washington university, and
other equally astonished gentlemen
who had enjoyed the acquaintance Of
the aeronaut when he was in st. Louis
with his ship.
81 said I would come back and re.
cover my prestige, and here 1 am.
want to locate here and make aerostat-
les a popular science in st. Louis. We
will build an aerodrome. 1 will bring
my big ship over from Paris, and we
will organize an aero club, such as they
have over there. We will make St
Louis the headquarters for this thing
in the western hemisphere just as Par
is is headquarters for 1t in Europe"
Count de Ia VaulX says that Ameri-
ca takes an incredible view Of aeronau.
tics. We look at it, he says, from the
single viewpoint Of humor. An airship
IS funny: balloon is funny. The gray
est among us laughs at the mention Of
an aeronaut To the French that is in
credible. To them the whole subject
Of aerostation is grand, exquisite. in
spring, ecStatic. The French see in
ballooning a bliss which wholly tran
scends its dangers. They give balloon
ing parties for ladies. Aristocrats go
I'D in the clouds. Rich men have their