The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1906-08-10
QUEEN OF THE CLOUDS


In the tragic suicidal death Of
Mrs A. F. Crenshaw. which occurred
Tuesday evening. shortly after 6
O'Clock In Fort Worth. the passing
Of one Of the worlds most daring
women is recorded and the last chap
, ter of a spectacular career closed
The past life OF the dead woman
reads like a romance II Is fraught
with thrilling escapades. sentimental
occurrences and much happiness.
Notwithstanding the fact that at the
| time of her death she was only 10
years Of age, she possibly had more
thrilling experience in her lifetime
, than any woman OF the same age in
the United States.
Mrs. Crenshaw who at the time
was known to the public as Nellie De
Vaughn, and was published abroad
as being the most beautiful woman
in the country. was the first woman
J to sail the sky In a modern airship.
This she did on Sept. %, 1905, at
Chutes Park, in Los Angeles, Cal. On
her maiden voyage she ascended to
the height of 1000 feet. skillfully
manipulating the huge cigar-shaped
airship, known as the Bullet She
was in the air twenty-five minutes
and travelled thirteen miles. and
came near meeting her death The
rudder Of the Bullet" was broken
early in the flight, and she found her
self scudding before a thirty mile
hour wind With the same courage
that characterized her every action
she clung to the ship and dropped
safely in the soft earth of China
,, mans potato patch.
The first voyage being so success
| full she made another This time she
sailed up into the air until the dizzy
| height of 1000 feet was reached. Her
! husband, Adolph Crenshaw, who has
| a wide reputation as an inventor and
master mechanic, was with her on
this trip. The daring cloud scudders,
! after ascending to the great height,
found that the ship was unmanag-
able in the fierce cold gale encoun-
tered. Clinging to the frail frame
work of the air craft and expecting
every minute to meet a horrible
; death, Crenshaw and his wife fioated
, beyond the clouds for two hours
The shipfinally settled in an Orange
orchard in East Alhambra, a suburt
of Los Angeles, and thirty miles from
where the start was made.
Long before. however, she made
the sensational voyage in the air ship
the deceased won much publicity by
her daring act in clinging to the
back of the famous diving horse,
silver King" and dropping fifty
feet with the animal into huge tank
of water twenty feet deep. This feat
she accomplished time after time.
| Then again she startled Chicagoans
by her graceful and truly dazzling
feats of horseback riding. At that
time she was with Ringing Brothers
circus and was billed from one end
! of the country to the other as Mile
| DeVaughn, the daintiest, most grace
| full and beautiful lady bareback rider
on earth" 1t was when the big show
was at Tattersall's in Chicago, that
Mile De Vaughn won her greatest
triumph Critics pronounced her 10
Ibe the cIeverest lady rider ever seen
in that city and her fame along this
line proceeded her TO every city.
Later she turned from horseback
riding to- doing aerial acts that made
newspaper critics sit mp and notice
things AZ Madison Square Garden.
New York. Mile De Vaughn. the Hcri.
.aIi~t. was much sought after for I'M