The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-08-03

by lightning or have a tree fall on
1im even in the temperate zone.
II the balloon should tumble into the
open sea a metallic boat has been TAX
IN along, which Wellman calls his ire
turn ticket"
Before the start is made the balloon
is to be subjected to the most rigid
tests. Trial voyages will be made, and
| if the apparatus is found in any way
defective it will be remodeled or. If
| necessary, abandoned and a new bal
loon constructed Some such contin-
gency may delay the trip for year.
If the first effort to reach the pole Is
not successful another trial will be
made year later. and If that fails still
another attempt will result. To put it
plainly. the north pole has got to come
into the reservation Of the known If
! American ingenuity, newspaper enter
prise and Wellman perseverance can
bring 1t there.
Wireless Telegraphy on Board.
| One of the novelties of the Wellman
expedition - and pretty much every
i thing about 1t Is a novelty = is that
wireless telegraphy will be used in or
der that the daily reports Of the voyag-
{ ers may be flashed back to civilization.
, One wireless station has been estab-
lished at Spitzbergen, another about
/ 600 miles south, and the third will be
! on the balloon itself. Instead Of this
being a pole high in the air, however,
1t will be rope hanging from the bas-
ket Of the ship. A wireless apparatus
and operator will be carried with the
! expedition. Thus even if the melan-
choly fate of Andree should Overtake
the daring aeronauts the world will be
enriched by an account of their obser-
vations If the pole is discovered we
shall not have to wait months for the
news to reach us, but it will be flashed
all over the world on the very day it
! occurs. Great is science, and wireless
telegraphy is it's newest wonder.
If Walter Wellman reaches this goal.
which has been the dream Of ages, he
will not be the first American news
| paper man to have gained fame as
discoverer Henry NJ Stanley, the
great African explorer. was a reporter
on New York newspaper at the time
he found Livingstone,
Does Not Believe In Omens.
/ Wellman was born at Mentor, o..
Nov. 3, 1853. The fact that he Is a
Buckeye is another sign that he will
succeed. Besides, Mentor was the home
Of James A. Garfield, so that Is good
place to have been born In. That is
another suspicious omen. Wellman
himself, by the way, does not believe
In signs and omens, for he Is going to
start his expedition from the same is
land where Andree began his voyage
to fame and death. The rest Of us.
however. may be excused for believing
that man who took his rise In Men.
tor, O., had a favorable point of set
ting out.
Mr.. Wellman was educated in the
district schools Of Michigan. At the
age Of fourteen he launched q weekly
| newspaper at Sutton, Neb., and when
twenty-one started the Cincinnati Post.
He did notable work as a correspond
ent in the Blaine-Cleveland campaign
Of 1884. For over twenty years he has
been one of the Washington represent
atives Of the Chicago Record Herald,
which newspaper Is financing his pres
ent undertaking.
The first voyage of discovery made
by Wellman was in 1892, when on
Waiting island, or San Salvador, in
the Bahamas, he erected a monument
on the spot where Christopher Colum-
bus made his first landing Ala years
ago. Two years later Mr.. Wellman
started his initial arctic voyage, reach
ing 81 degrees north Subsequently
he was the leader of an expedition to
Franz Josef Land, reaching 80 degrees
north and discovering number Of new
Islands. He has written extensively
Of the arctic regions and has lectured
| before learned bodies in Europe and
America. In appearance he is Of dis
| tinguished bearing with the keen, alert
look of the modern representative of
the press. His home is in Washington,
where he has a family of FIVE daugh-
tiers. Altogether he is not only the
writer, but the typical American who
does things.
In rendering credit to those who
have assisted in making the present
Wellman expedition possible, NJ. San
tos-Dumont, the celebrated French
aeronaut, should not be overlooked.
His advice in building the great dirigi-
bic balloon has been almost invaluable
The gas bag itself is made Of two lay
ers Of cotton and one Of silk. The car
Is suspended beneath this cigar shaped
bag and is about six feet wide, six and
a half feet high and f1fty-two feet long
The engine room and living room, or
| cabin, are each about eleven and half
feet in length. In these little compart-
ments will be enacted a new chapter
in human history, for their inmates
will go either to death or to a goal
sought by man for centuries.
| If they succeed in reaching the pole
the world will regard it as the greatest
discovery since that made by Column
bus. Grant that the finding Of the