The Washington herald., 1907-11-10
new AERIAL RECORD
American Weight for Dis
tance Standard Lowered.
WOMAN PASSENGER iB0ARD
Vessel Passes Directly Over Forte
and Makes Discovery of Hidden
CONGRATULATIONS To New York
Consumed Near Five Hours-Gotham
Lights Are Seen from Clouds.

New York. Nov. s-The giant German
balloon. Pommern, which won the St
Louis race. tried another trip to-day with
Or. Julian r. Thomas. her new owner.
his wife. and four other people on board.
The start was made from Philadelphia at
IN O'Clock. Dr. Thomas said al the time
that he was going to New York. Sure
enough. at FIVE minutes before o'clock
the ship news experts AT the Battery
sighted a strange craft heaving in sight
over Governors Island. They guessed her
TO be the Pommern, from Philadelphia
for New York. in ballast, and guessed
right
After passing over the fort at Governors
Island, the balloon held To a course up
the East River. passing directly over the
Brooklyn Bridge held TO a course along
the Long Island shore. and about 6
O'Clock Or. Thomas party effected a
landing at I75th street and westchester
avenue. the Bronx.
An hour afterward DR.. and Mrs. Thom-
as were back in their apartment. and
the doctor was telling OF his experiences
as calmly and with as much interest as
though he had been discussing uncooked
food
Thomas Tells Of Trim.
DR.. Thomas said: I'VE started AT II
o'clock from the gas works Al Point
Breeze. The balloon was equipped with
twenty-three bags of ballast. weighing
altogether sixty pounds. The six pas-
sengers weighed about a thousand
pounds. I announced before I started
that 1 would go 20 New York. but the
balloon was managed by Herr Erbsloch.
and the credit for the remarkable trip
should be given TO German methods.
I'VE started from Philadelphia and
landed in the Bronx. but we could have
gone on all night. as we had a fun half
Of our ballast left The trip. which e
we'll over hundred miles, is the longest
ever made in America with so much
weight on board
when we ascended at Point Brnaza The
air current took US directly over PhiIadel-
phia. We passed directly above William
PENIS monument, almost touching il
The highest point we reached was about
4,OOo feet Above 1.00O feet the air currents
set toward the northeast. Below that the
wind blew toward the north
New York or Nowhere.
In our flight we paralleled the Penn
sylvania Railroad nearly all Of the way.
We could have landed in New Jersey as
we found ourselves approaching the sea
but / mad said New York. and I was will
ing to chance something 10 reach II and
Mrs. Thomas backed NE up. For a short
time / was in doubt as to our exact posi-
zion. but I recognized the town Of Mat
teawan In New Jersey and knew that W.
were keeping pretty close 10 our course.
AT one point in New Jersey the wind
died away and. settling near the earth.
we travelled so slowly that a country lad
kept pace with US for nearly half an hour
and gave us pointers as to our where
abouts.
When we sighted the ocean il took
nerve TO decide TO go on. However. We
had plenty of ballast left. and. after
some searching, found wind that would
drift US toward New York When We
passed over the forts we were able 10
count ten batteries. where, understand
but one is visible from the water. We
were able to take pictures of the b-t
teries at both Forts Hamilton and Wads-
worth. We could easily have dropped
missiles on Fort Hamilton
See City Lights from on High.
AT first l planned to land at the Bat
terry but Broadway was just lighting up.
and we could not resist the temptation to
fly over the city and see the sights. We