Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-24
WINS AERIAL SPRINT
Lincoln Beachey the Victor in
St. Louis Race.
GREAT DIRIGIBLE CONTEST,
Jack Dallas of Toledo Takes the
Second Place.
THE ARROW BEHAVED BADLY
Crowd Went Wild at the Sight of
the Great Overhead Battle.
Nothing Like It Before.
GREAT DIRIGIBLE CONTEST,
THE ARROW BEHAVED BADLY

ST. LOUIS Mo. October 24.-With a
contest for dIrgib!e balloons, in which
four of the craft raced around a three
mile course like SO many thoroughbred
horses ST. Louis great aeronautic carni-
val came to an end at 6 o'clock yesterday
afternoon.
In the history Of the world there has
never been anything approaching this
carnival in point of successful achieve
ment. aeronauts declared. and no one
event has ever contributed so much 10
the advancement of aerial navigation.
The races in some respects We're the
most interesting of the weeks events.
Never before, in America at least. has
any assemblage of citizens enjoyed the
spectacle of airships speeding over their
heads. driven almost with the precision
and the speed of automobiles, and GER
tainly no American crowd has ever seen
airships make such time as was made
yesterday afternoon.
In the final heat Lincoln Beachey of
Toledo, Ohio, drove his airship, the
Beachey, around the three-mile course,
part of the way against a six-mile wind,
in four minutes and forty seconds. Al
the finish of the race he circled about and
dropped the machine on the very spot
from which he started.
Next 10 this record came Jack Dallas
of Toledo in the Strobell airship, with a
record of six minutes and ten seconds
Capt. Thomas S. Baldwin Of New York
made the next best time in the Arrow.
covering the course in seven minutes and
five seconds.
Both the Dallas and Beachey airships
are owned by Charles J. Strobell of To-
ledo.
Every Inch Contested.
Three heats were flown, but only in the
third was there any sharp contest, when
the three competitors buck ed down to
business like SO many race horses and
fought for every inch of space around
the track In fact, the whole perform
ance partook of the atmosphere of a
great horse race, except that it was more
exciting and the comp titors were in the
air instead of on the ground.
In the first heat, which started at
o'clock, Capt. Baldwin made the best show
ing and gave the great crowd an idea
OF what was to tome. Charles BayeSdor-
fer, with the Omaha Comet and Horace B.
Wild of Chicago started and made good
progress until their motors went wrong
and the Comet finally was forced to settle
to the ground far outside the Enclosure.
In this heat Lincoln Beachey made the
three miles in seven minutes fifteen sec
onds, Dallas in eight minutes fifty seconds
anu Nops pS'iuN All III ilIHt minutes thirty
seconds
After that a brisk wind sprang I'D from
the southwest. and when ii came time for
the second heat none of the competitors
would try to make the course against it.
The course was triangular in shape ex-
tending from the center of the arena out
over the top of the Aero Club house to
Blair's monument in the park. then max
ing sharp angle 10 the flagpoIe, where
another sharp turn was made. bringing
Il
ly over the heads of those in the grand
stands.
Up 200 Feet in Air.
To make the start the airships had to
go almost straight up for about two hum
dred feet. then get their equilibrium and
dart away as fast as the propel!ers could
drive them.
The weather was delightful. with soft
sunlight all the time falling upon the up
turned faces and lust breeze enough to
make tn" day enjoyable.
1t was nothing new to many in the big
crowd yesterday TO see airship circle
about high n the air, as Roy knabenshue
and 9th rs have done around New York
city, but when it came to seeing these
long gas bags go swimming just over the
houseiops, driven by their cIacking mo-
tors at the rate Of an express train-that
was a different story. and the spectacIe
stirred up the crowd in a way that crowds
are not often stirred in these DAYS of Won
derful happenings.
Men, and women who would have been
content " III applaudng in ordinary fash
ION at a horse race or yacht race utterly
fo, got their dignity and se'f-control,
sprang from their SEATS, threw their hats
into the air, rushed TO the uDper row of
seats. crushing others to the floor. shouted
like mad to the navigators sailing over
their heads, and then were restrained by
the police and soldiers from racing down
into the arena to greet the very calm
n5Yigators after they had brought their
machines gracefully back to the starting
line.
Often during the most exciting moments
of the races the musicians would cease
playing altogether or let slip such dis
C0rdant notes fEom their Instruments as
they craned their necks that the crowd
would break out in = hearty as soon
as 1t could take eyes off the airshps
Band Makes Amends.
But the band always made amends for
its slips by striking up Come Take a
Trip In My AirShip." which Is whist,ed
from one end of st. Louis to the other
since ii became popular at the start of the
great International balloon race last Mon
day.
Another thing that seemed to eIectrify
| the crowd was the rhythmic purring of
the motors as the machines darted away.
There is something thrilling about the an
ties OF an airship at the start. Held to the
earth by twenty strong soldiers ciinging
I 10 the frame, ii looks like nmble hiupo-
potamus, II one can imagine such a thing
pJkinS its pointed nose up into the air
shifting at the wind and impatient for the
start.