The Washington herald., 1908-08-13

Hating suddenly IN midair. after En-
gineer Glen Curtiss had worked on the
electric motor for fifteen minutes AZ an
altitude OF so feet. receiving shock after
shock while he labo-ed. Capt BaIdwsu's
GirigibIe dropped into corndeId imme-
diately west of Clarendon. Va, yesterday
evening having covered only tSo-thirds
Of The Official course
Irony Of fate. combined with bad bal
anc=. a sti6 wind. and careIessness on
the part Of one OF Mr. Curtiss' assist
ants. who attached a secondary wire 10
the commutator in such a way as 10 make
the accident unavoidable. prevented the
fist Official fight OF the dirigibIe from
being success
The balloon had been in the air six
teen minutes and forty-fve seconds when
The accident occurred
one Mile on the Return Trip.
Capt .aldwiu successfully negotiated
the distance from Fort 1Iyer 10 Bauston.
and had covered one mile on the return
trip The TWO and a quarter miles 10
Ballsr0u were covered il nine minutes
and ffty-dve seconds. This tine was
made On three cylinders Of Che four
cylinder engine. The accident 10 the mo-
tor happening shortly after the start vas
made
Six minutes and ffry seconds was the
time OF che mile covered on the return
trip At So O'Clock the propeller on the
front end OF the dirlgible stopped A few
seconds later the dirigibIe drie-ed 10 the
corndeid. where II was caught by several
negro farmers Neither Capt Baldwin
nor 3Ir. Curtiss received the slightest in
jury or Jar. and no damage was done 10
the mammoth gas bag or framework
Throughout the sixteen minutes and
-ry-dve seconds The balloon was 81 the
air IL was virtually free = few moments
-fJer the machine started from Fort
1Iyer 3Ir- Curliss detected the defect IN
the motor Bending over the engine he
worked with II until the dirigibIe dropped
10 terra frna- The steering planes. by
which the balloon is elevated or lowered
were not touched by Mr.. Curtlss and the
gigantic silk envelope was left practically
10 the mercies OF the wind
The diriEi5ie was never seen TO cavorr
so erraticaIIy in the air as yesterday On
several occasions the front end was point
ed directly toward the earth. and the bal
loon stood perpendicular several seconds
while al an altitude Of go or 200 feet
above the earth
Repaired in CornfeId.
1Ir- CJrtiss repaired the injury TO the
engine after twenry-tnree minutes work
il the corafeId- The balloon was bal
anced again. and amid the cheers OF sew
eraI hundred country people and several
automobile parties. the sky sailors re-
sumed their flight Starting from the
cornfe1d at 1-15 O'Clock. Capt. Baldwin
and 8Ir- CUrtiss reached Fort Myer al
III o'clock
Both were much disappointed over the
accident and their nerve-racking expe-
-ie1ce in the runaway balloon absorbed
much Of their dashinE spirit
We VIII make another fight to-mor-
row afternoon between . and O'Clock IN
the evening said Capt Baldwin There
is no reason TO be discouraged over the
accident today. although II is IamentaBIe
that il should have occurred on the very
first day We went out for an Official trial
The mishap was unavoidable, but We vii
see that such things never occur in the
future
Engineer Curtiss declared that one Of
the men who assisted in adjusting the
engine before the fight was responsible
for the accident
IT was just q piece OF carelessness"
said Mr. Curtiss. with some warmth
The man who attached that secondary
wire should bear all the blame We had
not well started from the tent when the
vibration OF the engine shook loose the
secondary wire leading TO the high-ten-
sion distributor. The loose connection
could not have helped from being dis
connected as soon as the engine got up
any speed
As soon as 7 detected the trouble
knew that only three cylinders were work
ing. and made all possible haste 70 right
matters Il vas necessary for ne 70 let
the steering planes alone and devote all
my time TO repairing the engine needed
a piece Of cord, but had none with me.
This made fl necessary to use a dull
knife TO saw a piece from the suspend
hg framework More than half the way
up TO Ballston and until We dropped
10 the ground 7 was being repeatedly
shocked by the zS-horsepower engine. and
I want to tell you the sensation was any
thing but pleasant way up there IN the
air
Main Wire Jared Loose.
While I worked 70 fix the secondary
V-ire- the main wire. or link connection,
was Jared loose This threw two Of the
cylinders out Of commission. and. Of
course. the engine stopped dead stiH- We
dTifted down slowly We shouted 10 sew
eral negroes sitting ii front OF a hut and
they ran out 70 catch the framework and
prevented IL from striking the ground
Tomorrow evening the engine VIII be
in perfect working order. and a repeti-
ton Of rO-day-s accident will be carefully
guarded against IL the future"
Save for a I've or six mile wind. the
weather conditions were ideal A crowd
about +.0o3 persons. the majority OF
n being women and gaily bedecked