Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-24
SIXTEEN ARE
INJURED WHEN
BALLOON r1oPS
TRIAL TRIP II llRSHlP ENDS
SERIOUSLY
OCCUPANTS DROP 800 FEET TO
EARTH
Memo of the Victims Is Expected to
Die, and Their Escape from Inc
slant Death Is Consid-
cred Marvellous

ered MARVELLOUS
BY Associated Press.
OAKLAND, Cal, May 23-A giant
airship on it's trial trip in Berkeley to-
day rose 300 feet from the earth before
10000 people, tilted, burst and dropped
to the ground with it's crew of sixteen
men, every one of whom was injured.
By one of those peculiar and for
tunate chain of circumstances which
sometimes attend sensational accidents
these sixteen men escaped death. None
of the injured, with the possible excep-
ton of one, is expected to de. Seven
of them are seriously hurt and nine
severely bruised and suffering from
shock Following is a list of the in
| jured:
| ]. A. Morrel, inventor Of the airship;
| right leg broken and bruised.
u. 7. Taylor, an aeronaut, known as
Captain Penfold"; broken ankle and
instep and injured spine.
Otto Olsen, one of the crew; broken
ribs and injured back.
c. A. Nelson, an engineer; fractured
pelvis and injuries to back.
| s. Whipple. engineer, broken ribs and
| ankle; probable internal injuries
| L. V. Rodgers, engineer; fractured
right leg, contusions all over body, in
ternally injured; probably will die.
E. c. Wallin, newspaper photogra-
pher, San Francisco; injured foot,
bruised and suffering from shock.
| Justin Barber, photographer, Berke-
| ley; ribs broken and bruised.
| p Fl. Goodfriend, engineer; bruised
and suffering from shock.
| H. Miller, one Of crew; cut and
bruised; not serious.
John Byrne, pilot; bruised and lac
| Grated; not serious.
| Charles p. Hall, photographer, San
Francisco; bruised and suffering from
shock.
John Peterson, photographer; bruised
and lacerated; not serious.
| v. j. Flume, engineer; cut and
bruised; not serious.
John Ahern. engineer; bruised; in
juries slight.
w. Mowrey, engineer: bruised: in
juries slight.
Accident Spectacular
The accident was a spectacular and
sensational one. Probably ten thou
sand people from Berkeley and Oakland
had gathere around the big vacant lot
wherein the great caterpillar shaped
air craft had been inflated with illumin-
ating gas
1t was just 1880 o'clock when the
| stay ropes were cut and the airship
rose slowly from the earth. The FIVE
gasoline engines suspending beneath
the big bag at intervals of probably
| fifty feet, each attended by an engineer,
were not put in operation until we'll up
| into the air. when two Of them had
slowly set in motion the long pro-
pellers reaching out from either side.
The engines were suspended indepen-
dent of each other and the weight did
not appear to be equalized. for before
the ship could be propelled further than
a few feet the forward end titled down.
ward and the airship stood at an angle
of forty-five degrees. suspended in the
| air.
The engineers and the other members
of the crew seemed to lose their heads,
and instead of running along the cam
| vas pathway in order to equalize the
weight and to right the airship they
| clung desperately to the netting and
| frail superstructure. The rush of the
gas to the stern end of the long airship
and the tremendous weight of the en-
gines and crew caused the none too sub
stantial envelope to burst with a loud
ripping noise.
Occupants Lose Heads
The release of great quantity Of gas
allowed the airship to settle slowly to-
| ward the earth, and for a few moments
| it looked as IL 1t would come down slowly
enough to avoid any injury to the six
| Teen HELL OOIIl6 OF J0eIIl, however, lOSL
| their heads before the big machine
could reach the ground and jumped.
These escaped with broken limbs or
| severe bruises. Nearing the earth, how
ever the gas escaped with rush and
allowed the engines and the big bag to
! come down with great force. Morrell,
| the inventor of the craft, and several
| of the engineers were caught and in
| jured by the engines. There was a
panic in the big crowd that watched
| the ascension when the airship began
to tilt. AS it burst and fell toward the
earth women screamed and ran in fright
| in every direction. Several of them
| tainted and had to be carried away
| When the airship landed on the
| ground hundreds of men rushed forth
and with knives ripped the gas bag in
hundred places, cutting away the
buried underneath. In the excitement
of cutting the gas bag Robert Dibble
was seriously slashed about the hands
and arms The injured men were
quickly rescued and taken to the Roose-
velt and Oakland hospitals, where they
are all doing well tonight with the ex-
ception of Rodgers. who it is believed
will succumb to his injuries.
Has Large Plans
Morrell has for a long time been
engaged in building and exploiting his
airships. He has extensively adver-
tised that todays trial of the big air.
ship, which was more than 400 feet
| long and 36 feet in diameter, was only
a model of the one he intended to
build, declaring that he would con-
struct an cir craft 1900 feet long and
capable OF carrying 500 passengers.
The big airship was not unlike, in
form of construction, many of those
experimental with In different parts
of the country. 1t was a long torpedo
shaped affair, with blunt ends, round
on top and sagging somewhat in tho
middle on the lower or under part.
Five engines had been suspended by
means of heavy net work. and a cam
vas running board connected them.
The engines were of the automobile
gasoline type, and each was attended
| by an engineer.
| 1t Is stated that Morrell was warned
| by several experienced aerial navi-
gators that the kind of bag he had
provided would not stand the strain
| of the great weight placed upon IL
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