Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1908-10-01
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Regular Correspondence.

Regular Correspondence.
The disaster to the air ship of Or
vile Wright in which the invent
or was badly wounded and his
companion killed, is felt keenly
in Washington where the expert.
ments were being made. The Of
fetal test was to have been made
this week and Mr.. Wright and
the officials OF the War Depart :
ment as well as the crowds who
have daily attended the tri a |
fights were confident that the
aeropplane would easily pass all
the tests. 1t lies now in the shed
where it-had been kept, a mass
OF broken wires, splintered wood
and torn muslin. Lieut.. Selfridge
who accompanies Mr.. Wright is
dead, and Mr.. Wright, with a
broken leg, several broken ribs
and many bruises, is lying in the
Army hospital at Fort Myer in
the suburbs OF the city still una
ware that his companion in the
fight was killed. OF course every
one has a reason why the pro-
peller should have broken, and
why the machine should have
fallen, but it takes little techni-
cal knowledge to see that when @
flying machine gets anything
wrong with its machinery while
in air it has but one thing to do
and that is to obey the laws of
gravity and reach the earth by
the shortes line. When an auto
mobile stalls on q hill it may be
annoying but it is not danger
GUS. When O flying mechanism
tails it is not only dangerous but
probably fatal.
This fact postpones by many
years the time when flying ma
chimes will be useful either for
War or transportation and before
that time it will doubtlrss de-
mand a heavier vital toll than
those who have already fallen
victims to the experiments. Lieu
tenant Selfridge was a clever,
promising young man OF twenty
six. He had for several year ta-
ken the ksenest interest in all air
ships and had made many ascen
sions. He was also the inventor
of some OF the parts OF the Bald
win derrigble balloon and was
fearless in experimenting with
them. His death happily, WAS
Ipainless as he never regained con
sciousness after striking earth.
The official opening OF the In
ternational tuberculosis Con-
gress will take plnee next Mon
day when distinguished scientific
men from far away parts OF the
world will meet for the first time
in three years to discuss the pro-
gress that has been made in the
fight against the great W h i tie
plague and to exchange IDEAS for
the advancement OF the work.
Many distinguished officials OF
the Government who have only
the layman's knowledge OF the
subject will address the conven-
tion but it is safe to predict that
no one who goes to the quarters
prepared for the convention in
the National museum will escape
without having learned some
thing about the work in which
its members are engaged. There
will be many comprehensive ex-
hibits from European countries
and from the different states to
show just how the scourge is be-
ing attacked and to demonstrate
the scope of the crusade against
it. DR.. Carl Hamel. OF Germany,
is already putting in place the
German exhibit which will be a
small but perfect model OF the
tuberculosis colony Of Belitz, a
health resort near Berlin where
the most advanced methods are
used in caring Tor patients with
that disease. 1t will be true to
scale even to the forests of bal