Los Angeles herald., 1908-11-15
DARING PILOTS
ARE READY FOR
GREAT VOYAGE
WILD AND MUELLER EXPECT
TO SET NEW MARK
CURRENTS MAY CARRY THEM
ACROSS ROCKIES
Contest That is Expected to Prove
Sensation of Age in Aeronautios
VIII Be Started from Los
Angeles Today
Continued on Page Two)

tO0~@N-@@NNN-
hauling and vanishing, and the manu-
facture of gas and filing are done ac-
cording to his plans. Forty eight
hours and one meal makes full day
for him." said Assistant Russell yester-
day as he lodged behind the hydrogen
tanks to get out of the grounds for his
dinner. 81 don't isee what he wants to
take any provisions for, just for a trip
to- New York. All he has eaten UP SO
far is work"
Mueller Tolls necessarily
Captain Mueller has toiled incessant-
ly, taking but three or four hours
sleep, but he never shows outwardly
the least trace of anxiety or haste.
Everything he does is as methodical
as driving oxen, and his helpers are
surprised to find that the days work
has ended with every detail accom-
plished that Captain Mueller had set
out TO do.
The members of the Aero club of
California were admitted. to the balloon
enclosure yesterday, and Captain Muel-
Ter found time to explain at length the
process of making hydrogen gas and
the precautions necessary to prevent
an explosion. The club will take an
active part today In assisting the de-
parture of the aeronauts.
in assisting Dick Ferris In promoting
a general interest In the race. He has
made half a dozen talks, from scien-
tif1c to humorous, and has provided
newspaper reporters with enough
dope" to fill q book. Wild has a
book on aeronautics now in the hands
of New York publishers. IF we land
in New York they will have to hold
II up till write biographical sketch
0f DfrIx Harris - ba eaUa
Frank Leroyxez is the Los Angeles
representative among the aeronauts.
Leroyxez, who is known to his friends
as REX" has lived in Los Angeles
two years. and is the zoo keeper and
balloonist for Chutes park. He has
drilled local squad of fourteen young
men whom he sends to California and
Arizona fairs to mako parachute drops.
and builds his own hot-air balloons
and parachutes.
Has Had Long Experience
Although but "a years cd. Leroyxez
hiss had eleven years of experience in
making balloon ascensions and has had
several narrow escapes from death.
When returning from school on an
afternoon in his eleventh year he was
dared by the other children to accept
an offer made by a circus manager of
$50 to the villager who would make
a drop by parachute.
II did it and got the money" says
Leroyxez; "also the worst wailoping
I; ever heard tell of when my mother
got hold of me. But 1t started me, and
in six months the very man who paid
me the $50 was working for me and
had my own balloon
Since then Leroyxez has travelled over
the country, interspersing parachute
drops and death leaps with "ironjaw,"
human pincushion and vaudeville acts.
In addition he has made a success in
real estate in Chicago, and thinks he
Is entitled to settle down as a Los
Angeles resident.
You want to say arm entered as
the home product" said Leroyxez as
he posed for his photograph.
Dick Ferris conceived the idea of a
transcontinenaal contest while watch
ing the balloon race at st. Paul, and
Immediately persuaded Colonel L. M.
Scott to promise his balloon, "Ameri-
can" as an entry at Los Angeles.
Ferris endeavored to buy the Pom
mern," winner of the Gordon Bennett
cup race from st. Louis, and when he
was told that money could not buy IT.
he secured the celebrated "Unfted
States" the only American balloon
which has succeeded in winning the
international cup contest. Both pilots
have competed In endurance and other
contests and have battled with the air
currents in al sorts of weather. Both