Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-05-29
GREATAIRSHIPFAL
SIXTEEN men DROP 800 FEET
FROM MID-AIR.
Accident at Oakland, Cal.-None
Killed, but All Injured-Their Fight
a Spectacular One-Accident Causes
Panic--Other Accidents in East in
Which a Number Are Hurt.

Oakland, GAIA giant airship on
its trial trip in Berkeley Saturday rose
300 feet from the earth before 10000
people, tilted, burst and dropped to the
ground with it's crew of 16 men, every
one of whom was injured. By one of
those peculiar and fortunate chains of
circumstances which sometimes attend
sensational accidents, these 16 men
miraculOusly escaped death. None of
the injured, with the possible eXcep-
ton of one, is expected to die. Seven
of them are seriously hurt and nine
the shock.
The accident was a spectacular and
sensational one. Probably 10000 peo-
pie from Berkeley and Oakland had
gathered about the big vacant lot
wherein the great pillar-shaped
aircraft had been inflated with 100000
cubic feet of Illuminating gas. 1t was
just 1870 when the stayropes were
cut and the airship rose slowly. The
five gasoline engines suspended be
meath the big bag at intervals of prob
ably 80 feet, each attended by an engi
neer, were not put in operation until
well 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 indie
pendent of each other and the weight
did not appear to be equalized, for be-
fore the ship could be propelled fur
Their than a few feet the forward end
tilted downward and the airship stood
at an angle of As degrees, suspended
in the air. The engineers and the
other members of the crew seemed tC
lose their heads, and instead of run
ming along the canvas pathway in or
der to equalize the weight and to right
the airship they chung desperately tC
the netting and frail superstructure.
Gasbag Rips.
The rush Oh gas to the stern end OF
the long airship and the tremendous
weight of the engines and crew caused
the none too substantial envelope t.
burst with loud ripping noise. The
release of a great quantity of gas
| allowed the airship to settle slowly to
ward the earth, and for a few mo
mentS it looked as if it would come
down slowly enough to avoid any i'll
jury to the 16 men. Some of them
however, lost their heads before the
| hipr machine
and jumped. These escaped with
broken limbs or severe bruises. Near
ing the earth, however, the gas es
capped with rush and allowed the en-
gines and the big bag to come down
with great force. Morrell, the inventor
of the craft, and several of the engi
neers were thus caught and injured
by the engines.
Panic in the Crowd.
There was 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 tc
be cared for.
When the airship landed on the
ground hundreds of men rushed for
ward and with knives ripped the gas
bag in hundred places, cutting away
the vanished material to get out the
men buried underneath. In the excite
ment of cutting the gasbag Robert
Dibble was seriously slashed about the
hands and arms.
The injured men were quickly res.
cued and taken to the hospitals, where
they are all doing WELL with the excep.
tion of Rodgers, who, it is believed
will succumb to his injuries
Morrell has for a long time been
engaged in building and exploiting his
airship. He had extensively adver
tised that this trial of the big air.
ship, which was more than 400 feet
long and sc feet in diameter, was only
model of the one he intended to
build, declaring that he would con
struct an aircraft 1900 feet long and
capable of carrying 500 passengers.
Wrecks Baldwin Airship.
HammOndsport, N. Y.-The Baldwin
| airship white Wings" made its fifth
flight here Saturday. 1t attained great
speed, covering 1873 yards in 10 3-5
seconds. Then Operator McCurdy
| failed to reckon on the strong quarter
ing wind and the machine tilted until
one of the wings struck the ground.
The airship's nose speared into the
ground and the machine turned turtle.
The operator escaped uninjured, but
the machine will have to be over
hauled.
Arship Is Dashed to Ground.
Toledo, Ohio.-Roy Knabeshue, the
aeronaut, in preparing for an attempt
to beat the long distance flying ma
chine record by a flight from Toledo
to Cleveland, met with an accident
that temporarily put his machine out
of commission. Something went wrong
with the engine, and the machine
dashed to the ground, damaging the
frame badly.
Grover Cleveland improves.