The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-09-01
AMERICAN WINS PRIZE,
CURTISS BREAKS ALL RECORDS
AT RHEIMS.
Aviation Week at Rheims. France.
Closes After a Remarkable Series OF
Contests, I'm Which All Previous
Records for Heavier Than-Ai Ma
chimes Were Broken.

Betheny, Aviation Field, Rheims
August ga twilight vision of Paul
hans graceful monoplane, like a great
white bird soaring above the plain,
so high that it seemed to rise above
the yellow harvest moon just rising
above the distant hills. and the fleet
ing golden flier," as the Curtiss ma
chine has been dubbed, smashing an
other worlds record in the Prix de La
Vitesse, were the closing glories OF
aviation week.
The victory Of Glenn H. Curtiss, the
sole American representative in the
contests, coming on the heels Of his
great victory in the international cup
yesterday. gives the United States the
lions share Of the honors of the meet.
ing. The Prix de La Vitesse, of twen-
ty thousanw francs, ($4.OOO,) divided
into four prizes, was distributed to the
four machines making three rounds of
the course, 80 kilometres, at the
greatest speed. the first prize being
won by Curtiss quite handily, not
withstanding his penalization.
Curtiss only missed winning the lap
speed contest from BleriOt by a small
margin. He captured second place in
that event. which was over the full
circuit Of ten kilometres, or 6.21 miles,
raising his total money winnings for
the me citing to $4,000 francs, besides,
the international cup, which goes to
the Aero Club, of America, inscribed
with his name.
AS in yesterdays cup contest an ac-
cident-the only serious one of the
meeting-removed Bleriot. the Amer
leans most dangerous competitor.
from today's three-lap speed contest.
Bleriot's escape from death was a
narrow one. He had passed the first
turn In the Prix de La Vitesse when
the rudder suddenly failed to respond.
The machine turned completely over
three times. landing with such force
that the petrol tank burst and catch
ing fire from the motor enveloped the
machine and pilot in flames. Before
Bleroit could extricate himself, he
was burned about the face and hands,
but fortunately not seriously.
With Bleriot out of the contest, La
than remained Curtiss' only serious
rival Ire race was intensely excit-
ing. Latham with mo. 13" started
only four minutes ahead of the Amer
lean who gave. chase. Curtiss over
hauled him in every kilometre, finish
ing less than 400 metres behind the
Frenchman. Latham's time was 26.
80 2-5. and Curtiss' 24.15 1-5.
The committee first posted La
tham's time with one-twentieth PEN
alization as 1881 2-5. giving Curtiss
the victory. Latham. however, re-
fused to accept defeat and brought
out mo. 90" With this he flew con-
siderably faster, his time being rec
orded 25.18 1-5. The time, but not
the amount of penalization, was post
ed.
Curtiss declared his confidence to do
better in another attempt, and decid-
ed to try again. Within two minutes
his machine was out and speeding
across the line. He flew higher than
he had ever gone before, keeping the
throttle wide open and making each
round a swifter speed than in any of
his previous efforts. The time was 23.-
29. With his penalization, Curtiss'
time stood at 25.45. 40 2-5 and this
rave him the race by almost a minute
margin. Bnt when he learned that
the second round had been traversed
In 7.48 2-5, less than one second from
Bleriot's lap record, he made another
effort but failed to equal the French
mans time by four seconds.