The San Francisco call., 1909-06-08
BALLOONS SHOT AT
WHILE THEY RACE
Air Machines Sailing Over
South Are Targets for
Bullets of Citizens
The Indiana Thought to Have
Broken Record of Nation
for Endurance

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind, June I'll the
balloon Indiana has not been disquah-
fed by touching earth, it has broken
the American endurance record by
staying in the air more than Al hours.
tional distance race of the Aero club
of America, from this city Saturday,
two reports have been received from
it. One was that it had touched the
earth In Tennessee and had taken on
water and proceeded toward the south.
If this be true the balloon is disquali-
fed under the rules of the interna-
tional aeronautic federation Many of
the balloons were shot at as they Sa1ied
over the south.
A second dispatch. signed by the
pilot, Carl Fisher, and his aid, @.
J.. Bumbaugh, stated that they
dropped down near enough to earth
to let down a line and draw up
bucket of water. Under these condi-
tions, the Indiana has not been dis
qualified.
1t is not possible. according to
available information. that the Indiana
has broken the distance record Of $50
miles, for it was travelling due south
and would come to the gulf coast al
most 100 miles short OF the record es-
tablished by the German balloon Pom
mern, in the international race nearly
two years ago for the James Gordon
Bennett trophy, which started from
st. Louis and landed at Asbury Park,
n. ].
ST. LOUIS III LANDED
The last of the six balloons entered
in the national distance race from
which a definite landing report has
been received is the st. Louis III, which
dropped at Kelso. Tenn, having COW
was pilot and II. E. Honeywell the
aid Other balloons landed are as
follows:
The New York, A. Holland Forbes,
pilot. landed at Corinth. Miss, cover
ing S75 miles in So hours and 10
minutes.
The University City of St. Louis
travelled $40 miles. landing at Blanche,
Tenn. Time. % hours and "a minutes
The Hoosier. Captain Baldwin pilot,
travelled 24O miles, landing at Green
Brier, Tenn.
The Cleveland landed at Columbus,
Ind, 40 miles; hours and 50 minutes.
The indianapolis won the cup offered
for the greatest distance by the In
dianapolis Merchants association, hav-
ing approximately 16 miles better to
her record than the Ohio. She also
won the Fisher trophy for time in the
air, having a margin of almost two
hours over the Chicago.
The victory of the Indianapolis men
and their 10000 cubic feet capacity
balloon is considered remarkable, in
asmuch as they are new at balloon
ing They started on their fight with
but FIVE bags of sand and were lightly
provisioned. They made 235 miles and
were in the air 10 hours.
SAIL HIGH TO AVOID SHOTS
message to the Associated Press
from them says their highest altitude
was $4,000 feet. They were shot at
twice as they went over Kentucky, but
sail high to avoid the bullets.
The New York. which landed near
Corinth. Miss. was also shot at Sun
day night while passing over Morgan
county. Ala. Describing the shooting,
Mr.. Harmon says:
Expecting to land in the wilds of
Canada, we were loaded with provis-
ions, ammunition, heavy shoes and
clothing and canned goods. In an en-
deavor to find another air current to
carry us higher, we decided to throw
away about 500 pounds of this stuff.
Not wishing that it should be lost, we
descended to within 900 feet of the
earth and began distributing it where
it would be found, near houses and
villages.
when directly over a small village
| so miles north of Birmingham, a man
with a rifle cried: Come down here
- or l will bring you down.
We continued our course and he
fired three shots. one of the bullets
singing through the basket. Officers
have been sent out from Corinth in an
endeavor to arrest the man.
Cross Atlantic in Airship
CHICAGO. June with the same
northeast trade winds by which Column
bus figured out his route to the discov-
| cry of America, Joseph Brucker. for
mer editor of the Staats Zeitung and
| commissioner to Germany from the St
Louis worlds fair. says he will attempt
| to cross the Atlantic ocean in an air
| ship or dirigible balloon.
Brucker arrived in Chicago yester-
day on a visit to friends. He declared