The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-08-30
ONE MORE FOR CURTlSS.
American Aviator Captures Another
Prize at Rheims.

Rheims, Aug. 3o.-A twilight vision
OF Paulhan's graceful monoplane,
IKE a great white bird soaring above
the plain last evening, so high that it
seemed to rise above the harvest moon
just rising above the distant hills, and
the f1eeting golden f1ier,' as the Cur
tiss machine has been dubbed, smash
ing another 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
event, gives the United States the
lions share of the honors of the meet
ing. The Prix de La Vitesse of zoo
francs ($4,000), divided into four
prizes, distributed to the four
machines making three rounds of the
course, thirty killometers, at the great
est speed. the first prize being won by
Curtiss quite handily Notwithstanding
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 cir
cult of ten kilometers, or 6.21 miles,
raising his total money winnings for
the meeting to $4,000 francs besides
the Aero Club of America inscribed
with his name.
AS in Saturdays cup contest an ac-
cident-the only serious one of the
cans most dangerous competitor, from
the three laps speed contest
Bleriots escape from death was
narrow 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 catching fire
from the hot motor, enveloped the
machine and pilot in flames.
Before Bleriot could extricate him
self he was burned about the face and
hands but not seriously.
Latham then remained Curtiss's
only serious rival. The race was in
tensely exciting. Latham with mo.
tae American who gave chase. Cur
tiss overhauled him in every kilometer
finishing less than 400 meters behind
the Frenchman, The time by laps
Latham. s:47 s-5. 1898 As, 26:s2-
70; Curtiss, 1853 As, 1900 SIS,
The committee first posted Lat
hams time with one-twentiet1
penalization as 27;5I 2-5. giving Cur
tiss the victory. Latham, however.
refused to accept defeat and brought
With this he few considerably
faster, his time record being S:33,
1903, 25:1S 1-5. The penalization
brought the time to 1888 Is, seven
seconds less than that made by Cur
We're awaiting reports from the field
commissioner at $40. after which no
start would be Possible. Curtiss, |
however, who said he would be
obliged thrice to muff1e' his accelera-
tor on the previous fight on account |
OF the pitching, declared his con- |
fidence to do better in another at |
tempt and decided to try again. With |
IN two minutes his machine was out |
and speeding across the line. He flew
higher than he had ever gone before, |
making each round at swifter speed |
than in any of his previous efforts |
The first round he covered in 7:49 |
10. The watches showed 1897 As /
at the end of the second round and |
they We're snapped at 1929 at the |
the finish. With his penalization |
Curtiss's time stood at 25:49 2-5, and |
this gave him the race by almost a |
minute margin. But when he
been traversed in 7:4S 2-5. less than
one second from Bleroit's lap record,
he insisted upon making another
effort, but failed. to equal the French
mans time by four seconds.
The Prix De Latitude. 1000
francs, to be awarded to the aero
plane attaining the highest altitude,
was won by Latham, who reached a
50 meters about 40 feet
Farman was second with 10 meters,
Paulhan third. 80 meters. and
ear carrying cast away was won by |,
Farman.
The lap speed contest went to
Bleriot, who covered the ten kilo-
meters in minutes As As seconds.