Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1910-10-06

i GA q 1872 al
}. : :; = ! : : :; :
wing riders" The blue vault Of
heaven is fretted by thousands of
roaring propellers and shifting planes.
The bird men" are dreaming dreams
OF cross-continent flights. The more
imaginative of them catch glimpses of
1 visions of transatlantic trips, faster
than the flight Of the frigate bird.
/ 1t may happen the hour Of trial
comes In the very midst of an appar-
ent success. Engines may be working
perfectly and with even beat. The
roar OF the spinning propellers may
be droning a song of coincidence and
security. Then something snaps;
| guy wire parts like a stretched fiddle
string, the roar Of the engine breaks
and sputters, or the big planes
| crumple because of some unguessed
weakness. Then comes that terrible
rush of air as the machine, engine,
rent planes and tangle of bent and
broken framework bears the aviator
| to terrible DEATH
When wireless telegraphy was in
vented it was but a year or so until
the country was filled with amateurs,
| all busily working on new theories Of
transferring messages. AS soon as
| the Wrights, Farman, Bleriot, Paulhan
and Curtiss and others had demon
| strated that heavier-than-air ma
| chine could actually remain in the air,
in thousand barns, warehouses and
backyard woodsheds all over the civ
ilized world men and boys began to
try to build for themselves machines
| in which to spurn the solid earth
Historically, the science of aviation
has been taken up, and with a few
! more improvements the death roll will,
grow to even greater proportions So
| far most of the men who have met
death have been veteran ayiators.
| Delagrange, LIE Blon, Ferber, Lefebvre
and Rolls were all well-known and IN
| ternationally famous In the air fields.
But the moment came that found them
helpless despite their Skill
With the ] multiplying Of factories
where the cheap fliers can be con-
structed will come rush of amateurs
into the ranks of the aviators. More
deaths are bound to follow when these
would-be man birds have bought for
4 themselves machines apd start in to
perfect themselves In the art OF flight.
1 The list Of deaths is bound to grow
as soon as the means of flight Is
brought within reach Of the average
4 purse. A shower Of would-be aviators
from the clouds to the 'too solid
\ earth will further demonstrate that
the mastery Of the air must be bought
with human life. 4
An an..ysis OF the accidents OF the
past ts~o years shows that death
comes In dcgen shapes to thA daring
aviator. Tho aeroplane is pitifully
new thing. and even the veterans OF
the air are not always able to detect
In their machines the lurking weak
nesses. The first Of the aeroplane &C.
cidents that resulted fatally was
caused by the guy wire OF one Of the
planes being placed too near the pro.
peller blades. Selfridge died In this
\ accident and Orville Wright was ter.
ribly injured. It was months before
Il he again took up the problem OF aerial
flights.
b # It was year later before death
a took his toll again from the ranks 81
the air workers. on the seventh Of
i September. 1909, two men. the fore
q most aviators in their respective coun
tries, met their deaths Rossi was en-
gagged In testing machine OF his owr
invention near Rome, and after few
3 short and successful lights at low
i altitude he tilted his planes upward
ct considerable angle and shot int
the air for an ambitious trial. He had
a barely reached i height OF so feet Til
u some Of the intricate machinery gave
way and he was dashed to death. M
II L6fenvf n d -
81 France, was killed On the sa1ns da,
while soaring above Jayissy Ii
Wright btpIane. Two wesks later thu
s3@pss! French In aeronau
q tics. Capt. Louis Fsrdin ana Farber.
/. pionssr 81 the art of lying. was killed
Mn pe0u lial acni dsnt, ono Of TIT
E tmany M xpleina Bile ssnes that mar,
81 III hSonclok AZ night. Hs was soar
! ~ I'M laid neaE BouIogne. wher
.tturned turtle il she air
IL zs;