The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-07-13
BALLOON BURSTS.
Dirigible Carrying Five Persons
COllapses in the Air.
Drops Hundreds of Feet Killing
All the Occupants.
WAS NON-RIGID TYPE.
Length 176 Feet, Diameter 33,
Speed % 1-2 Miles.
GOndOla Is Sm ashed and MOtor
Buried in the Ground.

Leichenlingen, Rhenish Prussia,
July 13.-The dirigible balloon Erbs-
loeh. recently refitted for passenger
service. was destroyed in mid-air to-
day through the explosion of benzine
tank, and her inventor, Oscar Erbs-
loeh, and his crew of four men
dropped to their death.
The bodies of the aviators were
frightfully mangled. The gondola was
torn to bits and the motor buried it
self in the ground.
The victims were men well known
to all Germans interested in aerial
feats and Erbsloeh gained an inter-
national reputation. when. in 1907, at
st. Louis, he won the international cup
in the distance race for balloons.
His companions were Herr Toelle, a
manufacturer; two engineers. Herr
Kranz and Herr Hope, and the motor
man, Herr Spiclke.
The Erbsloeh was constructed last
year and had a dubious career. The
first time it descended it crashed into
a clump of trees and its occupants
narrowly escaped injury. A few days
ago, during a trial flight propeller
was broken. The balloon. which was
of the non-rigid type. had just been
made over preparatory to the estab-
lishment of a passenger service be-
tween Elberfield and nearby points.
Today it was inflated for a final test.
The ascent was made near Optaden
and during a fog.
Few Saw the Accident.
There were few eye witnesses of the
accident According to these, the start
was we'll made. The Erbsloeh rose
gradually, pushing its way through the
fog to a height estimated at several
hundred yards. At this altitude Sc
ries of evoIutions was begun.
70 the onlookers the airship ap-
peared to obey her helm perfectly.
Suddenly there was a loud report and
at the moment the forepart of the yes
sci crumbled up and the gondola was
twisted about until it appeared as
though standing on one end. AS the
gas escaped from the forward COM
partment the prov swayed downward
For a flash the airship fluttered like
a wounded bird and then fell swiftly
to earth.
killed the second they struck the
ground. Their heads were battered in
and every limb was broken.
An examination of the wreckage
showed that the benzine tank had
burst, tearing to shreds the rubber en-
velope directly above it. The destruc-
ton of this envelope caused the bow
to collapse. The stern compartment
was still filed with gas when it struck
the ground.
The death of Erbsloeh and his COM
panions, with the destruction of the
balloon, for which much had been
hoped, following closely on the loss of
Count Zeppelin's Deutschland, has
caused gloom in aviation circles.
The public had scarcely recovered
from the shock caused by the acci-
dental death of Charles Stewart Rolls,
the English aviator, when they learned
that Erdsloeh had been added to the
long list of Germans who had lost their
lives while ballooning.
The body of Erbsloeh would not
have been recognized had it been
found alone. The hands of all five
men were tightly clutched as though
they held desperately to the car as it
shot downward. Their shoes we're
torn from their feet. A group of peas
ants who left their work in the fields
and ran to the scene as the crippled
balloon struck the earth say they