The Prescott daily news., 1910-07-14
FIVE AER0NAUTS
 DASH TO DEATH 6RBSLOH, WINNER IN ST. LOUIS RACE, FALLS FIVE THOU
 SAND FEET.
SUN EXPLODES GAS BAG
Men Crushed Beyond Recognition When Physicians and Others Reach Them on lll-Fated
 Zeppelin Route.

Cologne, Germany July 14.-Herr Oscar Erbsloh, winner of the James Gordon Bennett cup in the balloon races from St. Louis in 1907, world | renowned German scientist and avi. ator, and four companions were dashed to death near Patschied, West Germany, when the dirigible balloon, the Erbsloh, named for it's inventor and constructor, fell from a height of 5000 feet.
 Five heaps of crushed flesh and bone, absolutely unrecognizable, lay beneath the debris of the wrecked balloon when those who had wit messed the fall reached the spot.
 The dirigible Erbsloh belonged to 1 the Rhine Aerial club. It resembled miniature Zeppelin dirigible, being | but one-siXth the size of the airship of the famous inventor The Erbsloh l consisted of 12 balloonets, placed side 1 by side, in a rigid and covered frame, like the watertight compartments Of a ship.
 A long aluminium car for the en- zines and passengers was swung be- low the gas bags. The car contained l two gasoline engines of high power which drove the fore and aft propel- lors that gave headway to the air ! ship.
 The Erbsloh had made several sat l isfactory short flights and was re | garded as one of the best types of 1 modern dirigibes, being far less cum 1 bersome than the monster Zeppelin | The dirigible went aloft from Dus- ] seldorf, from which point the ill-fated Zeppelin passenger liner started her | last voyage. In the aluminium car were ErbSloh and two companions, to- l gether with the two chauffeurs, whose duty it was to take care of the gas | oline engines.
 The fatal voyage lasted only 45 minutes. The dirigible was almost over the village of Patschied, in the Rhein province. Balloonists are di vided as to the probable cause of the accident. Some believe the suns rays expanded the gas in the balloonets until they no longer could stand the strain, while others believe one of the 125 horsepower gasoline motors exploded The explosion, whatever the cause, tore the machinery to bits Heavy Balloon Falls Like a Plummet The heavy car and the fragments of the gas bag fell like plummet l .L. declare they never saw human forms so mangled
 The dirigible was so completely wrecked that it is impossible to learn just what caused the fatal accident The disaster in all it's details resem- bles the one which befell the French army dirigible several months ago when five French officers met death by the collapse of the gas bag
 A Most Daring Aeronaut.
 Erbsloh was known as one of the most daring aeronauts in Europe, and had many narrow escapes. He was of magnificent physique, absolutely fear less and never hesitated to take the most desperate chances
 Before coming to St. Louis in 1907 he had made more than thirty balloon ascensions in Germany. France, Hol- land and Belgium, and was the posses sor of many trophies. He took up dirigibles later.
 He was a wealthy wholesale mer- chant at Elberfeld Prussia, and took up aeronautics about 1904 as a pas time. During his brief career in the air he had made 54 ascensions, one of them involving a flight of over 9S0 miles in Russia, which for some req son has never been officially recog- nized in Europe The previous Sep tember he won the balloon contest at Brussels, defeating 22 competitors and travelling a distance of 630 miles in less than 25 hours.
 In the international race at Paris he was the companion of Baron Hugo von Abercron, who piloted the Dusel- dorf in the St. Louis race. Besides ballooning, Erbsloh was known throughout the continent as daring horseman and motorist. He served as an officer in the German army for two years. In appearance the aera- naut was stockily built. with ruddy