The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-06-14
HamiltOn's AerOplane Flight Re-
ported by Train Dispatchers.
Remarkable Achievement of
Daring Young Aviator.
NOT OLD IN BUSINESS.
He Made His First Flight Last
November.
How He Discovered the Now
Famous "Glide."
NOT OLD IN BUSINESS.

New York, June 14-As Charles X.
Hamilton, the diminutive, red-thatched
man-bird flew over the stations of the
Pennsylvania railroad yesterday in his
I hit to Philadelphia and return, the
operator at each station, upon catching
sight of the biplane, rushed back 70
his key and sent this message to the
chief dispatcher of the railroad in Jer-
sey City:
Extra No. 1, os (on sight,"
For Hamilton not only covered the
distance between New York and Phila-
delphia in less time than is taken by
any other mode of transportation, but
he also had the novel distinction of be-
ing considered as an extra on the
Pennsylvania railroad. There was one
difference, however, between the avia-
tor and the railroad extra. 1t is de-
scribed best by Chief Dispatcher
Spencer's words:
HE regarded no orders, rules nor
customs"
Not the least amazing thing about
Hamilton's flight is the fact that this
young aviator, of whom Glenn H. Cur
tiss ungrudgingly says: He is the
best f1ier in the world, Think made
his first flight in real aeropIane on
long training in the air and had al
ready acquired that fearlessness, poise
and knowledge of air currents Whl:h
speedily placed him in the front rank
of the worlds aviators. His mother,
now Mrs N Beaudette, tells many
stories of her boys early experiments
in New Britain. Conn, where Charles
was 'orn, 20 years ago. When but
little chap, he smashed his mother
best parasol by using it as a parachute
he :
barn.
Not at all discouraged, the lad began
experimenting with kites of all sor.s
and sizes. Then, not being able TO III
himself off the ground, he comproInls-
ed on a sail wagon with which he ran
over the grocer's cart. His mother'
who admits that she syunpathized with
Charles desire to fly, paid the grocer
bin with never a thought OF resortlhS
to the maternal slipper.
Then came at last the day When the
boy really found himself aloft. A bal
loonist was giving an exhibition IN
town and the boy begged for night
and got it. That flight appears to have
been the starting point in his later ca
reer-he realized instinctively that ne
had found his life work.
Many Close Calls.
Hamilton has reached his present
euinence in his profession not WITHOUT
rocrhaps more than the usual number OF
close calls that come 10 every man
whose field of work is the air. But ne
Is a little chap-he weighs only ITO
nounds-and he is why, quick and re- |
sourceful Men who have worked with !
him declare that he falls as nonchalant- |
" as does a cat always right side up |
With care. While working with Israel |
Ludlow in his experiments with the |
gliding boxkite arrangement, the fore |
runner of the aeroplane' he fell no rev
e.. than 63 times. He was repeatedly |
IL III nj SIN n
ing up the aeroplane he has just cheat- |
ed death On more than one occasion.
one of his first bad falls was at
Ormonde Beach, Fla, while using a
Ludlow glider. He was 800 feet from
the ground being drawn by an auto
mobile at 90 miles an hour. when |
something went wrong.
He came down like stone, but
when his glider struck the ground his |
friends found that the nervy cool |
headed little chap had, in the first sec
onds of that sickening drop, climbed |
to the upper plane of his glider, The
framework below broke his fall and
he was only little stunned. The only |
peevishness he exhibited IN connectlon
with the accident was due to the fact
that he had lost a good cigar some
where on the trip down
Since then he has been converted to |
cigarettes. They steady his nerves, he |
saws There is always a piece of
work of the machine in reach of the |
aviator's face when he is flying. 1t
has to be within reach of his face, for
one cannot attend to eight or ten /
levers and light matches at the same
time. while flying so miles an hour.
Hamilton's most exciting session
with a dirigible balloon was some
$4,000 feet above Paterson, N. ].
While making an ascent there the bal
last fell off and his big dirigible
promptly pointed its nose toward the !
sky and shot upward like a projectile |
for two miles. Hamilton climbed into |
the rigging and was trying to open the |
escape valve when the gas bag burst |
After about a mile OF sheer drop, the |
torn silk shaped itself into a crude but
serviceable parachute and the aviator
landed as lightly as leaf
Discovered "The Glide"
Hamilton's famous aeroplane glide. |
with which he has startled spectators
so many times, was discovered by ac- |
cident. One day while the aviator was |
flying at a convenient height, the crank |
shaft of his motor broke. He realized |
instantly that as soon as he lost mo-
mentum he must drop.
With that almost sixth sense seem
ingly possessed by men who navigate |
the air, he instinctively DETECTED his |
forward planes and shot toward the |
earth at a sharp angle, gaining instead |
of losing momentum as he went. Near
the earth he threw the forward planes
up again. rose gracefully and then set |