The San Francisco call., 1910-12-19
over BAY and
BACK BIRDMEN
WILL FLUTTER
Marin County Promoters Will
Offer Prize of $4,000
for Feat
Course From Tanforan Across
City to San Rafael and
Return

A prize of $1,000 viii be offered to
any aviator who will, during the avia-
ton meet here next month, fly from
Marin county promotion league decided
yesterday to vote the money, and
Glenn Curtiss. Bud" Mars and the
other aeronauts who will perform next
1t is expected that at least three await
ors will try for the tempting prize.
At conference yesterday afternoon
the members of the Marin promotion
league decided to call meeting this
week to vote the money
According to the terms of the con-
test, as outlined by the directors of
the league at a meeting yesterday. the
contestant will be permitted to alight
at San Rafael and overhaul his ma
chine If he wishes to make a con-
tinuous flight he may do so. The only
other stipulation is that a certain
course must be followed in order that
the Marin county towns and the city
of San Francisco may be given a
glimpse of the fight.
COURSE OVER CITY
The course is over San Francisco.
across the bay to Sausalito thence to
Mill Valley Junction, to Corte MADEIRA
and San Rafael. The return Journey
must be over San Quentin and Alca-
traz island. San Rafael must be the
only stopping point on the round
trip.
Just to make the airmen prove their
superiority over the speed burners of
the earth, several well known young
women of San Rafael will be invited
to race the ayiators in autos from Sau-
salito to San Rafael. The fair racers
will be Miss Leslie Page, Miss Louise
Foster, Miss Dora Thayer. Mrs. James
Follis, Mrs. Frank Johnson, Mrs.
Thomas Pollard Jr. and Mrs. Alexander
Lilley.
Those who made the offer yesterday
were w. f. Jones' w. q. Tiffany. Col.
E. S. Ciprico, W. L. Courtright and A.
l.. Hettrick
Bud" Mars, the daring curtiss
aviator who has consented to fly over
San Francisco to Union Square. circle
the Dewey monument and alight in the
park in front of the Hotel st Francis,
has volunteered to undertake the ex-
pertinent of landing on the deck of a
warship.
The Curtiss machine does not have
skids and does not have to start from
rail; but uses wheels and can start
from any smooth ground. This feature
made it possible for Mars to start from
and alight in Oak park. a small square
in Stockton. last Thanksgiving. Mars
consented to do the trick and accom-
plished it successfully after every other
aviator had declined to risk it.
Mars dramatic entrance into San
Francisco just before the opening. of
the aviation meet in Tanforan will be
the prelude to the most sensational
flying event in the history of aero
nautics. Mars, whose career for the
last year has been made up of one
daredevil feat after another, will prob
ably be chosen for the most "scary"
experiments
J. c. C"Bud) Mars is the man who
arrived in Denver on Friday. Novem-
Der % Just after the tragic death of
Johnston. and was detailed to take
Johnstons place. There was a wheel
missing from his machine and he re-
placed it with one of Johnstons. When
10 feet in the air his machine col
lapsed and he fell to earth within so
feet Of where Johnston had been killed
COLLIDEs WITH AUTO
At the meet in Memphis, Tenn, last
April, Mars machine got out of order
while in flight and started to fall upon
the grandstand. He manipulated it so
as to turn it into the racetrack in
front of the grandstand. by reason of
which he collided with an automobile
This is the first and only accident of
its kind on record.
Mrs. Mars is a frequent companion
of Bud in his flights, and her in
difference to the fancied perils of the
air will go far to reassure the society
girls who are vacillating between Gag
erness to go UP and fear of coming
down.
There is less danger in an airship
than in an automobiles" said Mars, and
the accidents that happen to airmen
are analogous to those that occure to
a speed fiend in gas wagon. They
are the result of desire to break rec
ords. AS soon as an aviator reaches a
record height or passes all previous
speed marks, or performs some start
ling maneuver for exhibition purposes,
some other fellow in some other make
of machine tries to beat him. and
usually succeeds. Any man or woman
that goes up for ride in a rational
way is perfectly safe if the machine
has been carefully inspected and the
operator knows his business
Miss Mabel Cramer, California beau
ty. will fly at Tanforan. She has re-
ceived an invitation from Aviator Eu-
gene Ely to top her many adventures
on and off stage with an aerial voyage,
and has accepted. In the ayiator's
charming wife, whose name is also
Mabel, Miss Cramer has a close friend.
It was her dare that induced Miss Cra-
mer to accept the birdman's invitation.
She will probably be the most beau
tiful young woman who ever ventured
into the clouds In March, 1907, she
won the title of California beauty in
the contest conducted by The Call.
Certainly l will fly laughed Miss
Cramer. when questioned regarding the
aviator,s invitation. Il am going down
to Tanforan when the aviators meet
next month. / am tired of being called
a beauty | want to be as free as any
other young woman. and If choose to
fly, why not? There may be some risk
in it, but gine the joy of sldmming
over trees and houses and people like
a bird. 1t must be wonderful sensa-
tion and / want to try 1t"
LOVING CUP is GIVEN