Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1910-11-24
AVIATOR IS DEAD.
JoHNSTONE,H HOLDER OF WORLDS
ALTITUDE RECORD, KILLED
IN FALL,
lNDENYER AVIATION MEET
Wing Tip Of His Machine crumbIes
When He Tries Spiral Glide
Spectators Mortified as Air
man Fights for Life.

Denver, Colorado. With one
wing tip of his machine crumbled
IKE a piece of paper, Ralph John,
stone, holder of the worlds areoplano
altitude record, dropped 500 feet to
his death at Overland Park Aviation
Field while hundreds of spectators
watched the horrible descent of man
and machine.
Johnstone's body lay beneath tho
engine of the biplane, with the white
planes, that had failed him In his
time of need, wrapped about it like
shroud. Nearly every bone in his
body was broken
Fresh from his triumphs at Belmont
Park, where he broke the worlds rec.
ord for altitude with height of 9,71A
feet, tombstone attempted to give tho
Colorado spectators an extra thrill
with his most daring feat, the spiral
glide, which has made the Wright
avlators famous. The spectators got
their thrill, but it cost tombstone his
| life.
The fatal flight was the second
tombstone made In the first flight.
when he was in the air with Hoxsey
and Brookins, he went through his
usual dips and glides, with the ma.
chine apparently under perfect con-
troll. Then tombstone rose again and,
after a few circuits of the course to
gain height, headed toward the foot
hills
Still ascending, he swept back in
IN OH n1 Ia h tl,o
end of the enclosure, he started a spi-
raj glide. He was then at an altitude
OF about 500 feet. With his planes
tilted at an angle OF almost 90 degrees
he swooped down in a narrow circle
the aeroplane seeming to turn almost
in its own length. AS he started the
second circle, the middle spur which
braces the left side of the lower plane
gave way, and the wing tips of both
upper and lower planes folded up as
though they had been hinged. For
a second tombstone attempted to right
the plane by warping the other wing.
Then the Mortified spectators saw the
plane swerve like a. wounded bird.
and plunge straight to the earth
Thrown From His Seat.
tombstone was thrown from his seat
as the nose of the plane swung down
ward. He caught on one of the wire
stays between the planes and grasped
one of the wooden braces of the uppe,
plane with both hands. Then, work
ing with hands and feet, he fought by
main strength to warp the planes sc
that their surfaces might catch the
air and check his dissent
For a second ii seemed tia; ne
might succeed, for his football helmet
than the biplane. The hope was
momentary for when about 800 faet
from the ground the machine turned
over and the spectators held theil
breaths as the machine, with the
aviator still fighting grimly in its
mesh of wires and stays, dropped al
most at their feet, The planes ant
and the man flattened like an egs
dropped from a roof on stone
One of the broken wooden stays
went almost through Johnstones body
Before doctors or police could react
the scene, a man tore this splinter
from the body and ran away, carrying
his souvenir with the aviator's BLOOD
still dripping from it's end.
The crowd soon tore away the can
vas from Johnstone's machine and tht
more morbid fought for the fragment:
and even the gloves that had protect
ed Johnstone'5 hands
Physicians declare that death mus
have been instantaneous, tombstone:
back, neck and both legs were brok
ell, the bones Of his thigh being forced
through the flesh and the leather gar
ments he wore.