Los Angeles herald., 1910-12-27
AVIATION CROWD
RECORD BREAKER
Attendance of $4,000 Largest
That Ever Has Been Pres
at Dominguez Field

! tempt the conquest of the air-Which
1 a fair estimate places at 5000 persons
/ a new king of the domain of the Sky
/ %vas crowned at DOmingueZ field yester-
| day afternoon.
! From q speck in the blue above them.
| - 600 persons watched a young South
! ern Californian glide easily to the earth
/ before them; a young man incased IN
| a suit of leather crawl stiffiy from his
! biplaue; an official examine small
/ brown box on the side OF the craft;
/ the world record flag ilutter in the
! wind and then-riSing to their feet as
/ if by magic-gaVc Arch HoNsey the
/ greatest ovation i'm the power of 10000
persons to bestOW
After wait of two hours and fifteen
/ minutes-a wait which was made
nerve -rackiug by constant rumors of
! terrible accidents, of lack of fuel. of
/ frozen motors of Crumpled wings
HoXscy returned to the spot from
which he had started, bringing with
him. in his little brown box, a record
of the most remarkable achieNemcnt
ever accomplished in the air.
The crowd which had waited through
those two h0urs-iu alternate hope and
. fear-Welcomed him by paying the
homage which was his due.
As HoXsey's machine came to Il final
stop in front of the judges stand three
men rushed to his side. Two grasped
his frozen hands and assisted him from
the machine The third grasped the
little brown box. The gaze of all cen
| tered upon the third.
CHEERS LIKE ROLL OF THUNDER
Was the record broken? Had the
long wait been for nothlng2 Had the
young Southern Californian TiSked his
life in vain? Was the record for the
altitude OF the world to return to Amer
lea or remain in EurOpe2 The time
seemed iuterminable. Would the man )
eyes never leave the box?
AS suddenly as it had been lifted, the
brown box dropped back into place. y
snow white nag nuttcred into the
breeze. The record had come homo.
Like a roll of thunder, q mighty
cheer went up from the multitude.
Hats Went in the air, haudkerChiefs
waved, men leapel up and down, Wom-
en- laughed with tears running down
their cheeks Again and again the
mighty cheer of the crowd arose echo
ing down the Ions line Of spectators.
HoXsey, HoXscy. HoXsey,
Around him crowded the officials Of
the meet-forgettins for the moment
their duties. He was hoisted to the
shoulders Of committeeman and car
ricd to the judges stand. Still the
crowd cheerad. He was carried from
one end of the stand to the other while
the spectators went wild with JOY. The
greatest ovation ever bestowed upon
q COnquerer of the air was HOXsey's.
The young aviator had his troubles
as he was paraG-d before his host of
admirers. Everyone was eXcitod-al-
most insane with joy. one carrier
would start one Way-the other in the
opposite direction. They ran, they
jumped with him. The first words
spoken by the aviator We're pleading
to be let down. He was cold-he was
tired. vet the spectators would not let
him escape until they had shown their
ldmiration-and appreciation of his
wonderful fight, in the only way pos
sible for crowds.
HOXsET HERO OF THE HOUR
As soon as he could, HoXsey left the
stand and returned to his hangar. Even
then he was Cheered As he brought
his automobile onto the course to tow
his aeroplane to its quarters he was
chcared again. The audience seemed
loath to let him so. Without doubt
5000 persons could have given no
hgartter reception than that which they
gave to HoNsey. From the mo-
mont he alighted until the last person
had left the big gTaudstand at dark,
HoEey ana his wonderful work was the
Topic Oh lIt moment. All lllt' CAR
on the return to Los Angeles, on the
streets of the city, everywhere. it was
HOXScy and his wonderful flight.
The results of the fight bullctincd
in Los Angeles attracted much atten-
ton small groups gathered to re-
hearse the days doiuGs-to marvel at
the daring. the perseverance, the abil-
ity of hoXsey
As if it had received some previous
/ rf t a
witness. the crowd at Dominguez yes
1 terday afternoon was by far the larB-
est which has ever assembled to Wit
ness an aviation meet. The recent
meet at Belmont park was supposed
to have bees the largest hitherto. It's
best days attendance was 26.0g0 per-
sons
The crowd began to leave for the
! field carly. At O'Clock the Pacific
| Electric station was crowded to its
doors with holiday pleasure-Seekcrs
anxious to he off to the meet, Hour
| by hour the crowd increased. When the
first machine-HoXsoy' oy's-came ON the
| course at ] o'clock the erandstand was
/ filled to- OverdoWng and still they were
! coming.
As fast as one train load would leave
another was taken from the eidctracks
! i'm the rear of-the station. cars were
| sent as rapidly as they could be se-
| cured. There We're not enough. The
/ widest dreams of Duc Pacific Electric
officials, the aviation committee and
| everyone else had not reckoncd on
such a crowd as this,
by O'Clock fifty thousand people
/ had been transported to the iicld. The
/ Pacific Electric estimated that it had
carried $1,000 and the Southern Pacific
5000 by actual count,
Every box. every reserved seat and
every general admission seat was ur-
cuuicd by . o'clock Twenty Thousand
/ persons were i'm the grandstdnd-a
number which WIS a. small rerc-ntaee
to the crowd ON the outside. AlOns
! the fence i'm beth directions from the
spectators, eight and ten deep. ThCy
/ Ciloled balf way around the course.
lin tho parking behind the elandst9u1
were hundreds of automobiles There
! were other modes OF SpOrtatiOu
i there also. Here and there was a
family surrey Here and there was "a
smart turnout. Last but not least.
/ hero and there was q ranch wagon,
/ filled with chairs and with a few
scraps of luncheon left around it,
And there was one crowd which was
not welcome. Along the county road.
which marks tho northern boundary
of DommgueZ field, the entire length
Of the course, were pcoplc-people who
would not come around TO the gates
and pay their admission but preferred
To stand in the weeds and grass where
il was all free
The authorities attempted to persuade
these people TO come around and pay
their money thereby assisting in a
charitable venture worthy OF their sup
port and, mt the same time, seeing all
that was to be seen. They had little