The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-08-18
AMERICAN AIR MAN MAY REFUSE PRlzE|
Daring Aviator Cares Little
 About Eating or Sleeping
Satisfied as Long as His Supply of Cigarettes Holds Out-He Flies For Sport Not Money
Special from United Press )


 London, Aug. 18.-JoIln Moissant the Spanish-American aviator. met with two mishaps today in attempting the last stage of his Paris to London aeroplane flight. the last of which bad ly damaged his Bleriot monoplane and will necessitate his remaining at Up- church until tomorrow before com pleting his trip.
 At Upchurch which is p miles from London. one of the stays of Moissant's machine broke. fouling the engine. This injury was slight and could cas- fly have been repaired but in alighting the propeller and part of the chassis were also broken and the machine narrowly escaped crashing into a tree as it was brought down from a height of four hundred feet.
 Moissant landed in an unused brick pit. It will be impossible for the re- newed parts to arrive before tomorrow.
 Moissant and his mechanician. Albert Fileux. whom he was carrying with him, were badly shaken up in the land ing. but neither was incapacitated.
 The first accident of the day oc-
 cured at Sitting Bourne. about 30
 miles from London. It was the break ing of the connecting rod to the ex- haust valves. This hapepned at ! o'clock and forced a delay of two and a half hours for repairs At 9:30 Mois-
 sant and Ffleux reascended. The start from Tflmanstone was made at 5:05.I Moissant is easily the hero of the hour. He is just the sort of chap the Londoners like. breezy. straightfor- about him, however. that an1azes everybody. is his wonderful endurance. Moissant decided to make the flight on Monday. It might have been ex- pected that he would have caught a good nights rest in preparation for the trying feat but the young American sat, up with group of friends until late in the morning. He slept but two hours at Amiens on Tuesday night. l leaving there in his flight for Calais at | 5:10 Wednesday morning.
 Last night he and his mechanician slept on a haystack at Tflmanstone close to- where the aeroplane descend | ed He was invited to spend the night with new found friends but preferred to remain by his baby" as he calls the little monoplane. Moissant did not I retire. last night. however. until Il o'clock and at 1:30. after refreshing rest of two and half hours he slid down from the haystack and began testing the machine for the final stage of the flight. In the three nights therefore. Moissant has had just seven and ahalf hours sleep. Moissant didn't bother much about eating after he started his trip.-H He said he had not had real meal since leaving Amiens. Wednesday morning. though fortunate | ly for him as he said. he was well SUD- piled with cigarettes.
 To guard against the cold MoisSant wore a dress that initiated greatly against his personal appearance. He | wrapped a coating of Japanese paper l over his clothes and topped the at | tire off with an ordinary jumper and | overalls with three days of beard and his generally mussed-up appear ance. made him look like a traveller returning from the wilds.
 | Moissant will not claim the Daily | Mails $25, ,000 prize even if he completes the flight to London. The conditions and though it is probable that the Mail will offer the prize to Moissant | in case he flies to London the latter says that he is not seeking any re- 1 war6
 | "I took up aeroplaning purely for the | sport and don't care to make busi- ness of flying. Its good fun and I en- | joy it so what more ought I to ask?'' Moissant said today. Of course if the Mail insists that I have qualified for | the prize wouldn't turn down the money"
 The only thing that mars Eng ment of Moissant is the fact that he l is not an Englishman. Moissant was 1 born in Chicago, of Spanish parents, and is referred to by the Lodo press as Spanish He has not lived in America for nearly twenty years, having "knocked about" the | world since his youth