The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-10-15
wEI.I.MAN's CAREER

Walter we1lman, newspapermoa99 | and explorer, who is now in his 5Znd year, has long been in the public eye especially for the fasco of his bal loon trip to the North Pole We'll man was born in Mentor, Ohio AS boy he ran a weekly newspaper m Sutton, Neb., and at the age of 2Z esta blished the Cincinnati Post, now owned by the Scripps-McRae League of Newspapers. In 1884 he became Washington correspondent of the Chi cago Herald and later for the Chicago Record-Herald. It was this paper which backed We11man's attempt to reach the pole in a monster dirigible balloon.
 Weilman built the immense dir1g1bla balloon in which he hoped to reacn the pole, starting from Spitzbergen. The dirigible was put together in Paris and then taken to Danes Is land, Spitzbergen. A year later, Sep tember 3, 1907. the balloon. which Wh1e1 for the pole, but the journey had a quick ending, for the huge gas bag was driven on a glacier by severe storm. The car and equipment were saved. On that occasion the America had been lowed by a steamship through smeerenbdrg Sound for an the airship headed north under its own power. A short time later it ran into a snow and wind storm. The steering gear failed to work and the craft was driven in a southeaster1y direction toward Coulbay where it disappeared from sight A rescue party from the steamship found the balloon in ruins, but the occupants were unhurt.
 The America car was rebuilt and near the end of 1909 word came from Cape WeIlman, Spitzbergen, that the owner wasNready to start again. The start was made at 10 o'clock on the morning of August Is. The start seemed perfect but after covering B miles the leather guide rope, to which was attached 1000 pounds of provis-> ions, broke away. By skillful man eIlyering. WeIlnan succeeded in land- ing without injury to any member of the crew, though the America was ed his intention of trying again but a short time later it was announced that Cook and Peary had found the pole and We1lman gave up that at tempt and began his preparations for crossing the Atlantic.
 Wellman frsts came into interna- tional prominence when he located Waiting Island, in the Bahamas, as the spot where Columbus first landed in America. He marked the spot with a monument. A party under his Land in 1908 and discovered a num- Der of islands. ef@
 wellman is attempting the flight to Europe under the auspices of the New York Times, the Chicago Rec ord-Hera1d, and the London Daily Telegraph. Wellnan secured fnan
  to sell his story to the papers men toned for a fabulous sum. The air ship, in which he began the attempt ed European flight todayi is the same machine in which he tried the polar flight, though entirely rebuilt and re- modelled. Wellman's chief assistant in today's flight, is Walter Vaniman. his chief assistant the two polar attempts. Vaniman is second in com mand and in charge of the motors. Wellman carried a Marconi wireless operator, Jack Irwin, and a wire less tset'' capable of sending mes sages over a distance of 50 miles. He ships, who can relay his messages to America and Europe. F. Murray Si- mons, chief navigating officer of the steamer Oceanic, is Wellman's navi- gating officer. Chevalier J. Jacon. an expert motor mechanic, and George Rifflard, the chief mechanician, are both Parisians who came to America to join Wellman in his daring flight.
 The America is second in size only 6 to the monster ,Tii dirigible built by ever, unlike the Zeppelin. is one of the non-rigid type of dirigibIe. It has a total lifting capacity of 24,oO0 hanging from the gas bag is 156 feet long and weighs 4,5OO pounds. The balloon part, consisting of three thicknesses of cotton and silk and three layers of rubber, weighs 4,5O0 pounds.
 The motors and other machinery, a crew or SIX men, aerOnautlc and naVi- gat1ng instruments, 1ife-boat, wireless apparatus, tools, repair materials, food and water, and other small items, weigh another 5000 pounds, leaving 10000 pounds, or five tons, left for carrying gasoline.
 The monster airship is equipped with three motors. One of 7O-7S horsepower, gives the airship a speed of about 20 land miles an hour, and it is this motor that WeIlman will chiefly rely upon to drive him across the Atlantic.
 The airship is equipped with an- other 200 horsepower, eight cylinder ed, which ir is planned to hold in reserve for use in emergency, when a much greater speed is re- quired to make headway against con- trary winds. With both engines work the airship was expected to develop 90 status miles. A motor of 10 horse power drives the air-pump and per forms other services for which ma chinery is needed.
 Rising majestically. the America dis appeared in the fog almost instantly. Though the propellers had not been put in motion. the light breeze appear ed to afford steerage way and the nose of the airship was pointed out to sea. gray kitten, which had become a fa- Voriate around the hangar. will be the mascot of the trip. It was placed aboard by Mrs. Vaniman wife of the chief engineer. who followed her hus- band up to the balloon car.
 Children Crv