The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1910-06-14
HAMIL I ON
A MARVEL
N an VINO Made the
Long Flight Has
Narrow Escapes

N'S "i'iuullNep red-thatChed
man-bird, flew over the stations Of tho
Pennsylvania railroad yesterday in his
Hlgat to Philadelphia and return. tbe
operator at each station. upon catch.
Ing sight OF the biplane. rushed bacl,
- MS key and sent this message 10
inc chief dispatcher of the railroad in
Jersey City, ."
Extra No. is' in sight"
for Hamilton not only covered the
distance between New York and Phil.
auclphia In less time than is taken bv
other modes of transportation. but he
also had the novel distinction OF being
caiIed an extra on the Pennsylvania
system.
There Is one difference. however. be-
tween the aviator and the railroad OK
ira II is described beet by Chief Dis
patcher Spencer's words:
He regarded no orders. rules nor
custom"
Not the least amazing thing about
Hnmllton's flight g the fact that this
Young aviator. of whom Glen II. Cur
tiss ungrudglngly says. "He is the
best nyer In the world" I think"
made his first flight In a real aero
plane on November % last. But he
mad had long training In the air and
had already acquired that fearless
ness. poise and knowledge OF air cur
rents which speedily placed him In the
front rank OF the worlds aIators. His
mother. now Mrs. y. Beaudette. .teIls
many stories OF hor boys early expert
ments in New Britain. Conn, whero
CnarleS was born % years ago. When
Out little chap he smashed his moth
crs best Darasol by using il as a para
chule IN Hight from the upper door
of a barn.
Not at all discouraged. the lad be.
gan experiments with Kites of all
sorts and sizes. Then. not being able
to llft himself on the ground, be COM
promised on sail wagon, with which
lie ran over the gTocers cart His
mother. who admits that she svm-
pathized with Charles desire TO ny.
paid the groceTs bill with never a
thought of resortins TO the maternal
slipper
Then came day at last when the
boy really found himself aloft A bal
loonist was diving and exhibition in
town and tue boy begged.-Ior-a fiight.I
ana got IL! That fight appears to
nave heen the starting point ~ his
later career-he realized lnstlnctiveIy
that he had found his life work
Hamilton has reached his present
emlnence In his profession not with
out more than the usual number of
close calls that come TO every man
whose work IS In the air. But he Is
q little ohap-he weighs only 10
pounds-and he is why, quick and re-
sourceful Men who have worked with
Iii 1.nn1 A.4 Il IN
antly as does cat. always right side
mp With care. While working with
Israel Ludlow In his experiments with !
the gliding box kite. the forcrunners
Of the aeroplane he fell 63 times. He
was repeatedly thrown from his dirigl- .
blcs, and since taking up the aero
plane has cheated death on more than
one occasion.
One OF his first bad falls was al Or
mond Beach. Fla, while using a Lud-
low glider. He was 800 feet from the
ground. being drawn by an automobile
at 20 miles an hour when something
went wrong He came down like a
stone, but when his glider struck the
ground his friends found that the
nervy, cool-hcaded little chap had in
the first seconds OF that sickening
d;op climbed 10 the upper plane of his
glider The framework below broke
his fall and he was only stunned The
only peevishness he exhibited in con-
nection with the accident was due TO
The fact that he had lost a good cigar
somewhere on the trip down
Since then he has been converted 10
cigarettes. They steady his nerves,
he says There is always a piece of /
lighted punk fastened TO the frame
work OF the machine In reach oil the .
ayiator's face when he is flying. 1t (
has to be within reach of his face. for
ore cannot attend to eight or ten
levers and light matches at the same
time while flying ifty miles an hour
Hamilton's most exciting session
with a diriglble balloon was some H.
600 feet above Paterson, y. J While
making an ascent there. the ballast
fell off and his big dirlglblc promptly
pointed its nose toward the sky and
shot up like a pro1ectile for two miles
Hamilton climbed into the rigging and
was trying to open the escape valve
when the big gas bag burst After
about mile Of sheer drop. the torn
silk bag shaped Itself into a crude but
scrviceable parachute and the aviator
landed as lightly as a leaf
Hamiltop's famous aeroplanc glide
with which he has startled spectators
so many times. was discovered by ac-
cldent Ono day while the aviator
was flying at considerable height, the
crank shaft OF his motor broke He
realized instantly that as soon as he
lost momentum he must drop. With
that almost sixth sense seemingly pos
sessed By men who navigate the air.
he instinctly detected his forward
planes and shot toward the earth at
a sharp anglo. gaining instead of los ,
Ing momentum as he went Near the ,
earth he threw the forward planes up
again. rose gracefully and then set
tied TO the earth without a jor He
had discovered the glide.
Many of Hamlton's friends have
predicted that be win use this glide
once too often. and this prophesy
came near fullllment at Seattle few
months ago. Tho aviator was flying
oyer Lake Washington when he de-
ciied TO glide down 10 the surface OF
the lake, skim along like 4 skipping
stone for few rods and then go up
again He came down all right, but
he nllscalculated his distance and
plunged into the lake. Bur again his
maryclousiy cool head had saved him.
lie had climbed 10 the top Of the Ina