Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-11-01
AMERICAN GOES
UP STA FEET
tombstone Breaks Worlds AL.
titude Record at Close of
New York Meet.
USES A SMALL AEROPLANE
Rises Till Gasoline Is Exhausted and
Then Drops to Earth at Fear
full Speed.

| yesterday crowned at Belmont park
with the worlds record altitude, the
greatest aviation meet the world has
ever known.
/ The wonderful cloud climbing oi
Johnstone, reaching into the thin high
strata of winds that lay 9,714 feet above
the field from which he ascended
formed fitting climax to an aviation
tournament that has set a pace that
will be as hard to follow as Grahame.
Whites frightful fight through the air
during his record-smashing fight for
the international trophy.
Sight an Inspiring One.
! There was nothing lacking in Mr.
Johnstones upward climb to make 1t
blood stirring and enthusiasm stirring.
For an hour and a half he plugged
steadily along, reaching yard after
yard into the upper cloud regions, un.
til he had been lost to all on the field,
forcing the baby Wright cloud climb
er beyond the point at which it could
! be distinguished by the best glasses
on the grounds.
Then when his last ounce of gaso-
line was gone and his motor was skip
ping and sputtering peevishly for lack
of fuel, he shot downward toward the
ground in a series of straight vol
planes, vertical, spiral whirls and ter
raced down flights that stopped the
hearts of those that saw.
1t was fully as sensational in its way
as the Homecoming the day before of
John B. Moisant after winning the
Statue of Liberty flight, but IT had the
quieter thrill of a dramatic master
piece as compared to the widest mo-
ment of spectacular melodrama
Spectators Awed by Scene.
The crowd cheered Moisant with the
crazed enthusiasm of mob mad with
patriotic fervor. They watched John
stone dashing downward in his wild
flight of 5000 feet in three minutes as
the silent crowd at, daybFeak- watches
the preparations on the guillotine or
scaffold.
There was not one in the crowd who
did not realize that the straight down
ward flight of the Wright baby biplane
for nearly half a minute was at the
rate of nearly 200 miles an hour and
they realized that the wild spiral made
at the height of 1000 feet was the
skilled, cold effort of a desperate man,
fighting for life against the universe
aged forces of nature, with only a
giants handkerchief stretched across
trellis of frail splinters of wood.
/ There was not a moment in that wild,
H. nd afcrI,a Dol, ToL,,
stone was not matching coins with
death
Tells of Icy Journey.
81 was in a pretty purple haze up
there" said Johnstone after he had fin
ished his record fight. "and say, but it
was cold. l had a couple of sweaters
on beside my rubber suit and face
mask, but then at times l felt as If
freezing.
Several time I lost complete sight
of the earth but when / shot clear of
the haze l could see away down be-
low buildings and residences. which
looked like toy blocks. | have been
flying only since June, but it sure was
the most satisfactory trip have ever
made.
The Wright brothers were jubilant
at Johnstone's success. 1t was the
first time he had ever flown their tiny
roadster. and he had set a new mark
for aviators of the world. Arch Hox-
sey, his friend and rival climber, was
one of the first to congratulate John
Fstone, enthusiastic and friendly, but
inwardly envious and with professional
pride piqued.
DrexeI Up $50 Feet.
AS the crowds about the judges
stand cheered the announcement of
Johnstone's wonderful air feat J. Arm
strong Drexel swooped down to earth.
He had been battling in the clouds
with the Wright pupil. but had attain
ed only $3.50 feet. Johnstone had cas-
lily won the grand altitude event, with
it's $4,000 prize.
But Johnstones sky-climbing feat
was not the only notable incident OF
the closing day of the aviation meet.
Claude Grahame-Whfte, the athletic
Britisher. who carries away the Cor
don Bennett trophy, which takes the
next international tournament to Eng
land, sharpened the sporting appetite
with a challenge to John B. Moisant of
Chicago for another race from the
park around the Statue of Liberty in
New York harbor, and return. Moi
SAINT, who won $4,000 for his fast
f11,A ND h. CT nffrA tn