The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1910-11-25
toHhsToNE, u OLDER OF WORLDS
ALTITUDE, RECORD. KILLED
IN FALL,
LNDENyER AVIATION MEET
Wing Tip Of His Machine crumble,
When He Tries Spiral Glide
Spectators Mortified 40 Air.
man Fights for Life.

Ike a piece Of paper, Ralph John.
tone, holder Of the worlds areoplane
altitude record, dropped 500 feet to
his death at Overland Park Aviation
field while hundreds of spectators
watched the horrible descent of man
md machin-.
Johnstones body lay beneath the
'ngine of the biplane, with the white
planes, that had failed him: in his
line of need, wrapped about it like
shroud. Nearly every bone in his
,ody was broken. ''fs''' as ~
Fresh from his trfumphs at Belmont
Park, where he broke the worlds rec.
'rd for altitude with height of 9,714
eet, tombstone attempted to give the
Colorado spectators an extra thrill
With his most daring feat, the spiral
glide, which has made the Wright
lviators famous. The spectators got
heir thrill, but it cost tombstone his
life.
The fatal flight was the second
tombstone made. In the first fight,
when he was in the air with Hoxsey
md Brookins. he went through his
Usual dips and glides, with the ma.
thine apparently under perfect con-
:rol. Then tombstone rose again and.
after a few circuits of the course to
gain height, headed toward the foot
aills.
Still ascending, he swept back in
big circle and, as he reached the north
end OF the enclosure, he started spi-
fal glide. He was then at an altitude
II about 500 feet. With his planes
Tilted at an angle Of almost 80 degrees
he swooped down in a narrow circle,
the aeroplane seeming to turn almost
IN its own length. AS he started the
second circle, the middle spur which
braces the left side Of the lower plane
gave way, and the wing tips of both
upper and lower planes folded up as
though they had been hinged. For
I second tombstone ATTEMPTED to right
the plane by warping the other wing.
Then the Mortified spectators saw the
plane swerve like wounded bird.
Ind plunge straight to the earth.
Thrown From His Seat.
tombstone was thrown from his seat
As the nose of the plane swung down
ward. He caught on one of the wire
stays between the planes and grasped
one of the wooden braces of the upper
plane with both hands. Then, work
ing with hands and feet, he fought by
main strength to warp the planes so
that their surfaces might catch the
air and check his dissent.
For a second it seemed that he
might succeed, for his football helmet
blew off, and fell much more rapidly
than the biplane. The hope was
for when about 300 feet
from the ground the machine turned
over and the spectators held their
breaths as the machine, with the
aviator still fighting grimly in it's
mesh of wires and stays, dropped al.
most at their feet. The planes and
and the man f1attened like an egg
dropped from a roof on a stone.
One of the broken wooden stays
went almost through Johnstone's body,
Before doctors or police could reach
the scene, a man tore this splinter
from the body and ran away, carrying
his souvenir with the aviator's blood
still dripping from its end.
The crowd soon tore away the can
vas from Johnstone's machine and the
more morbid fought for the fragments
and even the gloves that had protect
ed Johnstone's hands.
Physicians declare that death must
have been instantaneous. Johnstone's
back. neck, and both legs were brok.
en-, the bones of his thigh being forced
through the flesh and the leather gar.
ments he wore.