New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-12-04
WRIGHT AVATORS
MUST OBEY ORDERS
Wilbur Says Disobedience Was
Directly Responsible for
Johnstone'S Death.
HAS PLAN FOR DISCIPLINE
Declares He and His Brother
Won't Stand for What He
Calls General Uselessness
of Fancy Flying.

Wilbur Wright came to town yester-
day He talked of the system of punish
nent established by the Wright COM
pany TO affect those aviators in its en-
piey who through love of applause and
spurred on by camp rivalry, d1sobeyed
orders Issued by himself and Orville rel
ative to sensational stunts in flying. Mr.
Wright was at the Hotel Manhattan last
night Asked about the cause Of the
accident TO Ralph Johnstone, who fell
five hundred feet to his death at Denver
on November l., the famous inventor
said:
'I have thought 1T all out ! have not
expressed any opinion on the subject
before because I wanted to analyze the
proba bilities. The day before Johnstone
started for Denver I had q long. serious
talk with him in my office in Fifth ave-
nue. I said to him: Ralph, you must
obey orders from now on or there will
be serious trouble You took unneces-
sary risks at Boston and at Belmont
Park against definite orders. and 1t
must stop.
He said: Mr.. Wright I've thought
il all over and I've made up my mind TO
obey orders. You don't seem TO appre-
ciate fancy flying. and I am not going
TO do any more Of it He was little
hot about 1t. 1 said: Ralph. you can't
please me any better than by sticking
to that We DO not value man by the
number of times he outdoes his fellow
aviators but by the ability he has to
r.,
for the uselessly sensational
"On the day that Johnstone was killed
he was doing all right. He had not at
tempted any corkscrew turns or dips.
out was flying in a. sensible manner On
the day before, though, he had disobeyed
a standing order by landing with the
wind instead Of against it. Brooky' had
come down, and by obeying the rule had
landed away from the grandstand-
Hoxsey followed, and managed TO alight
in front of the grandstand by evading
the Injunction to fly against the wind.
OF course Johnstone would have to 90
at least as we'll as Hoxsey, and so he
tried TO do better Tie result was tlat
he ran into a fence and broke a wing
tI think there must have been some
little detail omitted in making repairs to
the wing which made the machine act SO
on the day that Johnstone was killed. If
the order to alight against the wind had
teen obeyed the wing would not have
been broken. ----
Did you know how il happened that
"Brooky' instead of Hoxsey made the
'cross-country fight from Chicago to
Springfield? 1 made up my mind that
Hoxsey deserved to make that trip.
Johnstone and 'Brooky' had been exhibit
doing small turns in the West. / said to
myself that I would give Hoxsey a
chance to get into the newspapers and
show what he could do He and John
stone were flying at Detroit at the time.
had instructed both not 10 attempt any
hair-raising stunts at Detroit.
when / got to Detroit the first thing
saw in the morning newspapers was
that tombstone had made a nice flight
OF eight minutes in an unfayorable wind
The next thing I saw was that Hoxsey
had done all kinds of fancy work. The
bows did not know I was in town.
went to the grounds in the afternoon.
bought a ticket to the grandstand and
waited for developments. Johnstone
went up and made a beautiful flight: the
wind was bad, but he came down all
right So far everything was pleasant.
Then HOXSey went up, he" around ac-
cording 10 orders for few minutes and
then suddenly he seemed to become pos
sessed He became drunk in front OF
the grandstand and then swooped and
corkscrswed all over the place.
"I went back to the hotel and left two
notes I thanked Johnstone for obey
ing orders and congratulated him on his
good exhibition. In Hoxseys note told
him of my disappointment over his ex-
bitition and that I had come for the
nurpose of letting him carry off the
honors in the Chicago Springfield flight.
hut that as he had disobeyed definite
written instructions | would have TO
raU on Rrooky Then I left town for
Dayton that night. without seeing either
of the boys