New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-06-15
D|R|G|BLE COMES To TOWN |


dirigible before he made any effort at
heading for New York, as though he
wished to escape from the dust and
| clamor of man-inhabited earth to gain
the clearer, untrammelled byways and
lanes of the air world. Having reached
an altitude at which he calculated on
catching a favoring current of wind to
watt him toward his destination. Owens
Strengthened out in his course and fairly
raced eastward toward the Hudson.
1900 Feet Above Newark
BY the time he was over Newark
| Owens had attained a height of more
than fifteen hundred feet. and the world
| lay at his feet. the Hudson flashing in
| the sun like a dew laden spiders web
and the mass of steamboats, and other
craft having been reduced to fiyike pro-
portfons AS he neared the Manhattan
shore Owens deity lifted a bag of sand
ballast and dumped it out over the side
of the diriglble, to fall in silver spray
| into the waters below him.
! Lightened by even such a small thing
! as grains of sand, the yellow gas bag
with its human pilot took lurch toward
the earth. as though it were horse that
had stumbled. then found its feet again
and rose even higher in the air
| About half an hour after he had left
the crowds in Hillside Park Owens
reached the lower end of Manhattan ISL
and, by this time at a height of about
three hundred feet, and started in TO
perform a few aerial evolutions over the
City Hall. The first inkling of his visit
that people in the tall Office buildings re-
ceived was when they happened to
glance in the direction of the Hudson
shortly before II o'clock Suspended
there in the air, dancing and twisting
about like bubble it's sides flashing in
the sunlight the big gas bag slowly
drifted closer and closer to the earth, as
though it were a bit of gossamer that
! had been dropped by some of the inhab-
itants of another planet.
When it had reached point about five
hundred feet from the New York side OF
the Hudson those same people in the
lofty office buildings who had strained
| their eyes and made idle conjectures as
of air flotsam might be now became
filled with understanding, ard started in
| to welcome the dirgibe and its pilot
With shouts. screams and gurgles of long
restrained excitement
| The great yellow bubble grew larger,
more tangible and nearer, and soon the
magic word had gone through great
| Of
stenographers, elevator attendants and
office boys, that an airship had come to
town From the roof tops of all the
skyscra pers came EXPLANATIONS of Won
der and interest. People strained their
necks and their eyes and their magma
ations. as they gazed at the visitor from
| the clouds.
Grows Into Palmer Sight.
| Now they could make out the outlines
of the framework below the gas bag;
they could see the figure of Owens. as
he shifted his weight, like tight rope
walker, to meet every twist and lurch
of the dirigibe Another minute, and
the whirr and hum of the motor was
borne to them on the light wind. Then
! it was that the air was shattered by
the volume of perhaps a hundred thou
sand cries of welcome, of wonderment,
of admiration.
| As though in recO ignition of this out
burst from the threats of the Manhat-
! taners. the yellow gas bag dropped
pretty courtesy in the air and de-
seconded to take an even closer look at
craft in the river and in the Upper Bay
! had also sighted the messenger from the
| clouds. and the booming and shrieking
of their sirens added TO the din that
must have been borne up to owens, as
he balanced himself on the delicate
! frame of the dirigible.
| Disdaining the welcome that was thus
rendered him. Owens threw out another
| bag of glstening sand and the gas
| bubble hurtled upward in the air, leap
| ing over the tallest of the buildings as
| cat would over a chair. Despite his
rise to higher attitudes, the people on
| the streets and in the lofty buildings
| could still make out the outlines of the
gas bag and the slender figure of Owens.
| as he directed his course.
| AS if in evidence that the stranger
| was created by man, and not some
mirage of the air that would evaporate
while yet the people gazed at its grace
| full flight the faint whirring from the
| flashing propeller and the steady sput-
tering from the motor of the balloon
reached the earths surface and made
the visitor kin with those below.
Points to City Hall.
Pushing its leisurely course through
| the air. the dirigible few over the piers
that line West street ski1ted the crest
OF the Gerken Building and pointed its
prov toward the City Hall Park.
Loungers in the park. men hurryjng to
business anG the busy thousands dis
! gorged from the Brooklyn Bridge then
/ took up the welcome to Owens and his
ship. They stopped short in their
tracks, waved hats and handkerchief
in the air and unbosomed themselves
| in tribute to the aerial traveller.
Predictions as to OWens's programme
were rife in the streets and the build
| ings. Men and women, girls and boys
! all made different guesses as to just
what and where the aeronaut would do
and land-and they were all wrong.
1t has been noften said by men skilled
! ttn Of ljr n