Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1910-11-25
TOMBSTONE FALLS
800 FEET AND DIES
DARING WRIGHT AVIATOR STRUG.
Giles WITH DEATH IN THE
AIR IN VAIN.
BIRDMAN IS BURIED UNDER AER0PLAAE
His Face Is Crushed In and the
Broken Bones of All His Limbs
Protrude Through the
Flesh.

Denver, Col.-Death rode at Over
land park with Ralph tombstone,
holder of the worlds aviation alti-
ture record While crowd of ten to
fifteen thousand persons watched
breathlessly, gasped, moaned, tainted,
Johnstone plunged 800 feet in his
Wright biplane and was picked up
dead. His tragic flight was not with
out thrilling struggle with the grim
passenger, for when the daring bird
man realized that the earthward dive
might mean the loss of his life, he
tried to climb swiftly to the top of his
aeroplane, lest the heavy machinery
crush out his life. But he could not
manage 1t. The tragedy was appa-
rently due in great measure to the ac-
cident of the previous dry when in
alighting in front of the grandstand,
a screw gave way and tombstone
called to his assistants to bring him
to a stop. His mechanician seized the
machine and was dragged under it for
20 feet while the biplane crashed into
fence and stopped with crushed
wing. 1t was this wing, probably not
properly repaired, that gave way and
sent machine and driver to the ground.
Johnstone got away perfectly when
he started his last fight. Once or
twice he circled above the admiring
throng, then rose to height of 900
feet. He did not care much for the
grandstand and decided to take
little trip toward the foothills of the
snow laden Rockies. He reversed his
course finally when he flew back, so
that he and Arch Hoxsey were max
ing circles around each other in op-
posite directions. Johnstone gave
some exhibitions of aerial rough rid
ing, making his plane dip and rise,
dip and rise, as though it were borne
by some huge, invisible wave. After
IL minutes of flight, Johnstone de-
cided to come down. He was making
a fancy descent, known to aviators
as the aerial spin. When al dis
tance of about 500 feet from the
ground, his machine was noticed TO
wobble several times. Suddenly it
swerved, the right wing on which
the entire weight of the plane and
man had been thrown crumpled. The
part that had been injured the day
before gave way entirely and like
huge bird, crippled by a shot, it be-
gan to f1utter to the ground. Appa-
rently Johnstone realized instantly
that death was reaching out for him,
for he hurled off his heavy headgear,
a leather cap with great leather ear
laps, and seizing the rods, sought to
clambor to the top of the aeroplane,
evidently trying to escape being
caught under the heavy machinery.
The machine fell outside Overland
park at the corner of Iowa and South
Delaware street where a crowd had
gathered on knoll overlooking the
park. All scampered to safety save
one man, who seemed not to realize
the weight of the machine that was
coming down upon him, but stood with
uplifted arms as If to catch the bird
like monster. Suddenly he darted from
under and Johnstone crashed to the
ground, the machinery all above him,
parts of it, however, driven clear
through his body, in which no bone
remained unbroken. The spectators
rushed from the park and grandstand
paddock and literally mobbed one an
other trying to ascertain the fate of
the daring airman. Policemen tried
to keep back the crowds but their
efforts were of no avail. Physicians
hurried from the park to the scene
and had to beat their way through the
crowd to reach the victim. How
ever, when they arrived on the scene
Johnstone was dead. His face was
crushed in and the bones of all his
limbs protruded through the flesh
Johnstone was for years identified
with the vaudeville stage as a trick
bicycle rider. He held the worlds
record in altitude aviation, having at
tanned height of 9,475 feet at Bel
mont park this year. He was 80 years
old, married and lived in Kansas City.