The San Francisco call., 1910-10-02
VILLAINS ADVERTISING IDEA WORKED OUT

orchestra was touring the country. py
airship and Prairieville was on the list
OF zone night stands, or rather one
night flights" ~, @..%ss.
1t was dark night, with no moon.
Besides that the usual river mist fur.
ther obscured the sky, making the at
mosphere dense and almost .impene-,
trable to the sky gazers. Nothing nap
pened for SONS time after dinner, but:
about half-past the eager watchers
were electrified to see a cluster Of col=
ored lights appear out OF the west :.
At first sight they were close to#the"
ground, but as they steadily approached
rose higher until they shone. at the
height of several hundred feet in. the
fog when over the town. No one coulu
make out the form of the aerial visitor:
Whether 1t was a dirigible or. an inn
mense aeroplane could not be: deter
mined on account of the mist. ~ 4, -.
Ah Listen! There could be no doubt
of it. Down from the sky fioated the
appropriate opening strains Of: Come
Take a Trip in My Airship% finely rem
dered by male quartet, just: as prom !;
ised in the afternoons aerial announce
ment 1t was just far enough from
earth to be perfectly distinct, with. a.
good deal Of the same effect that rnusic
gives IL heard at "a distance across the
water. When the song ended all that
part Of the town within earshot APP
plauded though some of the more crit
teal music lovers began to have their
suspicious. Was 1t or wasn't 1t what
they suspected? s'~..'...1 ~. l..
And then all doubts vanished after a
short silence by the aerial musicians
when the following announcement rang
out in: the "stilly night" yelled at the
top of a. shrill, netallie voice: II r
= This airship is equipped with the
- talking machine. Its merits fly
over them. all! Don't fail to order one
from Robert Edwards at Edwards EN-
porium!',@ Thanks for your kind atten=
:tfon-will return tomorrow night!': :..s !:
J.. And the lights gradually faded away
in the fog, while Prairfeyille began to
realize. that. 1t was sold" Yet the
whole thing was SO cleverly done that
nothing but praise could be :eXpresseh;
and wonder as to whose airship did the
advertising.
:: At the same time those passing
through a certain obscure: side street
stopped TO watch several boys gathered
around little; wagon. upon which
rested a small windlass. One of the
boys manipulated the. windlass, wind
ing in or letting out accord almost
thick enough. to be called rope. The
other boys held ON TO the wagon and
rope so it would not get away from
them. The rope stretched up into the.
air, terminating in cluster Of colored
lights-the same Ii ght that Prairieville
took for the, airships. But these bea-,.
cons were not suspended from an aero
plane or a dirigible; they hung from
two immense tandem kites more than
capable Of supporting. the two. compact
talking machines. that had Just as
tonished the village: Frank had count
ed on the mist helping to- fool the Sky
gaZers as well as the fact that the
machines were apparently controlled
bY an operator on the spot. '..:-
They were controlled by clockwork
attached to the starting levers in such
a way that the serenade was played
first and the announcement followed%
Frank went to his uncles law office
to procure the announcements funny
place to go until it is explained that
the lawyer used commercial phono-
graph Fortunately the records Of
Bob's machine and the other one fitted
so Frank was able to use the; record
ing mechanism of the commercial ma
chine to. make his announcement rec
ord on. #.. ..::. :*," e; 4; :. ':.: ti..'|'
Thus everything was provided for
except the breeze necessary to raise
the mammoth kites, and. as you have
seen, Franks luck held good even to
that. y ~:.1.
The next day the great aerial music
episode was the sole topic of converse
ton in Prairieville. The Clarion gave
a humorous half column to the stunt
and while it did not mention the name
OF the machine the writeup was equal
to just that much pulling space as
Frank professionally put it. .a.
/ won't say that orders began to
pour in" They did not, still the re-
suits justified the venture for Bob sold
five machines in the village on: lime
that week and two for cash The "air-
ship revisited Prairieville every night
1T was clear, and then appeared in the
rural districts, much to the wonder of
the farming population--also the bene-
fit of Williams & Edwards. &
Their favorite personal follow up"
method was to apply the "blindfold
test" which Bob had unconsciously
suggested before. That is Frank would
interest the victim; and then blind
fold him and then tell him to imagine