The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1910-08-23
Virginia
of the
Air Lanes
A ROMANCE OF
FLYING
By.
Herbert Quick
Copyright. 1909. by the Bobbs-
Merrill Company

ing west virginia IOrmdtlOn tOs-nere
she read from clipping" to extract
free nitrogen from the air by the
Craighead method or otherwise, for
the purpose of obtaining fertilizers to
thereby increase the capacity of the
earth for supporting population -
"Is that" cried he frantically, "in
our articles? Then all is lost. Let me
take itr'
With shaking hand Craighead took
down the telephone and asked for Mr.
Filley.-
"This you, FilleyY' he queried
Here's something that ruins us. A
split infinitive in the articles. Won't
hurt anything? Won't have to be done
over? And we call ourselves civilizedw
Craighead handed the paper back.
"You have shocked me-" said he.
But never mind. dearie! l know not
whether to rejoice for the Air Products
company or weep for institutions that
allow such a solecism to be legal as to
thereby increase
"Well." said the reporter, "it goes
on to say and for securing all rights
in the atmosphere necessary for its
complete reduction to possession for
the production of nitrates. oZOnes and
all other atmospheric derivatives and
for the securing of exclusive rights in
the air over lands for all purposes
whatsoever. Now, that said she.
"'for all purposes whatsoever isn't
that pretty broad?'
"a broad intellect composed it,
'"These rights happen-merely hap
pen-to gridiron every state in squares
marked by grants and leases to the
Air Products company?
MY child.'= said Craighead, do you
understand the Craighead method of
extracting nitrates from the atmos-
phere by spontaneous discharges of
statical electricity from electrodes sus-
pended over the earth's surface?"
NO" she said. "Do your
at is one of my specialties, said he
"If might have you all to myself for
an evening l would explain, but for the
nonce by-by"'
Mr.. Craighead took much pleasure
In his position as press representative
of the Carson-C raighead Aeronef com
pany. The Virginia, her builder and
the contest with Aerostatic Power
were matters on which the great dali
lies had men at work night and day.
This visit to the neighborhood Of
Shayne's Hold was tantalzing mys
terry. The mountain inn where the
Virginia had been laid up for repairs
VII NV
impossibility of surface cOmmunica
ton between it and Shayne's Hold
pointed out The mysterious Craig
head had leased for the Aeronef cor
pOration the vacant aerodrome on the
roof of this very building, gone back
to the inn. whence the Virginia had
sailed to their leased roof within an
hour. and not by Shayne's Hold. after
which Craighead was the news center
from which emanated the most as
founding medley of scientific. psyche
logic. mystical and mystifying news
ever heard.
Then some one discovered that on
the day the Carson-Craighead company
had been formed the Universal Nj
trateS and Air Products company was
born. with directors and stockholders
identical with those of the Aeronef
company, and that they had spent a
great campaign fund in getting leases
and grants for the extraction from the
atmosphere of nitrates and the like in
lines like those of Scotch plaid all over
the continent The air over almost
every highway had been granted away
by the owners of the fee-the very
streets Of New York being covered
so far as to cut the city into nearly
hundred irregular blocks. The other
great cities were similarly gridironed
The space over the smaller rivers and
streams was mostly sold to the Air
Products company. The mystery in
this so stimulated curiosity that it
caused more excitement than the Vir-
GINA herself, for these seemingly
worthless rights over farms. streams
roads and streets were like huge
SPIDERS web spun as net over the
world-Europe and Asia as we'll as
America Some one with great re-
sources was up to something big.
Something vas to be caught in the
net-but what?
Craighead and Carson dined with
Mr.. Filley, Mr.. Waddy's personal rep
resentative, Il little man with a great,
scantily matched head and no body
who ate lobster and green turtle soup
and drank port and grew paler every
day
when shall we know?" asked Theo-
dore.
'Soon," replied Filley. well cover
the whole country with injunctions
this afternoon and get hearing here
in few days. In a very few weeks
we shall win the greatest legal tri-
umph of recent times Or-snuffed out"
That night began the series of SEN
sations that made so memorable the
war for the use of the air. In the
courts of every federal district and the
state courts of West Virginia Mr. Fill
ley filed his injunction suits against
the owner of every known airship and
by the clause used in labor disputes