The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1910-06-15
MADE ONLY ONE STOP
Hamilton Makes New York to
Philadelphia and Return Trip.

New York Paper Gave "a Hours as
Time Limit For Flight-Hamilton
Actual Flying Time For 172 Miles
Of Flight 2o9 Minutes - Only Stop
Result Of Mistakins Jersey Field
For Staten Island - Crowds We'll
como Him at Governors Island.
New York, June IA. - Charles K.
Hamilton, the little read haired aero
bat of the upper airs, flew to Phil
adelphia and back again. He lifted
his biplane over Governors island at
7;i3 a. m. and at GAO p. m. returned
to the spot from which he started.
The flight to Philadelphia was
made without mischance. Straight
as a pigeon on the wing Hamilton
sailed over cities, rivers and farms
winging an unsurveyed course. At
1928 a. m. he was shaking hands with
Governor Stuart of Pennsylvania, Sc
miles from Governors island.
Hamilton's luck failed him on the
journey home or he might by wheel
ing around Yonkers have beaten
Paulhan's record for uninterrupted
hight-11I miles, London to Litch.
field. Fifty three miles from Phil
adelphia he lost his bearings, mistak-
ing a green patch of Jersey for Staten
Island and simultaneously two of the
eight cylinders of his engine coughed
and quit working He dropped into
the clutch OF swamp near South
Amboy ard 1t was hours before re-
pairs could be made and the aviator
could escape the immense crowd that
swarmed from the Jersey towns.
172 Miles In 2o9 Minutes.
AS 1t was his actual flying time for
the 172 miles was 2Og minutes and he
fulfilled TO the letter his contract
with the New York Times to make a
round trip from New York to Phil
adelphia within "a hours Glenn II
Curtiss, the llrst man in this coun-
try to make long distance calls in
flying machine. said he considered
Hamilton's achievement the greatest
in the history of aviation; unsurpass
ed in that Hamilton struck out course
for himself without land buoys to
guide him. without a charted route to
help him, and accomplished the feat
with such accuracy that he kept to
the second OF the schedule he had
laid out.
Few men hsve received the kind
of reception that Hamilton got when
he dropped ont of the clouds last
evening. Along the Battery, the wa
ter front of lower Brooklyn, the edge
of Staten Island an dthe Jersey shore
the piers and seawalls were black
with people. Thousands of them had
waited for hours, swayed by rumors
that came from the Amboy swamp.
On Governors island, at the aviation
grounds, a thousand chins were turn
ed skyward.
All the WEAKNESS of the long wait,
the impatience and the damp chill of
the evening were forgotten when an
officer with powerful field glasses
suddenly threw up his hand and
whooped like a Commanche He was
a gray and dignifled officer but be
piroutted like soubrette. There
was a scurrying towards the water
side. People stumbled blindly in the
tricky sand. fell, picked themselves
up and ran on.
Hamilton came so fast that few
seconds after the officer spotted him,
the aeroplane was disccrnible to the
naked eye. You saw. painted against
the gray mists of Staten Island over
the Kill Won Kull, blur. II might
have been the finest puff OF smoke.
Ten seconds more and it was
wide winged bird. On it came in a
line quarter of a mile south OF the
Statue of Liberty. 400 feet above the
bay. Another flash of time you made
out the clean lines of the planes and
YOU could see Hamilton crouched over
his steering wheel.
As the air currents frisked above
the water. they dipped the aeroplane
to the left and right While still over
the bay but rapidly nearing the sea
wall of Governors island, Hamilton
shut off power, and the machine com
menced to drop.
With yells exploding all around him,
he dropped his biplane to the sands
in a long sweep as gull dives. Cur
tiss watching like a hawk, threw up
his hands.
Glad to Touch Land Again.
"By God, that was good he said
The crowd engulfed the little man
and gave him no chance to climb out
of the machine and stretch his cramp-
ed limbs. He was a sight. If ever
in the world there was soiled avia-
tor Hamilton was that bird. His red
hair was matted with sweat and
grease. His face was streaked and
patched with CRIME and oil. HIS eyes
were red from the winds The wore no
goggles) and dirt had settled in the
lines of his face. The mud of the
Jersey swamp clung to his legs and
WAS spattered on his dingy leather
coat. But he was about the most
cheerful thing, for all of the dirt
that you would want to see.
Everybody wanted to shake hands