The Charles Mix new era. (Wagner, Charles Mix County, S.D.) 1???-1911, 1910-11-25
TOMBSTONE, HOLDER OF WORLDS
ALTITUDE RECORD, KILLED
IN FALL,
in DENVER AVIATION MEET
Wing Tip OF His Machine crumbles
When He Tries Spiral Glide
Spectators Mortified as Air
man Fights for Life.

Denver, Colorado. - With one
like a piece of paper, Ralph John
stone, holder of the worlds %areoplano
altitude record, dropped 500 feet to
his death at Overland Park Aviation
Field while hundreds of spectators
watched the horrible descent of man
and machine.
Johnstone's body lay beneath tho
engine Of the biplane. with the white
planes, that had failed him in hin
time Of need, wrapped about it like
a shroud. Nearly every bone in his
body was broken.
Fresh from his triumphs at Belmont
Park, where he broke the worlds rec,
ord for altitude with a height of 9,714
feet, tombstone attempted to give the
Colorado spectators an extra thrill
with his most daring feat, the spiral
glide, which has made the Wright
aviators famous. The spectators got
their thrill, but it cost tombstone his
life.
The fatal flight was the second
tombstone made. In the first fight.
when he was in the air with Hoxsey
and Brookins, he vent through his
usual dips and glides, with the ma
chine apparently under perfect con.
troll. Then tombstone rose again and,
after a few circuits of the course to
gain height, headed toward the foot
hills.
Still ascending, he swept back in a
big circle and, as he reached the north
end of the enclosure, he started a spi.
raj glide. He was then at an altitude
of about 500 feet. With his planes
he swooped down In a narrow circle,
the aeroplane seeming to turn almost
in it's own length. AS he started the
second circle, the middle spur which
braces the left side of the lower plane
gave way. and the wing tips of both
upper and lower planes folded up as
though they had been hinged. For
a second tombstone attempted to right
the plane by varying the other wing
Then the Mortified spectators saw tbs
plane swerve like a wounded bird
and plunge straight to the earth.
l.. Thrown From His Seat.
tombstone was thrown from his sea
as the nose of the plane swung down
ward. He caught on one of the wire
stays between the planes and graspet
one of the wooden braces of the uppeI
plane with both hands. Then, work
ing with hands and feet, he fought b,
main strength to warp the planes 81
that their surfaces might catch tn,
air and check his dissent.
For a second it seemed hat h.
might succeed, for his football helme
blew off, and fell much more rapid.
than the biplane. The hope wa.
momentary for when about 800 fee
from the ground the machine turned
over and the spectators held thei
breaths as the machine, with tn
aviator still fighting grimly in it
mesh of wires and stays, dropped al
most at their feet. The planes an,
and the mar fattened like an eg,
dropped from a roof on a stone.
One of the broken wooden stay
Welt dlIllOSl. III JOIllSIOllc > DOuy
Before doctors or police could reacl
the scene, a man tore this splinte
from the body and ran away, carrying
his souvenir with the aviator's bloc,
still dripping from it's end.
The crowd 500 tore away the car
vas from Johnstone's machine and tn
more morbid fought for the fragment
and even the gloves that had protect
ed Johnstone's hands.
Physicians declare that death mus
have been instantaneous. tombstone
back, neck, and both legs were brol
en-, the bones of his thigh being force,
through the flesh and the leather gal
ments he wore.