The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1910-07-07
zEPPEuNS ship
BADLY WRECKED
GREW AND TWENTY PASSENGERS
ESCAPE DEATH IN ZEP-
PEIdN CRAFT.

DUSSELDORF, GERMANY Spe-
cial-After being tossed before a heavy
gale with q broken engine, the Yep
pelin dirigible balloon, Deutschland
with a crew and twenty newspaper
men, was dashed into a forest 1875
miles from here Friday.
The windows of the saloon car.
which were closed to protect the pas
sengers from the wind and rain, were
shattered by the shock, while a tree
car and another one pierced one of
the balconies.
Nobody was hurt, and partly by
ropes and partly by scrambling down
branches of the trees, all reached the
ground, rejoicing that they had suf-
fered nothing worse than bruises and
slight cuts from broken glass.
Provisions Give Out.
The trip was intended to last two
or three hours, and only a small guam
tity of provisions were carried. Those
were exhausted early in the day, and
the unlucky travellers landed raven
ously hungry. They were obliged to
trudge through fields sodden with rain
to Osnabruck, the nearest town.
Soldiers from Osnabruck have gone
to try to save the airship, but the
latest reports give little hope that they
will be able to do more than watch
the wreck. Anyway, nothing can be
done until the wind abates. Mean
while the vessel is settling down
among the trees like a gigantic dead
worm.
Vain Attempts 10 Land.
vain attempts were made to land
at two or three places, where soldiers
were mustered in readiness to help
in response to dropped requests BY
evening the airship was drifting at
the mercy Of the wind. Sometimes il
was lost in the clouds.
At about o'clock a squat drove it
suddenly to a height Of 1000 feet.
causing great loss of gas. This.
combined with saturation from con-
tinuous rain, resulted in an equally
sudden fall.
The occupants expected to be dash
ed to the earth. The falling of the
alrship was, however, checked when
II was about 200 feet from the ground
and the helpless hulk continued its
eastward career before the tempest
until finally 1t dashed into the forest
with terrific crash.
The air liner assembled at an early
hour yesterday morning with a score
or journalists as guests, the intention
being TO make voyage over the
countryside and return in two hours.
The Deutschland was a1oat sixteen
hours.
When the heavy wind arose the
pilot tried TO turn the Deutschland
back to her anchorage in this CITY.
but he found it impossible to ma
neuVer the ship successfully, owing to
her broken motor. He then tried TO
turn to land at Dortmund and at
Muenster. Both attempts, however
proved too dangerous and were aban-
doned.
Grumble at His Inaction.
There was considerable grumbling
curing the last few days because the
airship failed to make another flight
and the declaration was made bv
many that Count Zeppelin was fear
full of the effect of bad weather.
Though conditions were not favorable
today, he asked the newspaper men
TO accompany him that he might dis
prove the current rumors.
Most of the newspaper men were
from the large cities of Germany. but
a rev of them were representatives
OF american and English publications.
The newspaper correspondents were
the guests of Count Zeppelin and the
hamburg American and German Air
snip Stock Companies, joint owners
of the air liner.