Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-30
WELL KNOWN HERE
Curtiss a Frequent Visitor to
Fort Myer Course.
BEGAN AS MOTOR MAKER
Made the Fastest Mile Ever Travelled
by Human Being on
His Cycle.

CurtiSS is we'll known i'm Washington.
as he was for weeks at Fort Myer acting
as engineer for the Baldwin dirigible and
made several trips there afterward to see
the Wrights fly. He is very unassuming
man and on his general appearance would
hardly he picked as an exceptionally dar-
ing athlete He is about six feet high
and on his trip from Albany to New
York weighed only 1iJ pounds. He Is
very cool. careless Of danger. does not
seem. i'm fact. TO know what it is. At the
same time he takes chances with his eyes
wide open and is always ready to take
advantage of the off chance in his favor.
The trip from Albany to New York was
by no means the fastest time that Curtiss
has made He holds the record for hay
ing made mile faster than any other
human being who lived to tell about IL.
OF course. some men may have been
blown "A mile faster in a dynamite eNplo-
sion. but they did not sit down and eat a
good dinner afterward
At Ormond Beach.
1t was during the automobile races at
Ormord Beach in $500 that Curtiss. then
compare lively unknown. came there with
a. 'il'''t w = II va w
forty horsepower and was supposed 10 be
able to go There WAS rosXaut place on
the program whcra S;Ica 4 racing craft
would fit in. but CurtisS was there after
a record, and he eciccd that he would go
a mile against time. He made Time nus
tie as the old gentleman with the hour
glass was never made TO hustle before.
With flying start and the smooth course
of Ormond Beach in his favor. he made
the mile in 26 - seconds. CurtisS did not
know anything about flying machines a
that time. but if he had had planes on
his machine il certainly would have flown.
Curtiss was not born with gold spoon
in his mouth. He has been q neWsboy
and knows what il is to work hard Al
wage that would have taken him about
seventy-1ve years to earn the $40
coo. that he acquired yesterday in less
than two and a half hours. He built
motors for motorcycles at first and very
good motors. too. The business grew.
but CurtisS not business man, never
was and probably never will he. He
would rather let the factory run itself
and 90 out and do things.
Why He Grew a Moustache.
Not all of his performances get into the
papers. He was down here last summer
and had grown an imperial which was
decidedly not adapted to his style o.
beauty One of the correspondents who
had known him said:
Take it off old man. 1t don't improve
you any
You don't know how much it does i'm
prove me- returned Curtiss, lifting the
end of the imperial. Look at that.
That was half moon scar that took
in the most Of his lower lip 1t seemed
that during the winter he had been eX-
perimenting with an iceboat driven by an
aerial propeller. Nobody knew just how
60, L,
scar was the evidence OF head-on COLI
sion with a boathOuse.
He was the first man in America, ex-
cept the Wrishts, to fly a heavier-than-
air machine. The old June Bug was
flown in the summer of 1905 and won
the Scientific American trophy. doing a
kilometer in a minute and fifteen seconds
But Curtiss did not spring into inter-
national fame till i'll July of 1909. He
went abroad as the American represent
ative in the international flying contest
at Rheims France. There was not much
heard of him in the early days of the
meet. He took things easy. did not APP
pear much on the field and nothing much
was expected of him by the European
aviators because America had not pro-
duced any real flyers except the Wrights.
They were then at the height of their
popularity. but would not enter public
competitions.
Captured Gordon Speed Cup.
So Curtss loafed around till all the dis
tinguished aviators of the world had done
their best in the speed trials. Then he
jumped out and did l.. ~ miles in 1870 -
lettering Bleriots best record by seven
seconds 1t was a worlds record and
brought the Gordon Bennett speed cup
to this country. After that Curtiss went
down to Brescia and scooped in few
more prizes and then came home.
He was in the Los Angeles aviation meet
last January but though he established
some quick starting records he did moth
ing sensational The flight from Albany
to New York is the first striking thing
he has done recently.