The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-08-17
AIRMEN PERISH
Two Young AViators Lose Their Lives
at International Meet.
DROWNED hi'D CRUSHED
William Badger, of Pittsburg, Goes
to His Death at st. Croix and john
stone Plunges to His Destruction
Under the Yawning Waters of
Lake Michigan.
Lake Michigan.

Under the Yawning Waters of
Lake Michigan.
Two aviators, William R Badger,
of Pittsburg and w. L. John
stone of Chicago, both young men,
lost their lives at the international
aviation meet at Chicago on Wednes-
day.
In dying both revealed the frailty
of the craft in which two score OF
more aviators were curving and glid-
ing about the air, with scarcely a
pause for the deaths of their contem-
poraries.
Death in both cases was due to un-
explained accidents, probably the re-
suits Of unsuspected defects in the
mechanism Of the machines and was
in no way caused by carelessnes or
lack of responsibility Of the drivers,
Badger, a wealthy young man, ca
reened to his death in pit in the
avaiation field. There had been a
flaw in one of the wings Of the pro-.
peller of the Baldwin machine he,
drove. Centrifugal force broke the
propeller, upset the delicate equir
Ifbrium of the machine, and Badger
dashed to his death 100 feet below
to the bottom of the pit, his neck
broken. y
Johnstone fell five hundred feet
into the: lake and was drowned under
his engine as the result of an equal
ly unsuspected defect Caught under
the heavy engine in the Mofssant
1nonpplane, he was carried deep into
Lake Michigan and his body was ntst
recovered until three-quaTters OF am
hour had elapsed. - - !
Badger lived for three-quarters OF
an hour after he had been extricated
from the wreck of his machine. He
did not recover consciousness, but
died almost at once after he reached
the hospital. His death was the first
OF the aviation meet. The meet at
Chicago, which began last Sunday,
was. Badgers first pubic appear
ance. He had been up Tuesday just
two hours, 13 minutes, and nineteen
seconds on the flight that ended his
life when he fell.
He dropped just in front Of the
grandstand before thousands of spec
tators. Thousands rushed into the
pit where the wrecked ,biplane fell
There was a party Of police in the
fields, and numerous heads were hit
with their clubs. Badger received
his first flying lesson at Mfneola, N.
Y. June Is he made a successfuF
flight and was granted pilots IN,
spection license. Capt. BaldW!n"af--
ter the accident at once withdrew his;
machines from the meet. -
Johnstone's accident was due, ac-
cording to expert aviators, to sim
liar unsuspected flaw in the mechan-
ism of his nonoplane. Just what it
was probably will never be known
as the engine is deep in the fake9
Johnstone's fall was witnessed by his
young wife, although it was not until
half an hour later that she was in
formed of his death. AS the mono
plane faltered in midair and crash
ed downward to the surface Of the
lake, the young aviator's wife, who
had been following his flight Closely
grasped a mechanics hand and eX-'
claimed:
"Oh, oh, pity, he's fallen. My boy
will be killed" Wives Of half dez-
en- other aviators rushed to Mrs.
Johnstones side and attempted to-
assure her that her husband would
not be injured. Five minutes later
Mrs. Johnstone pleaded to be allowed
to cross the field and so to the lake,
where her husbands machine had
plunged.
A mechanic rushed up and assured
Mrs. Johnstone that her husband had
been plucked out Of the lake un-
harmed. Reassured by this news,
which had been deliberately invented
to calm the aviator's wife, she went
back to her hotel and hurriedly laid
out dry apparel for her husband. For
half an hour she waited, then men,
Der Of Johnstone's family took her
word of the aviatOr's death. The
young wife was prostrated by the
shock.