Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-03-09

Ceiphla and New York. 1 had just
received confirmation of my altitude
record OF 9,S97 feet-the highest man
had ever been in an aeroplane-and
PAD read in the evening papers that
my great ambition TO be the first to
go up above the coveted 10000 mark
would never be realized. for Legag-
neaux had risen 1899 that afternoon.
Wei" heard one mar say to
o1her, they have settled Drexel's rec
ORD Deyond all question now. Here's
q fellow who has beaten him by 500
feet"
Yes" said the other. 1T seems to
get easier every day
Easy. Good Lord-they talk Of all
tltude climbing as though it We're a
pleasant little pastime to be nonclal-
emily enjoyed for a few moment be-
Iore breakfast. much as n would
take g constitutional for the benefit of
ones appetite.
Easy! A man climbs and climbs and
strains every nerve IL muscle to the
breaking point-he fights inch by
inch. forcing a frail machine beyond
anything it was ever intended to do
he hears the creaking of the wood
work and the wicked singing Of the
tauten1ng wires, and he knows that
one little ounce more of strain some
where. anywhere, and it will all be
over in The most horrible of ends-he
plugs onward and upward. sick at
heart and in body, utterly weary and
hopeless, nerves gone, strength ebbing
fast. brain dizzy. ears; bursting and
eyes swimming until a momentary
spell of near unconsciousness makes
him pull himself together for the awful
hell of that final plunge to earth, to
cave him practically helpless when at
last he does reach the ground-and
they call all this easy.
- the Old DAVIS nerh1nS III was
ea,~. One thousand feet was not so
difficult, though man was a long time
making it. for he had to learn con-
fidence i'm himself and in his machine.
Two thousand feet was merely another
step-merely a question of more con-
lidence and, perhaps, better mechanics.
Three and o thousand feet came
M went. and then entered the new
element OF the limitations of human
endurance, for it began to be seer tina
not only vas the machine itself reach
ing or approaching the point where
but man himself began to give out in
the awful struggle upward and the
still more awful catapult to the ground
again.
No man will ever be able adequately
to describe that long, vast plunge to
earth after every nerve has collapsed
and every muscle refused to do more
work upward. l have experienced it
more often than any living aviator. yet
even now cannot recall any detached
or definite impressions of it-nothing
but the ~shuddering OF horrors
rushing by with an awful sense of de-
fenselessness n futility of effort as
fairly shrieked through the air to
earth with the chances 100 to l against
a safe landing.
Anybody can climb for height"
said Morane. The thing is to get
dow again."
And Morane krcw-kncw enough to
give it up before his death. just as the
other altitude climbers. except myself,
gave it up until young LegagneauX. a
newcomer, startled us all by his mar
Vicious work that kept me from my
coveted honor of being the first to
touch 10000. But l venture to say
that LegagneauX will wait a long time
before he attempts this again. One
descent from that height is likely to
for q long time.
CLIMBING THE AIR STAIRS ABOVE
THE CLOUDS.
1 should like to have had him with
me ON my flight from Philadelphia for
the altitude record-that fellow who
said it is getting easier all the time." I
venture to say that hereafter, when the
papers record another altitude record
in a few brief words, he would do as l
OO-SltdkC MS uGdU anu uIdW HIS UTGulIl
in through his teeth at the realization
of the ages Of suffering that the aviator
must have undergone during his o
n some minutes of flying.
That man should have seen the BEAU
tiful Bleriot as she swept gracefully off
the ground with me that day at Point
Breeze n as she flew, without effort
and with scarcely a tremor. in the first
wide preliminary circles as l mounted
the first 1000 feet.
Easy! That would have looked easy
enough, certainly.
There didn't seem to be a bit of eff
fort to 1T, / imagine. The machine must
nave looked like a great gull or a buzz
Yard floating on the breeze, and I sup
pose / might have been sound asleep
In her for all the spectators on the
ground could ave seen of motion or of
effort on my part.
Then came the clouds and worked
my way up through them, hoping that
they would not be thick nor last long,
for above the clouds in the sunlight are
the wickedest gusts. and it means fight
-fight-fght-all the time.
The hand Of the aneroid barometer IN
front of me kept creeping round and
round as l mounted; the first 1000 feet
were tolled Off quickly and then more
and more slowly the indicator vent as
/ entered the thinner strata of the up
per air began the struggle to pass
the thousand marks. Three, four, five,
six. thousand 1 passed, each one taking
an increasing length of time and re-
quiring more Of physical effort and
mental and nervous strain.
o the HAND OF the aneroid began
to caper back and forth; / knew l was
mounting steadily, but the little instru-
ment did Iot show it and finally Topped
back near the starting point and stayed
there. The aneroid had evidently gone
higher than 1t was ever intended to go
and now was completely out Of COM