The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1911-08-04

slightest mismovement spelling AWFUL
death-I pulled myself together again
and made a final desperate effort to
cross the 10000 mark.
1t was impossible for me to know
whether i had succeeded or not. The
last few feet were such bitter strug-
gle up and down, up and down,
through the thin air that could not
look at the Paragraph and indeed could
not see the line the one time did try.
Finally, utterly exhausted and numb
both In body and mind, gave up the
struggle and turned the nose Of the
Bleriot toward the earth
The Drop to Earth.
I have no words to describe that de-
scent. 1t would sound like the veriest
drivel If should try, for only man
trained to repression of superlatiyes
could give an idea of its horrors with
out making 1t seem like silly exaggera-
ton.
Every reader has probably gone
down fifteen or twenty floors In an ex-
Pic5o cltfdtOt. Do Jou ACihCAh0SA hoW
dizzy and sick at tho stomach 1t made
you?
My descent was made at the rate OF
vertical mile In about two minutes
while l was travelling horizontally at
the rate of seventy or seventy-five
miles an hour. In other words, my
vertical speed downward was about
four times as fast as that Of the fast
est elevator, and had the added
strain of the tremendous horizontal
momentum.
The effect of this rapid descent is
almost paralyzing. Those who have
Travelled under the new Pennsylvania
railroad tunnels to New York have
felt the effect of the pressure Of air
against the eardrums. This Is about
one-tenth the effect that Is made upon
the ears when descending In an aero
plane from a great height. In my
ease In coming down from 1897 feet
at my tremendous rate Of speed my
ears felt that they woulC burst, and
the top Of my head felt as though IL
would fly off at any moment. Added
to this came the feeling OF nausea,
which grew and grew until my head
swan. and just for one moment I am
sure lost consciousness. This occur
red. should say. at height Of be-
tween 1900 and 5000 feet.
Again. l had to bring all my self
control to my rescue, but my nervous
energy was ebbing fast. and l remem-
Der wondering how much longer l
should be able to fight back the utter
collapse that knew was coming soon.
You must remember that all this
was occurring when had only an ap-
proximate idea Of how high above the
earth was and when / had absolute
ly no idea of my geographical posi-
ton. After had passed through the
upper strata of clouds at height Of
some 1000 feet l had not again seen
the earth except for little drifting
patches OF Indfstinct drab as flew
over tho riffs In the yapor. and did
not know whether was one mile or
hundred from Philadelphia. And
now l was descending so fast and
was SO nearly helpless, both physical
ly and mentally. that could do moth
Ing except keep the Bleriot on the
proper slant to give the best descent
with the least possible strain.
Astray In Skyland.
My first sight OF the earth as drop
ped from the lower fringes Of the
clouds showed me that was doomed
to another disappointment. Not
sign Of a city was In sight Not sin
gle landmark that ! had been told to
look out for was to be seen. Instead
there were farm land and forest, plow-
ed fields and orchards and nowhere so
much as n smooth meadow fit for me
to aIight upon without smashing up.
For the third time saw Death, as
It were. sitting grinning on the gaso-
line tank In front Of mo. My head
swan. and again, with that awful
feeling Of nausea. I seemed to lose
consciousness for fleeing moment.
Then the sight Of small field brought
me back to my senses. and circled
again to come upon 1t from the best
direction.
Fortunately for me, I made per
feet landing. 1t was probably tho In.
stinct that comes Of long practice that
kept me from smashing up on coming
to the ground, for l know that my
brain was no longer working and my
muscles were incapable Of obeying
mental command.
I must have sat there helplessly In
the machine for fully Ave minutes,
mumbling meaningless things to my
self, until saw Il woman coming to-
ward mo. Then stretched myself.
half rose and sprawled rather than
climbed down from my seat to the
ground. But even then I could not
stand without help.
1 found that I had landed IN Ore
land. about fourteen miles northwest
OF my starting point in Philadelphia.
The After Effect.
Later came the dismaying announce
ment that test Of my Paragraph Ia
rough reading of which had showed
approximately 9,970 feeb gave me only
little moro than 9.400 feet. But the
officials of the Aero Club of Pennsyl-
vania. under whose auspices the flight
had been made. were sure that a mis-
take had been made somewhere and
30 turned the instrument over to
George 8. Bliss. head Of the United
States weather bureau In Philadel-
phia. To the interchangeable and gener-
GUS efforts of this official we owe the
fact that the final official reading of
0.S07 feet was given after tests to
which no Paragraph had ever been
subjected before. That was the worlds
record for only short time, for day
or two later came Legagneaux's won
derful feat. when he assembled 10,499
feet and made 1t impossible for me to
realize my fond hope of being the farst