The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-08-16
st. Croix tombstone Falls
Under Machine and Is
Drowned in Lake,
AMATEUR BADGER
HAS NECK BROKEN
Death in Both Cases Is Due to
Unexplained Accidents to Frail
Flying Machines-Wife of
Chicago Man Witnesses
Fatal Fall and Is
Frustrated.

Chicago, August 15.--Two aviators.
william r. Badger, of Pittsburg, and
81 Srofx Johnstone, OF Chicago, both
young men, lost their lives ut the in
tcrnhtional aviation meet here to-day
On dying, both revealed the fraIitx, %
the craft In which two-score more axi
htors were curvtng and gliding about
,he MR. with scarcely N pnuse for the
denths of their contemporaries
Death In both cases was due to I'M
explained accidents, probably the re.
suits of unsupported defects In the me.
ehnnism of the machines und In no
way caused by cnreleps work nor lack
of responsibility OF the drivers.
badger, wealthy mnn, careened to
his death In n pit I'm the aviation field.
There had been flaw In one of the
wings of the propeller OF the Baldwin
machine he drove. Centrifugal force
broke the propeller, and upset the del.
icntc equilibrium of the machine, and
Badger dashed 100 feet to the hottop,
or the pit, his neck being broken.
Johnstone fell 500 feet under his en-.
CINE, and was drowned rs the result
of mn equnlly unsupported defect.
Caught under the heavy engine in the
Moisnnt monoplane, he was carried
deep into Lake Michigan, and his BODY
WINS not brought to the surface until
an hour later.
badger lived for threc-qunrters of an
hour after he had been extricnted from
the remains of his engine. He did nor
recover consciousness, and died almost
mt once after he had reached n hos
pftnl. His death WINS the first serious
accident of the meet.
badger an Amateur
Badger flew as he formerly drove
racing autom obiles, purely as an anna
re Lob
Goetmann. of Pittsburg, and was TWEEN
ty-five years old. He possessed an
independent fortune. and gratified
well-developed speed mania.
In the early days of automobiles he
was among those to make amateur rec
ords at Daytona and at Palm Beach.
He was an intimate friend of Lewis
Strang, the automobile race driver. who
died beneath the engine of an automo-
bile in Wisconsin a month ago.
Through Strang, Badger became in
terested in aeroplanes and both became
amateur aviators The meet here,
which began last Sunday was Badgers
hrst public appearance. The big me-
chanical signboard after his death re-
corded that he had flown I'D to-day
Just two hours. thirteen minutes and
nineteen seconds. The flight that end
ed his life had earned him possibly an
hour more when he fell
lie dropped just in front of the centre
or the grandstand. and thousands of
spectators were within few yards of
the accident. Hundreds leaped the
fence. fought past the line OF police
ana rushed into the Dit where the
wrecked biplane lay There was a
near-ranic in the field. and numerous
heads were cracked by police clubs
through his friendship with Strane
Badger met Captain Thomas l. Baldwin.
he bought an aeroplane outright and
received his first flying lessons at Min
cola. n Y. On June 10 he made a
successful flight and was granted a
pilots license
Following this he made further
nights, and his awaiting enthusiasm
grew He practiced with j. C. (Bud)
Mars and decided to enter the naet
mere with Mars, although his entry
was distinct from the entries contradict
by Captain Baldwin. He had planned
10 hn'sh the meet here and then take
lhe train 10 Wheeling. VIII nce he
wanted TO make a triumphal flight into
Pittsburg. his home. He was entsrsJ
at coming meet at Boston
captain Baldwin, after the acci5.nt
al once withdrew his machines from
the meet -'o''
Johnstone's accident was due. II ia
SAID by aviators. to an unsuspected
i'a" III the mechanism of his mono
plane Just what It was probably viii,
never be known. as the engine is deen
III the lake, and the wood and canvas
OF the plane were broken and scat
tered by the tremendous impact with
the surface OF the water.
Witnessed by Wife
Johnstone's actual fall was Witness
ed by his young wife. although IL was
not until half an hour later that She
was informed of his death
AS the monoplane faitered H. mid
air. then crashed downward to the
surface OF the lake. the young ayia-
tors Wife. who had been following
his hight closely. grasped mechanics
arm and exclaimed in fear: "Oh! oh,
pity: he's falling. My boy will be
killed"
wives of half dozen other aviatora
whose attention had been rivited on
the p'unging machine that was 10 car
ry the second victim of the day to
his death. rushed to Mrs Consistency
side and as the machine hurtled into
the lake and out OF sight, they tried
to assure her that tombstone would
suffer nothing worse than a ducking, n
But BY this time n half-dozan me-
chances and hangar attaches had
rushed up to the group. For Ave min
utes Mrs. Johnstone pleaded to be al
lowed 20 cross the Held and out TO
the lake. where her husbands ms h
chine had plunged. y mechanic rushed
up and assured Mrs. Johnstonc that
her husband had been rlucked out OF
the lake unharmed. that boat WAC