New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-07-09
Like Lucifer Heaven These Fell Blazing Doom
Undeterred by Their Fate,
Beachey Braved the Fierce
Air Worthless Of Mag
ara and Won.

away above tho earth. so recently ler nv
hind
He hears the rumble Of tn" Sroans he
low The aeroplaue turns turtle ~ "
strikes the ground No need for hurry
now How fcrceIy and dizzy the thing
turns over and over, II he is not dead
by this time he has lost his reason
Tho relontlessly descending demon now
is merely ball of fire. The aviator mas
followed the road between time ana eter-
nifty 10 a turning point. No more for MN
the song. the. day.
His body strikes The flaming aeroplans
lands on top of him. His friends rush FOR
ward to drag II off him. But the fire drives
them back. They are sickened by seeihs
the wretched man, not yet quite d"an'
scrapng the earth with his nails. IheF
shout for fire extinguishers. None are 10
be found. They are forced TO witness the
bitter end BY a superhuman effort the
burning aviator rises to his knees, but NJ
once colapses. falls prCstrate on his lace
and all is over. No more flame now-onlN
smoking ashes His soul is free to NJ
wherever souls do fly.
I There were two such fatalities on Jun"
Is. The other man burned to death WINE
| dropping IN an aeroplane was VI. Landr"h'
! He was twenty three years old.
| I'm connection with the memorial which
| is being erected to Otto Lilienthal at Gross
Lichterfelde. near Berlin. medal has been
designed by Herr Alb. NJ. Wolff The OH
verse gives striking portrait of LNien-
! thai while on the reverse side Death -
depicted leading the aviator. who Is max
/ ing a last appeal 70 a bird i'm eight, 10 the
portals of the tomb.
! It is a sombre medal. but appropriate.
The number Of fatalities that nave marked
the history If aviation Is mounting toward
one HI ndred.
Aerial navigation offers little prospect %
ever becoming free from the chance or
death But it promises that tho chances
OF fatality per passenger will not be any
greater than the corresponding hazards ~
land and water transportation.
| The railroads OF the United States alone
exact an annual toll Of 12,O1o persons killed
and 1900 injured. cYt many persons with
| the most keenly developed sense Of regard
FOR their personal safety think nothine.
when lying down to sleep In Pullman. o.
the dangers linked with speeds Of sixty
and eighty miles an hour along the tops of
precpitous embankments and over M
guarded bridges and trestleS, with thor
, safety never for a moment independent ~
, the action Of their wheel fanges on tho
edges of steel rails.
Given choice between dropping fifteen
OF twenty feet In an aeroplane or rollins
down an emDankment I'm your nightrlothe' >
surrounded ny the splnters OF an crstwhi'e
! "parlor car" which would you take
Granting that either would he drop TOO
much. which would YOU prefer should taIl
10 your lot?
The automobile. compared ~ 's"ns'r NV"
. against passenger mile. is discovered Z"
he guilty OF far fewer accidents than reg
uIarIv attend the use Of horses Yes. THIS
&c true But oven to-day thousands ~
otherwise normal persons catalogue the
a,torlchlH~ with cholera and other deyas-
: t,tine plaques
IS The time viii como when 20 fear 10 travel
D. hi, air will b 20 class ono With The psoN's
who are afraid 10 dare the present dan
30 GERS of rail and water navigation tho
y sneed If TN. subway express Is fearSon'
tbing ro q stranger. hut soon he learns ~
a take tho local during rush hours oecausA
rho local makes faster time
Tho Inertia ~ tho mind respecting aer'ai
, travel f. gradually giving way. tNen MEM