Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-19

tank in front Of me-. My head swan
and again, with that awful feeling pt
for a fleeing moment. then the sight ~
a small field brought me back 10 my
senses. and | circled again to come up
on II from the best direction
Fortunately for me. made a perfect
landing. Ii was. probably. the instin,
that comes from long practice that kent
me from smashing up on coming to to
ground. for | know that my brain was
no longer working and my muscles wers
incapable Of obeying mental commani.
4
must have sat there helplessly In the
machine for fully i've minutes after
brain into working order again and
simply sat there staring vacantly ahead
of Inc and mumhling meaningless things
10 myself until l saw a woman coming
toward me. Then l stretched myself. half
rose. and sprawled rather than climbed
down from my seat 10 the ground Put
even then / could not stand without help.
When the woman came mp She found
me leaning over the fusllaEe, my IA
buried in my folded arms ana my who,n
appearance suggesting the man who has
been utterly ruined and beaten In a lie
ambition instead Of a man who had Just
broken all existing worlds records in lis
favorite branch OF sport.
l found that l had landed In o tiny
hamlet OF not more than two dozen
houses. They told me that IT was named
Oreland, and that IL was about fourteen
miles northwest OF my starting point IN
Philadelphia. Naturally. the news Of the
strange visitor from the skies spread
about the surrounding country like Wild
fire and the neighbornood began flocking
in in all sorts Of conveyances. But |
wanted I" get away from the crowd, 50.
making arrangements with the village
constable to guard the Bleriot I went
with the woman who had first discovered
me to her home-the only house in the
village that boasted "A telephone--and from
there j communicated to the officials a Z
the aviation field the news OF my land
ing. That evening they camo for me In
an automobile.
For two or three days after that the
thought Of going again for altitude made
the cold chills run up and down my
back. My nerve was gone. Then came
the disnay.ng announcement that test
of my Paragraph IA rough reading OF
which had showed approximately 800
feet) gave me only a little more than
9.40O feet. But the officials OF the Aero
Club of Pennsylvania, under whose aus
that a mistake had been made some
where and so turned the instrument over
to George S. Bliss. head OF the United
States weather bureau in Philadelphia.
To the interchangeable and generous efforts
of this official we owe the fact that tie
final official reading Of 1857 feet was
given after tests to which no Paragraph
had ever been subjected before. That
was the worlds record for only a short
time, for a day or two later came Legag-
neaux's wonderful feat when he ascend
ed 10.499 feet and made 1t impossible for
me to realize my fond hope OF being the
first man 10 pass the ten-thousand mark
But the fascination of altitude work j.
stronger with me than ever, In spite Of
its awful strain and constantly increa0
ing danger. and next spring / hope q
return TO Philadelphia and beat any rec
ord that may then be in existence.
Copyright. 1911. by Henry NJ. Nicely. Copyright
in great Britain and Canada. All rights
reserved.)