Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1911-09-07
huFEALO


had often tried her out for speed.
Good again" said Mr. Grantham,
smiling at me very kindly. Nov. the
speedier Payton's aero is the better
for our present purpose. because the
less need he viii have of making an
early start for the rendezvous. II he
ran only hundred miles an hour he
could do the distance to Utica in six
or seven hours: but. of course he
won't hurry. He need not start be
fore tomorrow night. and probably he
viii not. because be win prefer TO
come on by night in order to run the
less risk
THAT'S what be did BEFORE" said
Mr. Grayman.
"All right, then" said the secretary.
nWe'E assume that that win be his
course. But we have no time to lose
We must catch him before be starts
Fortunately, Allan, have ordered
your aero. and four other cracks TO be
ready to leave Washington. fully armed
and provisioned, on the receipt of
dispatch from me. I'll tell them to
come on at once. Now. Grayman. you
can go along or not, as you prefer"
'I'll CO." said Mr.. Grayman promptly.
Mr.. Grantham, in his dispatch. had
the foresight to order the aero to meet
us at little town considerable dis
lance east OF Buffalo. where MIR. Gray
man and himself would run less risk
Of recognition. Accordingly. after
good meal we went by train to the
/ designated place. arriving little be-
fore o'clock. As we descended from
the train | was delighted to recognize
the Eagle lowering over the little town.
The four other aeros were running
about near. and crowd had already
4 gathered about the station and in the
street, watching them.
WED better get aboard as quickly
as possible" said Mr. Grantham. Lets
walk little way up the hill. out of
town. and, I'll signal the aeros to drop
down for u.s."
In response to the signal two OF the
aeros, the Crow and the Eagle. swooped
down to the earth. My men were re-
joiced to see me, and to set foot once
more on the deck of my beloved fier.
She had her full complement. but the
other was a little short, so sent two
men aboard the Grow to make room
for the secretary aNi Mr.. Grayman
without Weighing the Eagle too much,
wanted to have her in good running
trim
.Now. Lieutenant Allan" said Mr.
and af1y. you are in immediate COM
mand of this feet have ordered the
commanders OF the other aeros to rec
/ ognize you as their commanding off,
Ger and the Eagle as their flagship. /
shall continue to advise you, but you
will take charge Of all technical de-
tails and give the orders AS the fliers
are all duly armed and provisioned,
there is nothing to prevent our max
ing start immediatelyp
i No one could have been more eager
to start than was Instantly l ran
i up the signal to get under way. the
others being instructed to follow my
lead. Besides the Grow. already mem
toned. there were the Osprey. the
Bobolink and the Skylark. all. as | was
glad to see, the best fliers In the serv-
Ice. although ] believed that none of
them could keep pace with the Eagle
| in race
The electric gun had already been In
vented, and each of the aeros carried
two Of these terrible weapons. of a
| caliber of two and half inches, one
1 at the stern and the other at the bow.
They fred either shells or solid shot.
AS everybody knows. the electric gun
makes no report, bnt sharp whish
is heard as the projectile leaves the
muzzle These projectiles at that
time had an effective range OF three
miles, but when fred from an eleva-
ton they would often fall to earth at
q distance twice as great. 1t was.
therefore, necessary to be very careful
In using them over an inhabited coun-
try, and we used always to run out
over the sea for gun practice, employ
ing unnamed balloons for targets.
One Of our aeros could easily carry a
hundred rounds OF ammunition for
each gun.
| There was great competition among
| the gunners in craftsmanship, and
had on the Eagle Connecticut Yam.
kee. Ethan Haight. who was practi
cally dead shot and great favortte
| among the men. We carried no drop
4 ping bombs, like the navy aeros. but
| each had stand Of automatic rides
and pistols. besides cutlasses. The full
! complement was ten men. including
! the commander. the engineer and the
| steersman. On this occasion our en-
tire notilla carried thirty eight lighting
men. nv own crew comprising only