Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-07-11
MELVIN VANIMANS SPECTACULAR .
Death FROM DIRIGIBLE

Il shall never forget the feeling il
my heart when he left me at o'cloel
this morning / had a forewarning Q
trouble / believe it now as truly a
III can believe anything and | am no
| a superstitious woman. either.
Witnessed Fatal Plunge.
YES, / saw them fall. | saw on
man jump. Something tells me tina
it was my husband saw him sprea'
out in the air fat. as he fell, and thel
oh, | can scarcely speak of it-al
grew dark before me. They were S,
high in the ART must have been !
thousand feet.
Before | tainted, | now remembe
that the car turned with one emf
downward and it fell towards the Sc;
like a cloth, all in string. | can re
call that picture all the rest of m.
days; it is photographed on m.
mind ~
''All these years of my husbandi
struggle, he and | have been as one
| planned with him., shared his trou
bles and did what | could to encour
age him.
Praises Financial Backer.
AT times, in Europe, things wer'
very depressing But Mr.. Ziberlins
of Akron, his financial hacker, ha.
been splendid friend We hav,
never heard from him one word ex
cept in praise.
This Akron he was using for ex
pertinent only in field that he be
lieyed already past in the science o.
iaeronautics. His particular reason
for going up today was to try out {
continuance he had for estimating the
speed an aeroplane travels, an inven
ton of his own, based upon measure.
ments on ground glass of an inverted
camera showing the earth or sea NOV.
ing down below"
After the first excitement and SHOCK
had passed, Mrs Vaniman again col.
lapsed and later in the day was under
the care of a physician. She is suffer.
ing frequent fainting spells and hel
condition is serious
Speculation on Cause.
There are many theories as to the
cause of the disaster One is that all
got into the gas bag. Another thai
the rays of the morning sun expand.
ed the gas and caused the great en-.
velope to burst. A third was thai
flames reached the gasoline and q
fourth theory advanced was that a
stray rope caught in one of the pro.
pellers, that it was whipped around
and striking the gas bag tore a hole
in it, letting out the gas.
The, fight was the. second that the
airship had taken this year. After
tinkering all winter on the ship Vani-
man took the Akron out for a short
flight Saturday morning, June l. Al
that time the balloon was nearl,
wrecked, by some of the mechanism
going wrong, but it was landed with.
out serious mishap. Il
The longest flight the balloon made
was last. fall, when it spent the great
er part of the day in the air in the
vicinity of this city. At that time the
gas in the bag was not sufficient {
keep the big ship constantly in the
air and it had to make several land
ings. During the winter Vaniman i'm
proved the ship through lessons
learned in that flight.
Looked Like the "Americae.
In general appearance the Akron
was not unlike the America, in which
Walter Wellman and Vaniman at
tempted to cross the Atlantic ocean
in October, 1910, but there were many
differences in the construction. The
gas bag was thirty feet longer than
that of the America, but was smaller
in diameter The dimensions were
Length of bag, 258 feet; diameter, Al
feet. The bag was made of compo-
sition of rubber and was constructed
in Ohio
Beneath was the car, similar in
shape to the Americas, but longer
perhaps $50 feet long. The bottom of
the car was composed of a round steel
tank two feet in diameter and about
100 feet long. In this tank was stor-
ed the gasoline. The car was connect
ed to the gas bag by steel tubing of
light construction. On top of the
tank was platform of two-inch
boards and on this rested one 100
horsepower motor, two of 80-horse-
power, one 17-horsepoWer motor and
a small dynamo.
To a reporter recently Vaniman ex-
pressed the fullest confidence in the
Akron to make good He was con-
stantly aware of the dangerous nature
of the gas used for initiating the bag,
but he felt that it was safe from ex-
plosion, as no flame could reach it.
Gov. Wilson Wires Sympathy.
SEAGIRT, n. j., July 2.Governor
Woodrow Wilson expressed his sym
pathy to Mrs. Melvin Vaniman over
the death of her husband in a tele-
gram addressed to her at Atlantic City
tonight. The message read as fol-
lows:
May not extend to you my heart
felt sympathy for your tragic loss :?
''(Signed) WOODROW WILSON"
NO HATS IN CHINA