The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-06-21
WILBUR WRIGHT,
PIONEER AVIATOR
Career Of a Man Known the
World Over.
UNASSUMING And RELIGIOUS.

Honors Conferred Upon Him. by Nu-
merous Governments, and His Ult-
mate Financial Success Did Not
Change Him.
Wilbur Wright, pioneer aviator and
aeroplane inventor, was born at Mill
vile, Ind, in 1867 His father was the
Rev. Milton Wright who was n bishop
in the Methodist church. The family
removed to Dayton, o., when Wilbur
was a child. In his early years Wilbur.
| like his brother Orville, showed de-
cided bent for mechanics and went in
for machinery. During their spare mo-
ments In machine shop they built
printing press, with which they started
newspaper, according to informants
who remember their beginnings. The
printing press was an excellent one,
the tradition goes, but the paper was
sold out.
About that time the bicycle craze was
in its infancy, and with the proceeds
from the sale Of the newspaper Wilbur
and 0rville built q small bicycle fac
tory or machine shop, where they built
a wheel of their own and repaired and
assembled others.
1t was not until 1900 that the Wrights
started on the difficult task of making
heavier than air machines, and they at
first went into aeronautics for amuse-
ment.
How They Became Interested.
Octave Chanute was the first in the
United States to take up the hazardous
experiment of gliding in the air. Cha
mute lived in Chicago, and the ac-
counts of his experiments interested
the Wrights. Several aerial pioneers
in Europe had tried gliding, which
consisted of sliding down a hillside
through the air with a sort of string
less kite for a sled, and Lilienthal Of
Germany broke his back at it.
The Wright brothers said that the
idea of flying attracted them. They
did not foresee any money in 1t nor
fame-they simply took to the idea. A
glider was built in their small machine
shop and they made experiments with
1t for more than year when the idea
Of a heavier than air machine was
conceived. They went down to the
North Carolina coast to make tests.
They were hampered by lack of
money, and the story Of their triumph
is one of penury and hardship. A fly
ing machine was built and equipped
with an eight horsepower motor. 1t
weighed somewhat under 800 pounds.
including the passenger. The parts of
the aeroplane were taken to Kitty
Hawk and assembled with the utmost
secrecy. On Dec. II, 1903, it few So
feet in fifty-nine seconds against a
twenty mile wind. To their delight the
brothers found they could control the
machine to great extent Then No.
machine was built in Dayton, and they
made more than a hundred flights in
that vicinity in 1904.
A Flight of Three Miles.
On Nov. 0 of that year the aeroplane
went through the air for three miles.
1t was rebuilt the following year and
on Oct went twenty-four and one
fifth miles in thirty-eight minutes ard
three seconds. There was no doubt
them. The Wrights knew they had
solved the problem of aerial naviga-
ton. Until that flight they had kept
their experiments in the utmost Sc
crecy, but persons near Dayton wit
messed a part of the flight and 1t be-
came known. Then the Wrights an
nounced that their machines would be
sold only TO the governments of the
world and tedious negotiations began.
The French government, through a
syndicate, attempted to buy the rights
for that country.
Negotiations fell through because the
Wrights would not explain their secret.
Then came a period Of the worst hard
ship for the inventors. Their money
had given out That was in 1908 They
began to be discredited, and Santos
Dumont and Farman came into promi-
nence with their machines. The broth
ers' fortune turned. however, when
Charles Il. Flint, wealthy exporter,
suggested he would aid them financially
If they would agree to patent the ma
chine and market it. The Wrights cast
were pending and gave public eXhibi-
tions at ManteO, n. c., that made the
entire civilized world take notice.
Every Country Sought Them.
The Wrights were sought in almost
every country Of Europe. Wilbur went
to France and Orville remained in this
country to conduct flights. On Aug 8
Wilbur made his first flight on the pa
rade ground at lie Mans. That and his
subsequent flights were wonderfully
successful. Orville few at Fort Myer,
Va, and on Sept. II broke his hip in
the disastrous flight that killed Lieu
tenant Thomas L. Selfridge. U. S. A.,
signal corps.
That accident made Wilbur bend his
utmost efforts in France, and he was
admitted the best fier in the world.
The Wright brothers afterward took a
trip to Europe and flew before many
kings and queens and received decora
tions from numerous governments.
The honors conferred upon him and
nltfunat IA financial uVtoaacc uauar