The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-07-02

Atlantic City, N. J.. July 2Mrs, Melvin Vaniman and the wives of three members of the dirigible balloon Akron's crew, stood on the verandas of the vaniman cottage. near Brigan- tine Beach, early today. saw. the great dirigible explode and then dart down from mid-air. carrying their husbands to death in feet of water in Absecon Inlet
 The women screamed and covered their faces and Mrs. Vaniman tainted with two thousand other spectators to- ward the place where the balloon fell, killing Vaniman and four others.
 As the mighty dirigible plunged downward, a body was seen to detach itself from the blazing mass and fall into the water 50 feet from where the Akron sank. It was recovered by Councilman Harry Cook and A. F. Bell who put out in motor boat and identified it as that of Calvin Vaniman, brother of the air man. He operated the center dynamo and the badly mu- tilated and burned condition of the body showed that the main force of the explosion must have been directly over the middle of the car.
 Describing his invention in his last public statement, Vaniman said:
 At last the rational airship! I feel so happy over it that can hardly realize it yet. It sounds too good to simply this: it means no more eQuili- bater problems, no more ballast prob lems no more drag. rope or sinking into the ocean at midnight. We have a prison of hydrogen at last that will hold it. Put hydrogen in a strong steel
 
 it becomes compressed, just as steam does or air You have got to have, for the air the exact counterpart of the submarine"
 It was stated today that one man dropped out of the balloon and an other fell hanging from the dirigible
 T was on my way to the railway station,'' said one spectator named To- bin, when I saw the Vaniman bal loon. One man fell out and another climbed to the side of the car, appar- ently afraid to drop Then the big ward
 William Hill United States revenue official, who saw the accident, said:
 We were watching the big ship closely and remarking upon the beau- tiful spectacle, the morning sun mak- ing the, huge bag glisten like gold, when noticed a, little swirl of smoke at the stern. remember glancing at my watch and noting that is was ex- actly SAP. The ship was between 700 and 800 feet up, in my estimation
 '"The smoke gained in volume and the ship seemed to stagger. It con- tinued to increase for a minute or two, running apparently the whole length of the engine room beneath the great bag,! and then there was a frightful concussion like the firing of a great gun.
 :"The next instant the ship appeared to be a mass of flame. It seemed to blown out. Then saw the whole thing was tumbling down to the sea and I half closed my eyes. There was a great uprising of gas and flame and then it was all over but the folds of the big yellow bag just visible above the smooth sea-"
 Captain Frank Adams, of Light house, and Captain Frank Doughty, of Inlet fleet, who went out in power boats, were among the first to reach the scene of disaster. They found only tangled wreckage and no sign of life. Captain Parker, of Atlantic City life saving station, rushed out to sea in the governments big power boat and confirmed the report of the lying in feet of water in a slough at the end of Brigantine Beach, with the top of the big yellow gas bag bill lowing in the gentle sea.
 The Akron up-ended, the bow turn ing first in a slow arc Then it re- versed suddenly and plunged down. ward. Twisting in a long spiral, the gas bag was a smoking mass of rub Der and silk with flames shooting out from a dozen directions as it col lapsed, fiuttering a moment and then Streakad doWn after tha nar- In the