The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1912-07-02
Great Gas Bag CoIlapses Fully Thou
sand Feet Above Earth at At
lantiC City This Morning
HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE WITNESS THE ACCIDENT
and SEE The men HURLED TO THEIR DEATH
Big Airship Catches Fire and Then PIunges With
Lightning Speed Towards the Water, Bury
ing Victims Under the Wreckage

Atlantic city. y. j., July 2.-WhNe
three thousand spectators stood too
startled 10 utter a sound the big dir
igible balloon. Akron was shattered by
an e Xplosionof the gas bag and blown
t4 atoms at 6:3S o'clock this morning
a half mile off shore over Absecon in
let Melvin Vaniman. who had built
the airship with the idea of nying a.
cross the Atlantic; Calvin Vaniman,
his younger brother; Fred Elmer;
Walter Guest; and George Bourtilliou.
his crew were instantly killed. The
dirigible was sailing at a height of
one thousand feet, and had been in the
air since s:l5 when the accident hap
pened.
BAG Burst Near Middle.
The huge envelope was rent by the
terrific force of the explosion, prob
ably caused by expansion from the
suns rays. 1t hurst near the middle.
a mass of flames hid the ship from
view. For possibly ten seconds the
half million dollar dirigible was in
visible, while the air about the spot
where IT had been lowering seemed to
be all flames. The fire disappeared
and then the ship. outlined against the
sunrise, was seen Ia fan like a plum
met.
The first car. in which were the un-
fortunate men. broke away from the
envelope. the bow turning first in a
slow arch. Then it reversed sudden
~ and plunged downward. Directly
above, twisting in a long spiral, was
The bag. a smoking mass of rubber
and silk with flames shooting out
from dozen sections as IL collapsed
1t huttered a moment and then streak
ed down after the car.
Thousands See Accident.
In the descent something which ap
peared like the body Of a man shot out
to the left OF the wreckage and hit
the water before the rest of the de-
scending mass. II was reported this
was the headless body of Calvin Van
imam. At $50 message was relayed
ashore from the rescuers that his
body has been recovered. with itI
came the statement from Captain
Lambert Parker. of the Absecon life
saving crew. that this was true, and
that the other four members Of the
crew were entangled in the wreckageI
beyond reach for the present, in eigh-
teen feet OF water.
Thousands of persons from every
part of the resort gathered along the
inlet. boardwalk and about the Nani
man cottage, Just across from the
hangar NJ tho inlet where Mrs. Vani-
man collapsed and is unconscious
from the shock
Second Flight This Year.
The flight this morning was the
second the il-fated airship had taken
this year. After tinkering all winter
on the ship Vanimaa took the Akron
out for short flight on June I. At
that time the balloon was nearly
wrecked by some mechanism going
wrong, but II was landed without mis-
hap.
The longest flight the balloon made
was last fall when IL 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
10 keep the big ship constantly in the
air. aid Il had TO make several land
ings During the winter Vaniman inn
proved the ship through lessons learn
ed In that flight.
Story Of Eye Witness.
An eve witness says that just after
the ship had encircled Grassy Bay he
saw pun Of smoke. Suddenly the
huge bag was seen to buckle from its
two extreme ends. forming perfect
u There was no report. but the bag
Immediately collapsed and fell toward
the ocean with frightful velocity. The
forms of Ave mon were plainly seen
plunging through the air, the bodies
turning over and over before they
sank in the sea. From the boardwalk
it looked as if the now limp gas bag
and metal framework covered their
rodies. Men on the boardwalk turned