El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-01-05
CBy Maurice Prax)


M and left him an unexpected
legacy Of 10000 francs, Marius
Exaucedieu formed the heroic resolu-
ton to become an aviator but he
would not do as most others. who buy
a finished aeroplane and then take les
sons in flying He was too ambitious
for that and made up his mind to in
vent novel aeTOplane, build It himself
with the assistance OF his friend,
Philippe Carcagnasse, and then sur
prise the world by his daring.
He possessed rather large open
field outside the town and this ne
made into private aerodrome. built a
hangar on it and painted on It IN huge
letters: EXaucedieu No J.
Carcagnasse, who was dealer In
bicycles and autos, was quite me-
chauic and undertook to construct the
motor while marius himself designed
the aerOplane and built the frame
work
From now on Exaucedieu and Car
cagnasse became inseparable. They
spent their days locked up in 2 hangar
where they could be heard knocking
and hamm6ring all day. and frequently
they went TO the railroad station at
COngOulin, returning with enormous
mysterious looking cases coming from
Paris, which they handled as eau
tiOusly as II they had contained dyna-
Every afternoon at . o'clock sharp.
they closed the hangar and went TO
submit 10 the curious questions OF their
friends. whom they always assured
that they were making wonderful
progress, but for more than 10 months
they tOiled IN the hangar and no one
had ever seen any sign OF any aero
plane yet, though Of late a motor had
been heard snorting inside This was
thought good sign and the people OF
nrnn In a. al Inn IGH hes n
lose faith in their two aviatOrs, felt
more confident.
At last one night in the cafe. Exauce-
uleu exclaimed ~ is done
And Carca gnasse added Everything
IS ready for the first flight
The news spread like wild fire and
soon the cafe was surrounded by an
enthusiastic crowd
Il tell YOU cried Marius. my aero
plane is built like a watch"
1T will Fly as no machine has ever
flown before added Carca gnasse-
And when are you going TO show US
this marvel, Marius2"
Everyone waited for the reply in deep
silence.
in the afternoon"
.'Vive Exaucedieu, Vive Carsag-
nasse| shouted the crowd.
The whole town was assembled at
the aerOdrome two days later.
At o'clock ENaucedieu appeared
followed by Carcagnesse and two as
sistants. Marius wore a new cap of a
shape that nobody had ever seen be-
fore and baggy rubber trousers much
too big for him When Marius and Car
cagnasse had talked together in low
voices for an hour, they al last threw
open the doors Of the hangar and
wheeled the wonderful machine out
side.
A shout Of pride and admiration went
up from the crowds. It was an enOr-
nous biplane which the two friends had
constructed.
Marius. who looked exceedingly stern
examined the motor, which worked to
perfection. He was very pale and felt
a peculiar sensation in the region Of
his heart and stomach. If if had been
possible. he would have postponed his
flight. but with the whole town look
ing on such a thing was out Of the
question
one thing made him feel easier. Of
course this was only a trial and it
should be strange if everything worked
well at once. Undoubtedly his machine
would run little across the field per-
haps rise a foot or two into the air and
would then stop This would be per-
fectly satisfactory.
Nevertheless he was careful to take
certain precautions. He put on a life
belt to keep him aflOat if he should
MN Dig sausage, bottle Of water
and very long strong rope for the
case that he might land on the top
of a chimney.
with the cries Of delight of the whole
population, Marius climbed into his
seat and Carcagnasse embraced him
with tears in his eyes
Let 60" cried Marius
The propeller began to race with
wonderful speed and 'Exaucedieu No
1" started. It ran along for a few
meters and then with the grace of
bird rose towards the blue sky. Stead
flv 1t rose until il was perhaps a hun
dred meters above the ground and be
gan to circle around the aerodrome.
Below. the crowd was shouting itself
hoarse and Carcagnasse could hardly
believe his own eyes.
But there was one man who even
more surprised than Carcaguasse. IT
was Narius Exaucedieu who found
himself suddenly floating in midair
and really began to wish that his debut
had been a little less successful. He
was almost dying with fear. and al
the same time he was proud of his sue
cess Timidly he looked down below
and discovered a lot Of strange little
creatures waving their handkerchfefs
enthusiastically. Marius felt great and
proud as he saw all these people who
were like insects without wings
When he had been flying for about
a quarter al hour he