The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-09-15
ANOTHER AVIATOR
KILLED IN MEET
Howard Gill, St. Louis Aviator and
George Mestach Collide In Mid
air and Former Dies
From injuries.
NOT SERIOUSLY HURT
Gill Was Conscious When Picked ur
Hut Dies Few Hours After Ar
rival at Emergency Hospital
on Grounds.

| UNITED Press Leased Wire Service. ]
/ CHICAGO, Sept. 14.-Howard Gill
of st. Louis, one Of the foremost or
the Wright's school of aviators. died
! In the emergency hospital at Cicero
aviation field tonight following the
collision OF his biplane with the mon
oplane driven by George Mestach,
| the French aviator. The accident
/ took place about a mile from the
grand stand.
Mestach, the Frenchman, WAS taken
+; to the hospital OF ST. Anthony De
/ Padua, where his injuries were pro-
/ nounced slight He is suffering from
! severe bruises about the head but
1 there was no conclusion Of the brain.
A bad cut on the left thigh is his
most serious hurt.
Gill, although conscious when pick
ed up suffered fatal injuries. His
machine fell on him and crushed his
/ ribs and 1t is believed one OF the
fractured bones may have penetrated
q vital organ.
/ Today's accident was the second
fatality OF the meet. Paul Peck me,
death last Wednesday when his Gyro
j biplane plunged 500 feet to the earth
as he was attempting the difficult
and dangerous spiral glide.
Just before the close Of today's
events, George Mestach and Howard
Gill, while flying about $50 feet in the
air, collided. Mestach was uncon-
I scious and was removed to the near
est hospital Gill was conscious when
/ picked up, but on reaching the emer-
gency hospital his condition was pro
nounced critical Mestach will prob
/ ably recover.
According to ayiators who witness.
ed the accident, it was a rear-end col
lision. Mestach, flying in his speedy
Borel monoplane, in the race for
single plane machines. was travelling
| in the same direction as was Gill who
was plotting racing biplane.
The accident occurred just as the
machines were rounding one of the
great steel pylons that mark the
course. The Frenchman had the
swifter machine and was flying above
and behiId Gill. In an effort to make
time on the turn 1t is believed Mes.
tach swerved in toward the pyion and
owooped downward Gill, aviators
say, may have been fitting his plane
in order to more sharply make the
/ run.
At the emergency hospital it was
said the Frenchman was probably not
seriously hurt. GilPs injuries were SO
serious, however. that he was placed
| in an automobile ambulance and
raced to the hospital of st. Anthony
| De Padua.
Mestach, when his machine turned
/ turtle. was protected by the heavy
framework which prevented the en-
CINE falling on and crushing him. He
sustained multiple cuts and bruises.
Gill, however, pinioned under the
wreckage of his machine, was internal.
ly hurt. He did not lose consciousness
until he was pulled from under the
wreckage, when he collapsed
/ Gill began his career as bird man
in st. Louis He experimental with
several original designs, but failed
and finally entered the Wright school
OF aviation at Dayton. Later he en-
/ tered one of the Wright teams of fly
/ ers. Last year he severed his con-
/ nection with the Wrights and flew
| independently during the summer
season. This year he had been con
nected with the Curtiss school of fly
4 ing at Marble Head, Mass. He had
also done designing work for the Bur-
CESS Aeroplane Mfg. Co.
He was the only entrant to fulfill
/ conditions for the Gould $4,000 prize
! for an aeroplane with two complete
motor sets. but was denied the prize
/ because he was sole competitor.
/ Gill fell while flying at Los An
geles last February and narrowly es-
capped death.
The birdmen attribute the death OF
Paul Peck and Gill and the injury to
Mestach to the twilight flights they
have been forced to make. Just be-
fore going up, Mestach complained
that it was then almost six o'clock,
the sky dark and the time too late
for flying. Peck was killed at about
the same hour three days before.
The feature of the days contest
was the cross-country flight OF Mar
tin. Thompson and Lille who won
most of the contests by flying to
Aurora and back. distance OF 81
miles Martin made the flight in one