New-York tribune., 1912-02-12
AERO 0UTD|STANCES AUTO
Flyer Above Hudson Races with
Cars on Ice Below.
HADLEY THRILLS CROWDS
Autoists Starting Across the
Great South Bay Rescued
When Ice Breaks.

| Icy winters sports have not been SO
patronized in years as this season. And
new ones spring up constantly Ice auto
mooiling has come into vogue. and yes
terday its thrills and terrors were shown
In two places near New York At Tarry-
town roaring motor cars sped on the Hud-
son. chasing an aeroplane that flashed
against the golden sunset At Babylon,
Long Island, three men set out In an auto
mobile to cross the frozen Great South
Bay TO Oak Island. The front wheels OF
the car smashed through an air hole, two
men were thrown into the biting cold
| water and were rescued by an ice yacht
that whizzed TO them just In time
Clifton .. Hadley has been waiting some
! time for the opportunity TO hy above the
Hudson. and yesterday he wheeled his ma
chine on the ice In front of the Tarrytown
Yacht Club, while a curious crowd sur
rounded 1t. He had great trouble in crank
ing his motor, and Il was o'clock before
the engine coughed, the propellers whizzed,
and he was off like a startled bird He
sailed south at fifty miles an hour, rising
until he was two hundred feet I'm the air.
The crowd lost sight OF him in the growing
him and ginted on his white wings
Two racing cars tried to follow him, but
with all their power exerted they were no
| match for the aviator. lie few 10 Miss
Helen Miller Gould's estate and then out
over toward Piermont, when. suddenly tilt
Ing his front plane, he swooped down near
tug fast In the ice The little crew
cheered him and waved their caps Hadley
came back, and then tried 1t all over again.
Hard to Sec Who're to Land.
Il would have made more fights,
but the white snow on the ice made
II very difficult in the twilight TO
see where to land" he said. "On my
first trip, when I was ready to land, l
thought | was but a few feet in the air,
and when / dropped down I found / was
twenty-five feet away Everything worked
beautifully and I didn't have a bit Of diff
Guilty The machine is nicely balanced and
the puffs OF wind didn't bother me after l
first got my bearings ! am ready for a
flight tomorrow II the weather is right.
Come around tomorrow and I'll show you
a flight worth while"
Hadley lives in TGrrytown and wants to
show his neighbors what he can do. He
Will race the Twentieth Century Limited or
some other fast train 10 Ossining to-day.
There will also be twenty ty-flye-mile race
between automobiles, and perhaps a five
mile straightaway race.
The air was kind to IIadley but the ice
was treacherous to the Babylon men. II
seemed safe enough, for it was fifteen
inches thick. and James w Eaton. real
e-tate operator. with offices at No. 1865
Broadway; James b. Cooper justice or
the peace and newspaper editor and Ches-
ter o. ketcham, jr., thought they would
have no difficulty in blazing the way to Oak
Island. The Bay has never been crossed In
an automobile.
The heavy tires crushed into the spongy
Icc as they left the land at Sumpwams
Point but the water never freezes very
hard at its edge and the men were conf
dent the gripping chains would soon take
them 10 firm surface. Ketcham, who
owns the car. was driving IT, and picking
bis way carefully.
One hundred feet from the shore the car
r,n into an air hole, thinly covered with
ice. The front part Of the car plunged into
1--WE feet OF water. while the rear wheels
caught on a hummock Of ice. Eaton and
Cooper were tossed out, hand or foot OF
one of them smashing the glass wind
shielt Of the car Young ketcham was
thrown over the windshield and landed In
so fety on the ice, but his two companions
fell into the water.