Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1912-04-12
RODGERS IS killed
NOTED AVIATOR PLUNGES ESQ
FEET TO DEATH WHEN
AiRsHlP DROPS.
SCRAMBLE FOR SOUVENIRS
TranscontinentaI Altman Drops Into
Ocean at Long Beach, cal.-Was
the First to Cross the Country In
an AeropIane.

Los Angeles, Cal.-The only man
who ever flew across the American
continent, Calbraith Perry Rodgers,
was killed here when his biplane fell
$50 feet INTO the breakers at Long
Beach.
Rodgers fell from his seat In the
machine and his body shot downward
ahead Of the biplane. striking In the
shallow surf. His neck was broken.
and he died instantly.
With several thousand people
watching him, he assembled for an ex-
hibition fight, taking off at the edge
of the beach. Rising about $50 feet.
he machine suddenly tilted at a per-
ilous angle, and the spectators rea-
lized hat something was wrong.
Rodgers managed to right the aero
plane and again began to climb In a
long spiral. When he was about 40o
feet in the air the machine suddenly
dipped sharply and plunged like a
plummet earthward.
An instant after Rodgers struck the
shallow water the machine crashed
into the surf and al reduced to a
mass of splintered wreckage and tan
gled wire, so that the exact cause or
the accident may never be known, al
though 1t is believed that one OF the
wire guys broke as he was rising IN
the air.
For a moment the spectators stood
horror-stricken, and then ensued a
wild scramble into the surf for SOU
venirs. Seekers for CHASTITY relics
plunged knee deep into the surf. and
the police had to use their clubs to
fight them back.
Thus ended the career Of n OF the
most brilliant, daring and resourcefui
airmen Of the age.
The official end Of his epoch-maklng
flight was made November 6 last at
Pasadena. One week later he started
from that city to fly to Long Beach
and actually dip the planes OF his
machine into the Pacific ocean. He
had passed over the extreme eastern
end Of Los Angeles and, when thou
sands were throngfng the beach walt
ing for him, news was flashed that he
had fallen at Compton and was badly
hurt. How he ever escaped death will
never U0 lOlu. no oAO hAo
fell at least 100 feet.
Less than a year has elapsed since
Rodgers first touched an aeroplane.
June 6. 1911, he appeared at the
brothers field at Dayton, O.,
and said he wished to learn to be an
aviator.
Ninety minutes after he took his
seat in a machine for the first time he
scared into the air away from his In
structors.
That stamped him as a man OF ac-
ton. When he began his coast-to,
coast flight there were many expert
enced aviators who said that il any
man In the world would accomplish
the feat, "Cal" Rodgers was the man.
He did 1t. In forty-nine days from
the time he ascended at Sh%eepshead
Bay. N. T., he landed on the Pacific
coast. He had flown 4.231 miles In
1924 minutes actual time in the air.
Four times he had rebuilt his
wrecked machine after falls that
would have taken the courage out Of
the ordinary man. Eight times he
had replaced parts.
Over three mountain ranges. two
great deserts and the great continen-
tai plain; over rivers and lakes. cities
and forests, alone and dependent,
wholly upon himself, while in the air,
he had crossed the continent.