The chronicle=news., 1914-09-21
BROKEN STRUT
CAUSE OF Death
or AVIATOR COOK


Cooke, the aviator. who was killed at
tho state fair grounds Wednesday
morning, while making n fight for
the fair association. came to his
death because strut on the left side
of his biplane could not stand the
strain and gave way seemed to be
an established fact. although 1t will
never be known Just what was the
cause of the wreck
Following the announcement that
flight was to be made in Pueblo,
a Pueblo man. who is very promi-
nent in the aviation world. began
investigating Cookies machine. He
made special trip to Colorado
Springs last Sunday for the sole pur-
pose of looking over the machine and
was constant follower of the air
man while he was here.
On the morning that the Cooke
machine was seen to dip to the left
side and plunge to the earth, the
man. who does not want his name
mentioned at this time. was at the
grounds. He rushed to the spot and
examined everything as carefully as
1t was possible to do at the time. Be
ing unable to determine just what
was the exact cause of the wreck, the
man began investigating every ru-
NOR he heard that seemed to throw
a light upon the subject
One of the rumOrs that lie had
heard was that woman had seen
something fall from the machine as
it passed over the grounds. Thinking
that 1t was the aviator himself the
woman turned away only to see the
machine plunge earthward a few
rods in front of her.
Following up this rumor 1t was
then learned that the woman had
then searched fer the thing that she
had seen falling from the machine,
as 1t passed over her head. The man
discovered the woman and also found
that she had possession of the falling
object which she had preserved as a
memento of the occasion.
The falling object proved to he a
strut of the left side of the machine.
1t was constructed OF pine and the
immense strain that must have been
on the machine had caused it to
break.
There were several rumors about
the ground that people had seen
Cooke arise to his feet and look back
second before he started on the
downward plunge that carried him
to his death. This was probably
what he had looked at as there is
said to have been crack heard as
the falling object left the machine
The strut is long pole-like sup
port that is used to keep the planes
of the aeroplanc separated. When 1t
broke It is probable that one of tAe
wires also gave way and caused the
machine to dip to one side.
That Cooke had decided against
flying in high attitudes is evidenced
by his refusal to fly at Hayden on
the closing day of the fair there last
/ week
Captain A. II. Hardy who has been
appearing at the fair this week in a
fancy shooting exhibition. was also
at the Hayden fair. lie helped the
man assemble the parts of his ma
chine and was one of his companions
while at the fair. He is authority
for the statement that three times
during the week the aviator missed
being killed only by few inches
Twice he graZed a telephone pole in
ascending and once Just missed the
telegraph wires.
On the start of the trip to Pueblo
from Colorado Springs. Cooke just
barely passed over the telephone
wires and he stated upon his arrival
here that he had had narrow es-
cape.
The remains of the unfortunate
aviator are still at the Davis & Vo-
1ries' morgue. where thousands OF
people have viewed them since the
terrible disaster. Mrs. Weldon
Cooke. wife of the dead man. will
arrive in Pueblo some time Sunday
to accompany the remains back to
the home in Oakland.