The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-03-15

of the experts who knew that ambition meant attempt with him shook their heads at the time.
 Performed Many Sensations.
 Beachey was not only the most dar- ing of the American aviators, but was considered by many in aeronautical circles as the most sIxilfuI flyer in this country because of his feats in the air. Tn May, 1911, he flew over the Capitol in Washington; the next month he sailed over Niagara Falls, and his rac- ing in an aeroplane against Barney yOIdheld in an automobile attracted att tention all over the country. He was, often called the snowman of the air because of his ability to keep up a string of sensational stunts. Fe
 He had many falls, but they did not seem to unnerve him. In October, Hammondsport, N. F., and swept fouE persons off who were watching him. Miss Ruth Hi1dreth was killed. In January, 1914, he fell 25 feet at Oakland, Cal, by swerving his ma chine at the finish of flight to save two persons in an automobile. A year ago he fell 1,60e feet at Santa Barbara while looping the loop, but managed to right his machine 400 feet from the ground Last June he fell 45 feet at Charter Oak Park, near Hartford, Conn, and was severely bruised and flew at Brighton Beach, which was the last time he made a flight in New York. Then last September he fell at the Brockton, Mass, Fair, when his engine stopped and he was forced to volp1ane. He kept his machine steady until he was ten feet from the ground when he fell out and landed in a cab bage patch.
 Brought Machine to Earth.
 Many have commented on the fact that Beachey usually fell only a few | feet, and he once said he was afraid of stubbing his toe sometime. The req son he met so many accidents near the ground was that when something went wrong with his machine his skill brought him down safely nearly all the way, whereas many another aviator, meeting with the mishaps hes has had, would have dropped from the sky.
 It was estimated a short time age that he had Iooped the loop nearly 500 times He had more exploits in the air than. any other aiH1nan. In l the winter of 1913 he announced that he had quit flying. He decided there was nothing more he could learn about it for the time being at least Then the circus feats of the French man, Pegoud, spurred him back into the game. He decided that Pegoud had made him look like "a cripple '' as he put it and suddenly again be- l Hops. fade-aways a cot-a-corner slide, and one bright morning he sud- denly went up and cut his initials | in the air.
 Beachy was born in San Francisco in 1887, and made his first flight at l Oakland when he was only eighteen years old. This was in a small dir igfble balloon. In 1906, the follow ing year, he began to show his show i instinct by. taking his balloon to Washington and flying over the Capi- l tol. Tn July, 1907, he flew over New York city. His motor failed and the wind blew his craft across the river, wrecking it..
 2O,O0O,0O0 Saw His Feat. His first heavier-ttlan-ai machine, l a monoplane, he wrecked at St Paul 1 in 1910.@ He built another machine, and wrecked that in Los Angeles At the Chicago aviation meet in 1907 he really went to the fore as an aviator by spiralling at sharp angles. Iss When he retired from the game, in 1913, he gave 8 reason besides that of having nothing more to learn, that he felt partly responsible for the l deaths of nine aviators who had tried | to emulate him. He figured last winter that more than 2O,OOO.OOO per sons had seen him fly.
 He was divorced from Mrs Beacf1y who was a California girl, a little | more than a year ago.