Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1916-04-05
ACHING TO BE OFF
BADLY USED UP
Lieut.. Bowen of the First Aero
Squadron Injured by Fall at
Casas Grandes, Mexico.
INTERVIEW WITH BIRD MAN.
What Flow Of Wind Did for Human
Flyer Dangerous Encountered.

another HlEht over the country OF the
enemy, poor battered ami bruised
Lieut. Thomas S Bowen. member
ofThe first aero squadron who was in
jured by fall with his machine al
Casas Grandes Mexico, told me through
swollen lips little of how the acct
dent befell him
He was, evidently suffering severe
ly as he lay with tho fiatness of spirit
ual abandon on the little white cot as
the best hospital at Fort Sam Houston.
! SEN Antonio Two weary eyes tried
to see through badly oaHamed lidsthe
nose os mashed out OF all semblance
TO what a noses hould be, and although
almost a week has passed the lips stir
ooZe blood when the Lieutenant triol
to talk His body is said TO be almost
black, for the fall was about an hun
| dred feet, and but that he had righted
/ the machine after a sudden puff of air
| had tilted il out of the line Of equil-
brum he would have been Instantly
killed, AS it was had the machine
been a few feet higher, all say. VINO
saw the decent the Lieutenant would
have come safely to earth, for he hall
his bird under control but the dist
/ ance was too short for him 10 come
/ down except with n smashing blow
The bringing back of the injured
! man from the war zone was a distress
/ ing matter, for although midsummer
/ weather is with us In San Antonio
! there was snow and hail most Of the
/ way from the scene of the accident %
| El Columbus, and from that point
/ there was a train trip of nearly nine
| hundred miles TO reach the base hos
! pital here. 1t is hard FOR the citizens
of the United States TO realize just
how big their country is until some
! practical geography is learned as is
| being done now over the puntative ex-
petition That El Paso. the gateway
our soldiers are using, is nearly "a
hours distant by fast train from the
he2dqu2 lteIs- -leca. is-Delgs 10 naauly----
II fell about an hundred feet saidi
the officer as / bent over him to hear
more easily the rather faint voice
coming from his poor mouth 81 had
been for a trial flight about Casas
Grandes. when a flaw of wind threw
my plane over on one side / fell
straight downward was able to
right it within a few feet of the ground
and had there been twenty-five feet
more beween me ami the earthI would
not have lost the machine"
That lost machine is the thing now
weighing on the Lieutenant's soul. not
his SCARED sace. nor the close look he
had with death "The machine struck
before | could catch the air"
The newspapers are having a good
deal of fun with us over the fact that
we have smashed up most OF the avail
able machines" said the Lieutenant
without any particular bitterness, but
viii grieved air, "but won't YOU lust
remind your people that over in the
European war zone fier has four
machines at least for his allowance
Sometimes. with the variations of the
atmospheric conditions. one machine
is good, where another would be inn
possible, bit here we ha. four mec
to each machine" and as he thought
AGAIN of the wreck of his one and only
machine a TITLED groan escaped him
ITS pretty hard soldering down
there Lieutenant Bowen continued
tAttt II 4tAttiAtA " A&tt ttl4A NAuEAs f44ft
! the nights are very cold. but there Is
not much wood Still nobody grum-
| bles Oh, ] wish / was back again. in
stead of tiol here With broken
nose" in tones of deep contempt
About the natives; on yes. they be-
| have we'll after they are assured we
| are not going to steal the little left
them; there are many cattle to be had
| but not one has been taken without
pay. Ii makes a splendid impress
sion on the ignorant native The
thinness of the air in the region IN
which / was flying. It is almost impos
sihle to attain an altitude of 5000 feet
for the elevation from which the plane
| starts is about 5000 feet above sea
| level on some occasions the army
planes have not been able to rise above
| 2.500 feet This is considered safe
| height TO escape small arms bullets.
/ scouting is easy on account of the
| clarity of the air We had not the
slightest difficulty in picking out The
| line of brown-clad men as we few
southwark from Columbus. and follow
| ing them 10 our destination"
Lieutenant Bowen, as far as he
seen for the wrappings about his in-
| jured face. seemed typical of the best
! among the air men, muscular. tanned
with long. sensitive and Very strong
| hands. gray blue eyes. with the look
of a sailor in them from gazing
through vast spaces, there would be
little To prevent his quick return to
the service that needs him. for his
uerv is uninjured. He is wild to
start over again and show what he can
10 but his soul is bruised more Sc
veFely than his body. To have smash
ed a machine. even though everyone
knows it was not his fault. il is. to his
1 sensitveRess, a crime
/ He seemed To feel some consolation
in the suggestion that his experience