El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-03-04
|" Two Fisted Frank" DaredsE..
of
When Drunk Performed a Won and Fame
18th eDarnNa
Copyright by n

, to the right, one to the left. Had his
entire attention been directed to each
OF them individually. guiding its ex-
act line Of flight, judging TO the slight
est fraction its speed and distance, the
result could not have been any more
/ scientific. There was only one sound
as two blows landed there was only
one sickening click of driven teeth as
! two fists catapulted to the exact angles
OF two clean-shaven jaws, there was
| apparently only one motion as two
husky marines, stiffening with the
nerve-paralysis OF the most deadening
blow in pugilism, Strengthened up,
swayed for moment, and then
dropped backward, straight, unbending,
| TO lie helpless. cold and dead to the
world, where they fell Had one slow
followed another, no matter how quick
the succession. the feat would not have
been so remarkable But such a double
barrelled assault, delivered with IN
erring aim, with perfect judgment, and
with indisputable finality Of result,
was a triumph that could not be over
looked by men among whom fistic
supremacy commanded and received
the tribute Of unqualified respect.
That was Frank Dougherty, drunk
Sober. there was not his equal
around an seroplane. He had an I'M
canny sixth sense that told him at a
glance whether a machine was fit to
fly or not It was an instinct that
needed no reasoning to confirm 1t: his
eye or his ear flashed him a warning
at once II something was wrong and
so invariably had investigation proved
him correct, that no officer would
start from the ground without first
receiving from Two Fisted Frank the
signal to go.
Lieut. Commander Carlton Sayville,
most skilled Of all the aviatOrs. in the
handling OF the machines, twice owed
his life to this inexplicable knack of
the mechanician The first time. IL re-
quired no special effort on Dougherty's
part; the second time It landed him in
the hospital with orders ready for some
stable-boss to groom his black horses
and polish up his hearse.
But from that bed of pain, Two Fist
ed Frank walked out to live through
one day that changed his life, his hab-
its. his very personality. as complete
~ as though he had actually been born
again. o
The first time. SayvilIe was flSinR
the old type school machine He was
high and directly overhead, circling to
the position he wanted, he cut off his
motor and began to vOlplane in a wide
and easy spiral Below him, the Off
GERS and mechanicians stopped what
ever they were doing and stood breath
less, tensely expectant their heads
craned back until their necks creaked,
in their eyes, the look Of men who
the vast recklessness Of
this feat that looked so safe and easy.
For sayville. against the repeated
advice OF all of his companions. was
again trying the slow vOlplane. With
no power coming from his engine and
with a coasting angle only barely steep
enough to give him the speed neces-
sary to maintain control, he circled
lazily 5000 feet overhead One frac-
ton Of a degree toward the horizontal,
and his machine, losing its speed, would
"stalp' and a stalled aeroplane is a
wrecked one. But Sayville kept it
nosed just under that fraction of
degree.
Lower and lower he came. floating
lightly as a leaf over their heads. The
shrill whistle of the wires and the
still-whirling propeller came to them
increasing in volume as each
circle brought him closer to the ground.
He looked down and saw them and
waved to signify that this was his last
circle-that he was going to throw on