Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-10-14

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kid And at last he wrote to the
British government.
Well. he never heard from them
and that fretted him. But he worked
on. He made kites of q sort of sky
blue color, so they could not be seen,
and one day he came in from MS
workshop, with his voice shaking, and
said he'd got the idea at last.
He had. He'd built a canvas mes
senger that would climb to the kite,
touch a pneumatic tube, give the cam
era thirty seconds to steady itself after
! the impact and then make the ex-
posure. He was so excited that he
cried over it. poor old chap.
"He started that night to make the
drawings and the model" Hazel said.
II had spoken to Mr.. Martin and he
seemed interested. hardly knew Mr..
Martin then, but I asked him about
1t one day at the office. and he said
he would like to see it. That-that
was the beginning of things"
AS the kites and cameras got larger,
gale. They solved that difficulty by
using wire. Fine piano wire. The
old man made a big reel, with a hand
crank, and let the wind run the kite
out. Then he brought 1t in by hand.
1t was hard work, and once he let go
| I,
struck him.
Hazel found him lying senseless
when she came home, and the kites
were in the river-camera, messenger
and everything.
Then we got the motor" she said.
1T was a cheap gasoline engine, and
it worked wonderfully All the
trouble seemed to be over. But it was
necessary, for his purpose. to make 1t
exact. He worked out a lot of form
ulas To do what he wanted, 1t was
necessary to know when 1t was over
q given spot. He had a map of the
city. and ar instrument for measuring
the direction and velocity of the wind.
OF course, with the engine in one
place. he had to follow the wind. But,
in case it was adopted by any army,
he said it would be placed on motor
truck, and he could send it wherever
he wanted. He spent a lot of time
over the formulas"
II know" said. 1.-THE curve of the
catenary!"
THAT is the dip in the wire," she
told me. "You have to allow for 1t.
] The kite is never as far away as the
wire out would indicate"
And the little symbol in red ink
that looked like an ice tongs?"
"Angle of the kite with the true
horizon"
How many, many things you
know!"
1T know some very terrible things"
she said, with shudder. And I let
her go on without interruption.
1t seemed that things began to go
wrong about a month before. In his
abstraction the old man forgot to put
the rubber cover over the reel one
night, and it rained and the wire
rusted.
He oiled and polished for week,
but the life seemed to be out of the
stuff. 1t kinked and twisted, 1 be-
lieve. and he got nervous.
Howard Martin warned him." she
said, that an accident might be dan
gerous. A thin steel wire, you see,
dropping across a city might do ter
rible things. He advised him to send
ou the kites at night, when the streets
were empty, and he did it,"
l give you my word, up to that min
ute L hadn't seen what she was driv-
ing at. l saw it then, all right A
thin steel wire across a city! Great
Scott!
The wire had come from Germany,
and there was no more of it to be
had. They got new wire, but it was
not exactly right, and on the night
before the robbery 1t had broken.
we were terrified" she said. "Mr
Martin took his car and went through
the streets. but/nothing seemed to be
wrong except that 1t had short-circuit-
ed the wires in part of the city. Do
morning in the office? 1 think I
cried"
Did 1 remember!
Well, the old man was not as fright
ened as the rest of them Some new
wire had come and he spent the day
getting it on the reel. And Martin
had traced the kites out into the conn
hT0I1pht
Martin went up in the afternoon and
helped him with the wire and by 4
O'Clock 1T was ready. But he charg-
ed Hazel to hold the old gentleman
back until at least two hours after
midnight, when the streets were
empty.
She was tired poor kid. and hav-
ing made the old man promise. she
went to bed early. But a good wind
came up at half past 10, and he sent
the Kites out. He believed In the new
wire, OF course. and he was as inn
patient "a a child
AT half past IL he wakened her
and said the wire had gone again. and
some of the city lights were out. He
nad started the motor as soon as the
wire broke and brought 1t in. but the
camera and the kite were gone. as
usual. GO
His loss was his chief concern. But
StrenfC
were full of people leaving the the
aters, and If anyone in an open car
mad run into 1t, Martin had told her
1t would cut n head off as clean as an
ak. 90 Oil
She had n vision of fearful thing,
as she dressed. Her one anxiety. since
1t was too late to avoid trouble was
II anything had happened, to keen the
Qid man out of it The messenger was
not SO important. 1t was unIil,eIv
tnat anyone would know what II was
IL was square Of canvas on y wire
frame with center hole for the vvire
but tne camera was different. The
ola gentleman was known to Soma
OF the dealers in town. He had mafe
the camera himself, and suspended ~
from the carrier by four small
springs. But it was known, among n
limited few, that he was taking aerial
pictures. It looked very bad, any wav
you take it, way
Il don't know whether he vas
frightened at the possibilities or NOT :"
she said. Il was terrified Rut
ne is not young, and did not tell him
What reared. He let me 90 when
| insisted, but 1 think he was onJv
AFRAID some one would steal The ~
era. He knew where 1t had fallen II
was near Boisseau's, or in the nart
wandered around all night h,,t ~
was so dark that I might as we'll haye
| Deen at nome. did not sit doy,r g.