Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1917-03-15
COUNT FERDINAND
ZEPPELIN IS DEAD
Inventor of the Dirigible Bal
loon Which Has Figured
in Present War.

London, March S.--Count Zeppelin is
dead, according to a despatch from
Berlin received by Reuters Telegram
company.
Count Zeppelin died this forenoon at
Charlottenburg, near Berlin. from in
flammation of the lungs.
Count Ferdinand Zeppelin became
famous at the age Of 70 as the builder
Of the worlds first practical dirigiblc
balloon. On his 18th birthday he navi-
gated his twentieth airship to celebrate
the occasion. But before he had
achieved fame he had devoted half
century OF his life, exhausted his per-
sonal fortune of $750,000 and sacri-
feed Il brilliant career as German
cavalry leader. in conquering the air.
Emperor William recently proclaim
cd Count Zeppelin to be the greatest
German of the twentieth century. AZ
a token of appreciation he conferred
upon him the exalted Order OF the
Black Eagle, the highest honor In the
Emperor's power.
1t was in the United Statos tina. Count
Zcppelin made his first balloon ASCENSION
II occurred while he was following Gen.
Carl Shurz in tho Civil War as military
observer for the Germany army. A cap
tive balloon in use for military observa-
tions by Union troops greatly Interested
the young German officer, ana ne WAS
taken up in it in 1853.
Scion of a wealthy family OF ancient
lineage, Count Zeppelin was born in Cor!-
stance, Baden, in 1888. AS youth he
was trained for soldiers career. He
fought through the Austro- Frussian and
the F'ranco-Prussian wars, and is said 20
have been the first German soldier to
cross the frontier into France in the last
named conflict Serving in the German
cavalry for three decades, he rose to n
rank of general at the age of A. He re-
tired ten years later Il distinguished SOL
der, to devote all his time to the prob
lem of aeronautics.
He began to study and experiment soon
after arriving in Germany from the Amer
lean Civil War. Except for the time de-
manded in routine military duties, for the
time spent in fighting two wars, and for d
year spent in honcymooning with his
bride, who was a girl of the German no
bility, he spent the remainder Of his life
in building flying contrivances that, for
the most part. refused to fly.
From wealthy nobleman owning vast
estates. Count Zeppelin was gradually
reduced to an aristocratic mechanic lv-
ing in humble cottage on an allowance
supplied by his friends. He met many
narrow escapes from death and disaster
repeatedly overlook his airships. These
became so frequent that pert paragraphs
began to appear in the German press In
ridicue of his efforts.
Then in a day the tide turned. He
electrified skcptical world in 1908 by
staying aloft for 81 hours in the nth
airship he had built, and by sailing 1t In
a straight course for a distance of nearly
900 miles. Emperor William, and all Ger
many in fact, hailed him as 1.-The con.
qucrcr of the air"
This monster balloon. 4G5 feet long and
of the rigid type and resembling a huge
cigar, soon met with disaster as had It's
predecessors. Each wreck was a great
financial loss. for Zeppelin's balloons vert
valued as high as 100000 each. These
disasters. however, also proved the az
lection in which the German people helG
the arstocratic aviator. When ono of hi,
airshps was torn from its moorings by q
gale and wrecked. the public subscribed
81, 600, 900 to u fund, of which the Crown
Prince was president, for the inventor
The German Emperor frequently helped
him out of financial difficulties. and thu
German Reichstag appropriated severa
hundred thousand marks for the purchas,
of his airships for the German army.
At the close of his remarkable career
Count Zeppelin had retrieved a large par
of his fortune he spent in his conques
of the air. He trained his son, also al
army officer. in the science of acronautic
and especially in his methods of building
dirigible balloons. He also made an &C
complshed aeronaut of his daughter VIII,
has made more than hundred flights il
the airshps her father fashioned.
In commemoration of Count Zeppelin
IFrledrichshafen. the city from whicl
most of his voyages began. has decides
to establish Zeppelin museum.