The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1917-03-09
COUNT ZEPPELIN,
INVENTOR OF AIR
BATTLESH|P DIES
Was Recovering From OPP
Grafton When Mumps
Developed.
Pneumonia NEXT STEP
Did Not Become Famous
Until He Had Passed
Seventy.

LoNDoN, March 9-Count Zeppe.
lin is dead, accordin gto a dispatch
from Berlin, received by Reuters Tel.
egram company. According to a Der.
lin telegram transmitted by Reuters
Amsterdam correspondent, Count Zen.
pelin died yesterday forenoon at
charlottenburg near Berlin from in.
fiammation of the lungs.
Count Won Zeppelin was suffering
from dysentery for some time prior
10 his death and compilation Of
the malady necessitated an internal
operation, according to a Berlin dis.
patch today. The operation was snc.
cessful and his recovery was EXPECT
ca when mumps developed and later
Inflammation of the lungs. The criti.
'hl point in his illness was reached
noon. U- 'uaS
Count Ferdinand Zeppelin BEGAN.
famous at the age OF 20 as the builder
OF the worlds first practical dirigibIe
balloon. On his 75tn birthday he nav.
igated his twentieth airship 10 ceIe.
Drate the occasion. But before he had
achieved lame he had devoted a half
century OF his life, exhausted his per.
sonar fortune OF $4,000 and sacrificed
a brilliant career as a German cavalry
iedeer' IN conquering the air.
emperor William recently proclaim.
gu Count Zeppelin to be the greatest
German OF the twentieth century, AS
a token OF appreciation he conferred
upon him the exalted Order of the
Black Eagle, the highest honor in tho
Emperor's power.
1t was in the United States tha,
Count Zeppelin made his first balloon
ascension. 1t occurred while he was
following General Carl Shurz in the
civil war as a military observer for the
German army. A captive balloon In
use for military observations by I'm.
ION troops greatly interested the yount
German officer, and he was taken up
in it in 1868. ~
Scion OF a wealthy family of an.
Gent lineage, Count Zeppelin was born
in Constance, Baden. in 1898. AS q
youth he was trained for a soldiers "a.
reer. He fought through the Austro.
Prussian and the Franco.Prussian
wars, and is said to have beer the frs.
German soldier to cross the frontier
INTO france In the last named conflict.
Serving in the German cavalry for
three decades, he rose to q rank of gen.
eral at the age of 40. He retired ten
years later distinguished soldier, to
devote all his time to the problem Of
aeronautics.
He began to study and experiment
soon after arriving in Germany from
the American Civil war. Except for
the time demanded in routing military
duties, for the time spent in fighting
two wars, and for a year spent in hon.
eymooning with his bride, who was a
girl of the German nobility, he spent
the remainder of his life in building
flying contrivances that, for the most
part, refused to fly.
From a wealthy nobleman owning
vast estates, Count Zeppelin was grad.
ually reduced to an aristocratic me-
chanic living in humble cottage on
an allowance supplied by his friends.
He met many narrow escapes from
death, and disaster repeatedly over.
took his airships These became So
frequent that pert paragraphs began
cule Of his efforts.
Then in day the tide turned. He
electrified a sceptical world in 1908 by
staying aloft for 81 hours in the fifth
airship he had built, and by sailing 1t
in straight course for a distance of
900 miles. Emperor William and all
Germany in fact, hailed him as "the
conqueror of the air."
This monster balloon, 465 feet long
and of the rigid type and resembling
huge cigar, soon met with disaster as
had its predecessors. Each wreck was
great financial loss, for Zeppelin's
balloons were valued as high as $780,.
900 each. These disasters, however,
also proved the affection in which the
German people held the aristocratic
aviator. When one of his airships was
torn from its moorings by gale and
wrecked. the public subscribed $1,000
900 to a fund, of which the Crown
Prince was president, for the inventor.
The German Emperor frequently help
ed him out of financial difficulties. and
the German Reichstag appropriated
several hundred thousond marks for
the purchase of his airships for the
German army.
At the close of his remarkable ca.
reer, Count Zeppelin had retrieved a
large part of his fortune he spent in
his ccnquent Of the air. He trained his
son, also an army officer, in the sci.
ence of aeronauttcs and especially In
his methods Of building dirigible bal.
looms. He also made an accomplished
aeronaut of his daughter who mas made