The Ordway new era., 1918-06-14

ly upon the earth after snort nlShts
measured in tine by seconds. An ac-
curate description of the cOntrivance
In which the Wrights flew was impos-
sible, as no close view of 1t could be
obtained even by an ndroit and re-
sOurceful reporter. So determined
were the inventors to guard their craft
with secrecy that they announced they
would pack up their machine and re-
turn to Dayton the instant they learn
ed they were spied upon. 1t was no
part of Salley's plan to spoil good
story.
First Long Flight Made.
The afternoon of May was cloudy,
with tendency toward rain. The
wind was northeast and blowing IA
miles an hour. Ordinarily the Wrights
would not fly in this sort of weather.
Nevertheless the machine was brought
from the hangar and started. The
glasses showed that 1t was not only
equipped with gas engine but that 1t
carried seats for two and had pair
of propellers. The group of life savers
prevented clear view of the start, but
n moment later the reporter did see
the machine take the air, head directly
for the ocean and land thousand feet
distant, apparently under full control
of the pilot At dusk, no more flights
having been attempted. the reporter
made his way back to ManteO, well
aware that he had story of world
wide interest, but depressed by the
knowledge that the facts would be gen.
erally di3credited.
Next day half n dozen newspaper
men from New York arrived at Man
teo. Every one was doubling Thom-
as straight from Missouri. They were
all going right over to the flying fields
and talk to the wrights. But they
didn't. For one thing, the Wrights
weren't talking. For another, lifesav-
ers bobbed up out of nowhere when
one had labored through the sand to
a point n mile from the hangar. They
were acting under special instructions
from Washington, which were to the
effect that the inventors were not to
be disturbed. The Wrights had the
legal end of the argument. as they had
borrowed the land from the lifesavers
who owned 1t.
There was but one thing to do and
the reporters did 1t. They followed the
example of Salley and climbed trees.
MAY IL the Wrights made flight of
two and seven-siXteenth miles and
followed this with a flight of two and
one-sixteenth miles. The longer flight
was made at the rate of 46.774 miles
and hour and the shorter at 32.2S1.
In each instance, as in all the others,
It was necessary to wheel the machine
to the top of the incline RAILWAY, no
method at that time being known
whereby the airpianes could rise In the
mir from level ground.
Flights Epoch Making.
Both these flights were epoch max
ing in that the Wrights did not
keep to a straight course. For the
first time they circled one of the dunes
and also returned to the starting point
after a straight flight of three-quar-
ters of a mile. The observers COM
mented on the skillful manner in which
the big canvas bird made the curves.
The writer's who covered these ini-
tial flights stuck strictly to such
facts as they were able to obtain
There was no romancing. no fanciful
descriptions and no haphazarding of
guesses. Yet these plain accounts.
now known to be accurate. were re-
garded with great suspicion when
they were received in newspaper Of
fees. The reporters were frequently
cautioned to be conservative and one
man was commanded by the editor of
Cleveland paper to confine himself
to facts and "cut out all this wildcat
stuff about two-mile flights"
The final experiment was made May
IA. At noon that day the Wrights
left the grounds and made n flight of
eight miles, the distance being judged
accurately over ground carefully
measured. All previous speed records
were broken. two of the eight miles be-
ing made in two minutes and forty Sec