Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-04-30

yesterday writes of his experiences
for the Telegraph).
my friends to stick to the automo-
bile.
A 1RPLANING is good sport, but
~ l speak not alone from busi-
ness standpoint when l advise
| have driven an automobile for
I so long that | eagerly took advantage
OF Yesterdays offer of the Victory
Loan committee to take Il ride with
! Lieutenant h. II. Ways in his big
double-seater Army bip1ane and
drove down to Middletown in my
Chandler with Il dinner engagement
staring me in the face at o'clock
ana wondering whether or not
would have any appetite for it after
my aerial trip.
Bob Lyon, a fellow member of
the Harrisburg Rotary Club, was to
take ride in another plane and he
was already on the ground when |
arrived, and | thought he looked a
lot more clipper than l felt.
Some of my friends We're present
ana all of them offered me Il lot of
advice - good and otherwise.
Charley Boil. chairman of the
fraternal committee of the club. So
ltcitously inquired what kind of flow
ers l preferred in case there should
be funeral and about that time an
Army officer came along and sug-
gested that it would be n good thing
to leave my purse and valuables with
some friends on the ground.
Oh. they We're Il cheerful lot, |
can tell YOU, but | was too busy get
ting into mechanician suit lined
with wool and as heavy as a polar
bears skin, putting on goggles.
gloves and a thick helmet. to pay
much attention to their chatter.
Signs His Death Warrant
Then they introduced me to the
Lieutenant and l told him | wouldn't
mind how long he kept me up-in
fact / wanted good, long ride. but
it had to be plain sailing; no loop
the-loops or anything like that. and
he promised. Well. they got me into
the machine and strapped me around
the waist with heavy belt and after
little meneuvering we started down
the field. l had just braced myself
for the moment when the machine
would leave the ground when II cap
tain came running along and called
to me.
Il say, have you signed your re-
lease papers,
Il haven't signed anything" said l.
stop the machine, Lieutenant he
cried, and so we stopped and l got
out and hobbled across the field and
l signed my death warrant, which
Bob" Lyon witnessed. and then |
acted as witness for him when he
signed.
Now" continued the cheerful of
ficer. please write here your adj
dress and whom you want notified in
case YOU are killed
OF course this all tended to in
crease my peace of mind. but as l
had gone that far l wasn't going to
back out. no matter what happened
and so | went back and got strapped
in again, waved my hand to Bob
in his machine and was off, sitting
on the rear seat with 10000 pieces of
Victory Loan literature in front of
me which l was instructed TO throw
out as we went along.
Got His Sea Legs
The sensation had as we left the
ground and pointed sharply skyward
was like when an elevator starts up
suddenly sort OF sinking feeling
in the stomach, but that soon passed
and for the first half-hour | occupied
most of my time getting used to the
swaying, undulating motion of the
machine. After that all feeling of
uneasiness left me and l began to
sit up and take notice.
The landscape spread out before
me was like a childs toy town in
Christmas tree scene. l can describe
it in no other way. The roads looked
like footpaths, passenger train
crossing the Cumberland Valley
bridge looked like a toy train.
1 l. . -. 81 =, II
Harris and the Telegraph building
with ease and as we few lower |
could see distinctly many of the
smaller structures. AS we swept over
Reservoir Park high in the air a
group of girls looked like dolls: the
next turn around the circle brought
us so near the ground that We could
recognize the features of the young
women as they waved to us.
I'll say this for Harrisburg-th
old town certainly looked good to
me, even from the clouds.
Reward For Return of Cards
Suddenly 1 remembered | had
hundred of my business cards in my
pocket. Taking the packet out I
carefully marked three OF them in ,
a way known only to myself.
threw the whole hundred overheard.
TO the man. woman or child who
brings me those marked cards-all
three or any one of them will pay
a, reward of 50 each. I want to get
those cards back as souvenirs.
After being up an hour and ten
minutes we got safely back to Mid
dletown with no more adventure
than that a half dozen times We
struck air pockets or air waves.
which threw us up toward the sky
like a chip on the ocean or let us
drop a hundred feet at clip in most
hair raising fashion. | drove back
to town in time to keep my dinner
49, rDhnH