Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1919-02-03
MAI. M'CAULEY.
WRECKED HERE,
TELLS OF BEING
ST'INFLORIDA
Ill Fate PursueS Airman; Has Narrow
Escape Landing Near
Sumter.

Major Theodore C. McCauley, com
mander of Taliaferro Field, Fl. Worth,
Texas, was in Americus Sunday, hav-
ing stopped here on his return from an
aerial trip from Fort Worth to Miami
He spoke Interestingly of his expert
ences while t'lost" in the Everglades
near Ft. Lauderdale, Fla, where he
remained fifty hours before being able
to report his whereabouts and during
which time much apprehension was
felt here and elsewhere for his
safety
He told of the varying terraine over
which his plane passed between Amer
icus and the Everglades and recounted
his experiences briefly to his friends.
Two hundred miles of the route, he
said, was over a dense1y wooded sec
ton, with positively no opportunity
for landing should this have been nee
essary except in the tops of giant
trees While passing over this area,
he said, aerial conditions were such
as to compel his flying low, much OF
the distance being made at an altitude
of only $50 feet.
Passing above the tree tops. at the
terrific speed of 135 miles an hour,
Major McCauley, who is an experience
ed aviator with much cross country
flying experience, said the sensation
was a tickelish one even for him. His
mechanician, who accompanied him
from Fort Worth and was with him
here Sunday, likewise experienced
feeling of relief after passing over
this dangerous area, even though they
shortly afterwards entered the water
bound Everglades, where their ship
was forced to descend.
Coming down at an isolated spot in
the Everglades, Major McCauley stat
ed he got into communication with the
settlers there within half an hour af-
ter landing, but there being no roads
of telephones there he was unable to
communicate with military or civil
authorities outside. Practically the
sole means of communication within
the Everglades is by boat, Major Nc
Cauley stated, and being unwilling to
leave his ship stranded in the boggy
spot where he had been forced to des-
cend, considerable time elapsed before
he notified the military authorities
be sent him.
So dense the sour grass growth in
the vicinity of Ft Lauderdale, he said
that it is impossible to penetrate
through certain spots even with small
to travel many miles along canalized
routes in order to go only short dis
IdnCc II Olh u SlNCA pOlhIt II was IuS
necessity of using one of these canal
lied routes, together with the delay in
securing a boat of sufficient tonnage
to move his stranded shh. that pre-
vented Major McCauley getting out
of the swamps sooner than he d1c
Major McCauley, who was due to
leave Taylor Field at Montgomery,
Ala, this morning, wrecked his plane
nine and half miles west of Ameri-
Gus Sunday morning, after a most sue
cessful flight from Jacksonville, which
place he left at 1880 o'clock Central
time), and had almost reached Ameri-
Gus before TO- Travelling via Albany,
and not intending to visit Americus at
all, engine trouble caused him to alter
his plans and drive in this direction.
He reached the old Rodgers farm, now
owned h. Eshton Buchanan, of Ameri-
Gus. and ated a mile this side of
Sumter, whore he was forced to des-
cend. His ship, DeHaviland-4, No.
1886, was within a few feet of the
earth when the accident occurred, but
Major McCauley's escape from instant
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