Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-01-19
NO new LIGHT
.AIRMEN'S SCRAP
FIRST DAY PROBE
Lieut.. Kloor Silent on
Mattice Fight Of
Companions.
Many Sacrifices Made by Trio WhiIs
in. Canadian Wifds, with No Par
tticular Hero-Lieutenant Hinton
and Farrell to Be drilled Today

and Farrell to Be drilled Today
Rockaway, \. Y, Jan. 1S-Careful-
ly avoiding any mention of the fist
fight between Lieutenants Hinton and
Farrell which brought to a climax
their recent balloon flight into Cana
dian wilderness and tramp back 20
civilization, Lieutenant Louis
Kloor, Jr., who commanded the party
described their experiences in detail
today before the court of inquiry in
vestigating the affair under orders
from Secretary of the Navy Daniels.
Newspaper accounts have reflected
on the actions of your two compan-
lens" the court told Lieut.. kloor.
Now state what you know of the
personal conduct of the party from
the time of leaving the air station
until your return"
Picking his words slowly, Lieut..
Kloor paid high praise to the personal
conduct of his companions until they
reached Mattice, where the alterca-
ton occurred. That's all ] have to
say" he declared, but the court re-
minded him that his story had not
yet brought the airmen back to Rock
away.
Then he mentioned that Lieutenant
Hinton had left the private car in
which the two of them were seated
soon after arriving at Mattice to de-
liver to Lieutenant Farrell Secretary
Daniels order against granting inter-
views.
Hinton said he would tell Farrell
and in doing so he had to go to the
Hudson's Bay Company store, after
which he returned to the room we
were occupying in the private car"
Lieutenant kloor said.
It was while Hinton was gone on
this mission that the fight occurred,
but the witness made no mention of
it.
"The conduct of Lieutenants Hinton
and Farrell. on our return from Mat
tice to this station" he continued,
''was in no way questionable"
Concluding his testimony, Lieuten-
ant Kloor turned to the press table
and smiled at a dozen newspapermen
who were amusing themselves by dis
cussing his apparent evasion of the
question of the aeronauts' conduct.
He was then excused by the court.
During the weeks they spent in ice
bound forests at Moose Factory and
in trudging through the snow back to
civilization Lieutenant kloor said
each of the men 'made sacrifice after
sacrifice" He did not think there
was any one particular hero"
The party left Rockaway with food
to provide three meals for the three
men, he said. They carried no balloon
log and the only maps were charts of
the states of New York, New Jersey,
Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
After explaining that ''it would have
been as easy as falling off a log" for
the party to land at Wells, N. Y, on
the evening they left here, Lieut..
Kloor said, they failed to locate Well
en- chart before going onward. When
they asked inhabitants 100 feet below
them how far it was to Albany, he
added, the only reply was How should
we know
you've put Wells on the map now.
so you'll know where it Is the next
time remarked Rear Admiral Kline.
head Of the court.
Lieutenant Hinton sat near Lieuten-
ant Kloor. throughout his testimony.
He probably will be quizzed tomorrow
and Lieutenant Farrell also, if the
latter RECEIVERS sufficiently from a
slight attack of tonsilitis.