New-York tribune., 1921-01-19
Kloor on Stand
Evades Story
OF Fist Fight
Pilot of Balloon ON Trip to
the Canadian Wilderness
Praises Two Companions
as Men of the Finest Grit
None of Them fiad Charts
Young Lieutenant Testifies at
Inquiry That He Planned
Only a Night in the Air

who piloted the free balloon A-559S
into the heart Of the Canadian wilder
ness. nroved himself equally as adroit
upon the witness stand yesterday. AS
suming a humorous vein before the
court of inquiry at Rcckaway Naval
Air Station, he cleverly evaded every
opening produced by carefully planned
questions.
He showed his greatest skill In this
respect in connection with the alter
cation between his two comrades on
the fiight-Lieutenants Stephen A. Far
rell and Walter Hinton. This I'M
fortunate incident occurred at Mattice,
Ont, and marred the accomplishments
Of the balloonists. From Kloor, Rear
Admiral George W. Kline and his as
sociates of the court were unable to
obtain q single detail bearing upon the
list Aght.
Men Even Lacked Charts
The second session Of the court yes
terday again emphasized the iaxity
under which balloon flights under
naval auspices are authorized and
supervised Despite the fact that the
meteorological conditions indicated
that the balloon would be carried
northwaro toward Canada, not single
chart of that country was carried by
the three officers. The charts Of New
York and adjoining states were pure
ly naval in character, and did not show
any inland detail that could be Of as
sistance. The town of Wells, where
the balloon anchored q few minutes.
was not even shown on the chart.
Kloor was on the stand throughout
the entire session. Lieutenant Hinton
sat motionless on q chair near him.
Kloor's testimony at the morninc ses-
sion was confined to simple narrative
of the fight and the march through
the wilderness to Moose Factory on
James Bay Farrell is in the post hos
pital, suffering from tonsillitis.
Asked if ne had figured out his prob
able landing place the following morn
ing, based upon his position at Wells,
ne replied he had not. At this point
there seemed to be some misunder-
standing and Captain H. H. Hough,
Kloor and said:
'Look here, son, this is what We
mean"
Authorization for Flight
The good natured, catherly attitude
of the captain brought laugh from
.he court. when it subsidized, the cap
tain continued: "Wells is ITO miles
from Rockaway and you had covered
chat distance at a speed of 22h knots
an hour. We took the chart and 6g-
ured out your probable position and
then started to look for you there.
Didn't you try to do the same thing?"
'"Sure," replied Kloor, but don't
know where Wells was. / called down
and asked some one on the ground
where we were. He told me Wells, N.
Z.
~ asked him how far that was from
Albany and in what direction, and all
the answer l got was: How the hell do
! know I thought we were south OF
Albany"
Asked about the conduct Of the per-
sonnel during the flight, Kloor said:
81 cannot speak too highly of the
cooperation received on the part Of
Lieutenants Farrell and Hinton. There
was no one particular hero, and we do
not consider ourselves heroes. Each
and every one did the very best that
was in him to stand by his two ship
mates"
This question was designed to bring
out the altercation between Hinton and
Farrell. Kloor evaded it by giving
careful and detailed description O.
their conduct throughout the balloon
fight. the trip through the woods and
the final voyage over the trail to Mat
s5ice. He then told story that indi-
Gated he was not present during the
fist fight, without mentioning it, and
sinally wound up with q detailed de-
scription of the conduct of his com
rades on the return from Mattice to
Rockaway.
As he finished, broad smile spread
over his face. and from some unknown
source within the courtroom there
came the phrase: "The kid is clever
Even Admiral Kline smiled at this
sally. The inquiry will be continued
to-day, when Lieutenant Hinton will
take the stand.