Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-01-12
NAVY AERONAUTS
REACH MAT T|CE;
IN GOOD HEALTH
Tell of Their Wanderings in
Woods After Their Bal
loon Landed; Ate Caribou
Moss to Keep Alive.
nv The Associated Press,

sociated Press. 1.-The three Amer
lican naval balloonists, stranded
linear Hudson bay when their big
bag descended after a flight from
Rockaway, n. Y, reached this rail
head today after mushing doWa
from Moose Factory.
| The officers-Lieutenan Louis
A. Kloor, Jr,, of New Orleans; Wal
ter Hinton, of Bell Harbor, N. Y,
and Stephen A. Farrell, of New
York-found a corps of newspaper
men waiting to greet them when
they entered this settlement at 2:20
p. m.
All three officers were in excel
Ilent condition. While definite
plans have not been made for their
departure for the east, it is be-
lieved they will leave here tonight.
They reported no exciting incidents
on their dog sled trip down from
Moose Factory.
The aeronauts were met by
Trooper Louis Mclaughlin, of the
Royal Canadian mounted police,
who handed them a bundle of gov
eminent dispatches from Washing
ton. .
No Effort to Arrest Men.
There was not the slightest eff
fort to place the Americans under
technical arrest because of their
alleged violation of international
air regulations by landing in
Canada without due formality. The
first thing that Lieutenant Kloor
did upon his arrival was to make
flat denial of the statement cred
tied I'd Lieutenant Hinton that
Lieutenant Farrell had offered his
life in an effort to save his COM
panions. The story had it that
Farrell, worn out, had offered his
body to his hungry fellow aviators
as food.
Lieutenant Kloor, however, de-
clared that during the days they
were wandering in the woods near
Moose Factory their only food had
been carrier pigeons.
Adventure of a kind rarely
known to humans of hum drum
world befell the three in the per-
Torrance Of simple navy duty, n
| test flight in the routine of gen
eral department orders, to test air
currents among the clouds above
their home station at Rockaway,
n. Y.
Race With Death.
The officers set out in free
balloon which "let go" about noon,
December 10. The big bag rose
gracefully into the sky and drifted
gently away. Slowly it gathered
Roadway and pointed up New York
state, increasing its speed until
night found it in the path of q
driving storm which swept it into
a desperate race with death that
did not end until today-twenty-
mime days later-when the men
Preached the rail head and an open
road to civilization here. .-
Early in the afternoon of De-
cember IA, after a wild nights
lride in the little storm-tossed
basket of their balloon, Farrell,
Hinton and Kloor landed, wearied
from desperate flight, their ra-
itions gone and in O snow blanket
forest unknown to them-face to
face with all the perils of the win
tier in northern wilds.
| Out of the black of their flight
only the tree tops of the Adiror =
dacks, the town of Wells, N. Y,
glimpsed far below, and the faint
barking of a dog in the woods in
| the Hudson bay country, were dis
tinct to them. The clouds had
swallowed all else. Now they were
lost, armed with the balloons COM
Irass and the uncertain location
| of a. dogs bark for hint Of habita-
tion. ........., ........s..,......
Cries Halt Lone Indian.
| They set out, cropping and stumb-
ling through the snow and brush
of the Canadian woods on what
proved to be a four-day journey in
which death constantly stared
them in the face. With hope near
| ly spent they spied the figure OF
lone Indian in the woods
ahead of them. Their cries halted
him and he led them to his tent
land then sped away over forest
trails for help.
| On December IS the balloonists
Preached Moose Factory, northern
Hudson bay trading post within
tstriking distance of the Canadian
| transcontinental railway and the
route home. The nearest telegraph
office was ninety miles away. 1t
took two weeks for word of their
rescue to reach the outside world.
| On January 2 brief report of
Their safe arrival at Moose Fac
tory was announced at Rockaway,
| when Hinton's message-sent by
Ian Indian runner to a rail head and
flashed by telegraph-was re-
oeived. -.. .....
Gnawed Caribou Moss.
.Ninety-six hours after the trio
had sailed away search was started
for them. Army airplanes We're
despatched into. the Adirondack
country and the authorities of New
York state and Canada bent every
effort to aid in the hunt.
When the balloonists were known
| to have reached Moose Factory
newspaper men and telegraph ia
cilities were rushed to Cochrane
land Mattice on the transcontinental
railway, to be ready to greet the
Iaeronauts and bulletin their story
to waiting world.
The, hunger OF. the three men,
who knawed caribou moss to keep
alive, the careful sheltering of the
last of their carrier pigeons to
carry dutifuf word of their fate
home if they had to die, the suf-
Ifering from the bitter cold-all
these were but briefly touched up
on in the scant word which came
from Moose Factory by word of
mouth and letter. ns
There were three carrier pigeons
attached to the party and two Of
them were eaten by the officers,
Lieutenant Kloor said. The third
was dead, but was not eaten No
bird was sent out by the ahmen
Efrom Moose Factory with a mes
Sage to Rockaway point, Lieutenant
Kloor said on reaching here.