The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-01-13
M E N, w o M B N
 A NJ T HIN c s

tendent of the Alabama State fair, said 1 to me: "Doc, Charley Oliver is in town
 and he is going to stage some ir-plane stunts down at the fair ground"
 Now, Charley is some boy, and knows the flying and exhibition game about as well as any man in America, but to be sure you know who I am talking
 about I will state that he is the hus
 band of Ruth Law He isn't the only man who has to get his bid for noto-
 riety through his silent partner. Charley came on ahead of Ruth to
 make arrangements, but she arrived Saturday. l missed them when they called at The Age-Herald, end it was only Wednesday afternoon that got in touch with them! I found a message
 at the office stating that the effort to have a man change from an automo-
 bile to an airship would be made al 2
 o'clock.
 had made other arrangements for the afternoon, but when I had a chance l to sec such'an attempt made in my home town and under the management of two
 of my old flying friends I cancelled
 date to hurry down to the fair grounds and arrived only few minutes before
 everything was ready for the really
 marvellous stunt which has foiled a ] number of the daredevils who have es- saved it.
 Charley, as usual, was as busy as switch engine and making as much noise as a Midway spie1er in an effort to get everything in shape and start the teams off for what is going to prove one of the best exhibition stunts coming season. He didn't know whether l it would be done successfully; neither did the pilot, or the man of iron nerve who was going to risk his life in grab ping the trailing ladder.
 It was raw afternoon. I believe the field at the fair grounds is the hottest place in summer and the coldest in win ter of any spot in the district. Some of
 the boys who had stood around until they were chilled had gathered up some paper and boards and kindled little fire to warm their feet. l, along with
 the others, had cold feet. bu the nervy young fellow who was to be the first
 passenger to travel by the car-airplane route luckily did not develop .'cold feet"
 All the sport writers and Henry Vance were on hand. I mention Henry because it takes something unusual to get him to circulating on cold and clustering afternoon. The protog- raphers were lined up-that is, the sta tionary variety For some cause the motion picture man. while present did not have his machine in operation. I believe there was some question as to
 the chance of getting picture from the ground and some doubt as to whether an ordinary car could keep
 close enough to the racer to get a good picture.
 Several groups were taken, some showing the principal actors in and near the airship, and the racing car,
 and others in different positions. There was a small gallery of aviation fans on hand to see the try-out. I spied Jim l Dent and his wife sitting over in the grand stand They looked a bit lonely
 as they had it all to themselves. I
 kidded him for not getting closer view, but he said: T wanted to see how l it would look to the fellow who had
 paid his good money to see it from the grand stand"
 1 It seems that in spite of the request | in The Age-Herald for a road three l quarters of mile long without ob-
 stacles. not one was found that was
 available, although an effort was made ; to do so. There was always some han
 dicap to every highway visited. Either 1 trees, houses, or telephone or tele- graph wires, or traffic made it im-
 practicable to attempt it.
 But obstacles to overcome are but q
 challenge to a man like Charley Oliver and his stunt artists.
 Got any rivers they say are uncross- able?
 1 Got any mountains you can't tunnel I through?
 We specialize wholly on the impossible. l Doing the things that no man can do.'' 1 This is their creed and motto. for if l game.
 Charley and his bunch not being able | to sit down and wait for good roads. for
 fear that if they did some other fellow might make good on bad one. just simply made up their minds that they
 would use the track. Now, it wasn't by
 any means suitable for the experiment,
 as the rains had made it heavy, which | means that if wOuld he hard for the 1 racer to get up speed and still harder 1 grab tho rope to stand up in the car , when it was Jumping over rough spots.
 The far side of the course from the grand stand running parallel to the At lanta. Birmingham and Atlantic tracks was selected for the try-out The , crowd made for the spot where the
 change was to be made. Cameras were made ready. The airplane was tuned
 up. the racers engine began to whirr, and in a few minutes the former was
 circling in the air, while the latter was circling the track. and both going at a terrific clip. To add tenseness to the ! scene no one knew the outcome, and in { the background was sense of a trag-
 edy.
 1 think I know something about ex- 1 hibtion drivers in airplanes, as I have cracks. By the way. while Ruth Law
 and I were standing in the center of
 the field watching-the air pilot. spoke
 of Alabamas s great flyer, Milton Elliott,
 and she put him down as one of the best she had ever seen. Now, in spite 1 of all the improvements in airplanes, Ruth Law in her old machine, which