The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1922-02-22
AIRSR|P'S Dive
KILLS OVER so
NOnsteI OirigibIe Falls While
/ Crossing Hampton Roads. !
ONLY II ABOARD RESCUED
Falling Ship Struck Electric Wire
lgniting Gas and Causing Explosioft
Which Spreads Death.

Norfolk. Va, Feb. 22.-The dirigibll
! Roma, the largest airship owned ID.
| the United States government, wa
wrecked by an explosion while cross
| ing Hampton Roads.
Is Thirty bodies had been recoveret
| from the ruins of the airship. On
| cials estimated that there were tlare'
or four more bodies in the wreckaga
Eleven men were rescued, ten y.
whom, some probably fatally injured
were in the United States public serv
ice hospital. 50
1t was said there were a total O
forty-three on board when the expfe
sion occurred.
EyeWitnesses said the Roma Wa.
flying at height of from 600 TO 160s
feet when she was seen to be in fra
Qble. A thin wisp of smoke appeares
and the craft started downward OBJ
lQuely.
Reports from Portsmouth, which i
near the naval base, said the Roma
after slanting plunge of hundreds el
feet, struck one of the barracks buihl
ings at the base and then exploded
with a ripping crash A sheet of flant
leaped from the rent in the gas bag
and the passenger compartments sluns
underneath, dropped twenty feet Il
the ground
Before striking the barracks build.
ing number of men were seen I'd
leap, some with parachutes and some
without. Some of these removed from
tie Wreckage were badly burned, but
others escaped virtually without in
jury.
1t was officially announced at the
f,rmy base that only ten survivors had
been rescued from the wreckage of the
Roma. Eight are seriously injured and
two slightly. All are in nearby hos
pitfalls.
Fourteen men, according to other
Observers at Portsmouth, were seen to
leap from the ship as it became APP
parent that she would strike one of
the naval barracks buildings. Some, 1t
was reported, clung to parachutesT
While orhers jumped straight to tne
ground, choosing to take their chance
il that manner rather than staying
aboard the blazing ship.
Some officials at Langley Field said
there were twenty-one men in the Off
cial crew of the airship and thirty or
forty passengers and enlisted men
aboard. One man was seen by Observ-
ers at the Standard Oil company plant
at Sewell's Point to jump from the
ship while she was Still several hun
dred feet in the air
The naval hospital at Portsmouth
was officially informed that thirty
eight of those aboard the airship, the
largest semi-rigid dirigible in the
world, were killed, while undertakers
il Newport News were officially mott
fed that thirty or more persons had
lost their lives.
As the work of rescue was OrganlZ-
ed burned and charred bodies were
discovered in the debris.
The Roma was flying about 10CG
feet above the army supply base when
the disaster occurred according to one
of the mechanics who was rescued.
Our rudder broke and the planes
did not work, and we were forced to
descend" he said. $50 far as l could
see there was no fire until we hit the
ground"
Testimony of eye-witnesses who saw
the big SHIP fall bore out the state
ment of the mechanic that there was
no evidence of flame until the dirigible
had struck the ground.
Colonel P. w. Quincy, commandand
of the army base, saw the big dirigible
a few seconds before it hit the ground
not far from his office. He said that
he saw no flames until after the gas
bag had ended its descent