The New York herald., 1922-02-22

OF the accident, said that the work
OF the officers in charge was excel
lent.
Lieut.. Burt and Capt. Mabry were
at their Wheels" the Major said. "The
ship gave duck and | saw Lieut..
Burt pull with all his might on the
elevation lever. He yelled out. She
wort respord,' and then. Cut the
<fnotors, One by one / heard the
motors shut off and then we struck.
If the motors had not been shut off,
we would have hit the ground much
harder"
When asked if he had seen any
flame, he said that he had not.
Ray Hurley, a civilian and engine
expert, was aboard and suffered a
slight sprain of one arm and burns
about the hand. The trip was Hurley's
first flight.
1T was the first time / had ever
been up" he said, land when the
Roma started to swing l didn't know
anything was wrong. | thought she
was acting all right: I didn't know
different. It was not until the ma
chine hit the ground that realized
she was wrecked. She was sailing
along smoothly and she was coming
straight from the Langley Field. We
were up only short time when we
fell" +.
One of the mechanics in the crew
of the Roma who was rescued soon
after the big ship hit said Our rud-
der broke and the planes did not
work; so far as could see there was
no fire until we hit the ground"
Col. p. NJ. Quincy, commandant of
the army base. who witnessed the
fall of the Roma, bore out this state
ment. He said he did not see any
fire until after the big gas bag had
landed on the ground
AS the Roma neared the scene of
the disaster it was apparent that she
was in trouble, other officers at the
base said The big rudders seemed to
.be working badly and the crew was
desperately throwing off ballast Their
efforts to put the big airship on an
even keel. however, succeeded for only
a minute or two as the ship again
tilted and began plunging toward the
earth. narrowly missing the smoke
staek of the base power plant, but
failing 70 clear the network of high
voltage electric wires, which covered
the spot where the Roma was de-
igsroyed Two sharp explosions were
heard before the firemen began fight
ing the flames. but it is believed these
were caused by gasoline in the fuel
tank
TOO Insane to Think"
Sergeant Peek, an engineer aboard
the Roma. said that he was tending
his motor in the port rear engine boat.
1.-THE Liberty was running fine" he
declared, when we suddenly veered
1p and nosed down. / was too insane
TO think much of anything"
Joseph y. Biedenbeck. engineer, was
burned about the face and hands. He
said:
Il didn't see any fire. The ship just
tilted up and started to nose dive.
When we hit the ground an explosion
followed. I was pinned down so that
] could not get out. The fabric was
above me and the girders were all
around. / waited for the fabric to
burn through so l could get out. All
the time I was afraid that the big gas
envelope behind us would explode. AS
+. ii happened the fire reached the
fabric bfore the big explosion. If It
had not l could never have gotten out
alive. I saw one man try jump.
,lon't know who he was or If he made
Il safe landing. We hit right after
that. We were too low for anybody
In mako a safe iump"
Both Biedenbeck and Major Reardon
spoke OF the gallant way the officers
remained at their posts. Until the in
stant of the crash the officers stuck
at the wheels.
One OF the survivors said that the
Roma often sailed with a little tilt and
that he paid little attention to the
initial list of the tail of the ship until
he heard man yell that the craft re-
FUSED to respond to the helm.