New Britain herald., 1925-09-04
AIR RUSHING INTO HOLES
 LEFT BY FALLEN CABINS
 CAUSED ALRSHzP TO BREAK
40 CHILDREN MOURN VICTIMS OF ACCIDENT Mrs. Lansdowne Tells of PremonitiOn of Trouble
 Husband Had

Lakehurst, N. J.. Sept. Fl-- Forty children left fatherless by the naval dirigible Shenandoah's ill., fated western trip. were mourning today In their homes near the naval air station, the headquarters of the Daughter of the Stars" and her mate, The Angels"
 Mrs, J. H. Klein, Jr,, wife of the commanding officer at Lakehurst. called on all the bereaved families and found them taking their sorrow with the philosophy of the birdman's wife as expressed by Mrs. Zachary Landsdowne, widow of Lieutenant Commander Lansd owne, who was killed.
 When married an aviator" said Mrs. LandsdoWne, T knew what chances we were taking and I will not knuckle down now l am glad Zach died with his boots on. intend 10 go trough life with mine on. When girl marries an aviator she takes a chance: I have gambled and lost"
 Mrs. Klein, after consoling the be- reaved said: They were all perfect ly wonderful. Every eye was dry and their only thought was to help each other. They are great sports"
 Young, with black bobbed hair and blue eyes and dressed entirely in white. Mrs. Lansdowne said her hus- band had premonition of disaster. Since last June, she declared, the lieutenant commander used all his influence to call off both this and a previous western trip because he feared the battle with Ohio thunder storms would wreck the ship. But politics. she charged, demanded that the trip be made. Never before had LansdoWne failed to circle over their bungalow, but on this last trip she noted he sailed away without even approaching their home.
 He knew conditions In Ohio" she said. He was born in Ohio and killed in Ohio, 100 miles from the spot where he was born. The com mander often said the ship was like ly to get into trouble in thunder storms with the hot air going up and the cold air coming down. A big afr ship getting into this would snap in two.
 Tried To Keep Away.
 He used every bit of influence he could to keep from going, but because the secretary of the navy wanted to play politics by sending the ship over middle western cities, he had to go. He never appeared worried over any previous flight, but before starting on this one he was extremely nervous and fearful that he could not get through"
 Some officers at the station dis agreed with Mrs. Lansdowne's as- sertion that politics caused the thip. The purpose of the trip, they said, were to experiment with untrained ground crews and to test the new mast erected by Henry Ford at De- troit.
 A Washington dispatch to the New York World quotes Secretary Wilbur as saying In regard to Mrs. Lans- downe's comments:
 Commander Lansdowne was al louad to cboosa hIs lime His i,1dpu ment was that 1t would be safe to make the flight at this time. would not have permitted the flight against the judgment or protest of Commander Lansdowne." Commander Lansdowne was on his first day of his seventeenth year in the navy when killed. It was 10 have been his last flight, as he had been 15. He and Margaret Ross of Wash { ington were married in 1921 after a war romance in France, where she was a Red Cross nurse. Two chil- dren survive, one by Commander Lansdowne's previous marriage.
 Mrs. Joy Bright Hancock was brave under the second tragedy of this sort in her life. Her first hus- band was killed when the ZR-2 was destroyed. She had only recently married Lieutenant Commander (Continued on Page Ten)