Evening star., 1928-12-18
PILGRIMS RETURN
FROM KITTY HAWK
Impressive Ceremonies Held
on Dunes Where First
Flight Was Made.
BY JOSEPH S. EDGERToN.

grins to undergo hardships with a
cheerful heart to attain the object of
their pilgrimage, and the 200-odd pill
grims who returned to this city today
after paying tribute to the Wright
brothers yesterday on the scene OF the
first airplane flight on the deSolate
sand dunes of the North Carolina coast
proved themselves no exception to the
rule.
It was a trip in which all available
means Of transportation, except the old
reliable shoe leather express" suf-
fered breakdowrs in greater or lesser
degree and a majority of the pilgrims,
who normally are world leaders in aero
.nautics and scientific research from
more than 40 nations, found themselves
reduced to the common level OF man
kind and seeking to go places by any
means which individual enterprise
might devise.
Pilgrim Falls Overheard.
Currituck Sound, which separates the
Kitty Hawk dunes from the North
Carolina mainland. was navigated by
the aeronautical pilgrims in all manner
of craft, including quaint and creak-
ing ferry, which on the return trip ran
aground on Sandbar; Coast Guard surf
boats, fishing boats and motor boats OF
Sundry Sorts One pilgrim, Woody
Hockaday, Kansas airway marking
engineer. fell overheard and was flShed
out. clothed in parts of Coast Guard
uniforms, and continued his pilgrimage.
Other hardy pilgrims, shipped in
Coast Guard surf boat In the pitch
black night, found that the automatic
bailer was working in reverse and set
to work with bucket to keep their feet
dry, ceaSing their bucket brigade activi-
ties only to peer hither and yon with
the Coast Guard crew in search of
elusive marking buoys, which hid coyly
In the darkness.
Many of the pilgrims made their way
to the scene of the first flight in true
pilgrim fashion, trudging on foot
through more than two miles of shift
ing, puddle-Strewn sand, in which au-
tomobil"s chugged and foundered. Back
safe Ga the Norfolk & Washington
steames District of Columbia last
night, aowever, the pilgrims seemed
happy that the minor miShaps had
added Eest to a pilgrimage which had
been moving with clocklike regularity.
Marred by Tragedy.
The pilgrimage to Kitty Hawk was
marred by a tragedy. the death from
heart trouble last night aboard the little
Currituck Sound ferry Dare. of Allen
R. Hueth, Asbury Park, N. j., who, with
two other New Jersey men, owned all
of the seacoast in the vicinity of the
Wright experiments. He was talking
with Secretary of War Dwight Davis
when he collapsed, and died without
regaining consciousness. The body was
sent to Elizabeth City, N. c., and will
be taken to his home. at Asbury Park,
for burial Hueth and his fellow land
owners had just completed the transfer
to the Federal Government of 500 acres
Of the dune country, including Kill
Devil Hills and the scenes of the Wright
glider and airplane flights for memorial
park purposes.
The pilgrimage was the climax of
two-weeks' meeting of the aviation
leaders of the world, including the In
ternational Civil AeronauticS Confer
ence in Washington last week. The
foreign visitors and American delegates
and guests made the trip to Kitty Hawk
yesterday. the twenty-flfth anniversary
OF the first airplane flight in history,
made there December II, 1903, by Or
vile Wright, to witness the dedication
OF two memorials commemorating that
historic event..
The first of these was the laying. of
the corner stone of a monument to be
erected by the Federal Government on
the crest of Kill Devil Hills, 92-foot-
nigh mound of shifting yellow sand, i
from which the Wrights made their 1
first glider flights. The second. and
real climax of the trip, was the unveil-
ing OF huge granite bowlder memorial,
marking the spot on the sandy plain
below from which the first airplane
flight began.
Ceremonies Impressive.
Both ceremonies, conducted amid the
wild sandy desolation, with the cold
gray Atlantic rolling on one side and
historic Carrituck and Albemarle
Sounds on the other, were remarkably
impressive. Here, in one of the most
barren wildemesSes in the Eastern
United States, were gathered the great
leaders OF aeronautics, who had Jour-
neyed many thousands of miles to wit
ness these events. The petty nlisad-
ventures encountered in the trip to the
place, merely formed a background
which added to the solemnity of the
proceedings themselves. 1t was an
event which viii live long in the minds
of those present.
On top of Kill Devil Hills. several
hundred persons, clustered together in
a little knot, which was almost lost In
the yaStness of the sand and water.
watched the laying of a corner stone
by Secretary of War Davis. Owing to
the shifting of the sands composing
the hills, which are continuously on
the move, it probably will become
necessary for Army engineers to take
up the stone and defer the erection of
the monument until they have anchored
the hill by covering it with a growth
OF hardy, deep-rooted bushes and grass.
A double row Of Cape Cod brush has
been planted completely around the
loot OF the hill for this purpose, as the
initial step in conquering the shifting
of the sands
In laying the corner stone, Secretary
Davis pointed out that it Is an age-old
custom of mankind to consecrate its
battlefields by the erection of monu-
ments to the valor of its heroes.
Notable Battle Won.
"This Nation, dedicated to peace. /"
he said, may we'll consecrate these sea-
swept, sandy shores as time
battlefield, for here mankind won a
notable battle; here man conquered the
air.
F. Trubee Dawson, Assistant Secre-
tary of War for Aeronautics, was pre-
siding officer An address of welcome
was made by Gov. Angus W. Mclean of
North Carolina, and the address of the
day was made by Representative Lind
say G. Warren of North Carolina In
his address Representative Warren
pointed out that within miles of the
scene of the first flight, the first Eng
lish colony in America was established
Here the first American child was born;
Virginia Dare. This was the ill-fated
"lost colony" which disappeared, leav-
ing only the mystic word "Croatan"
crudely carved on tree to mark its
place.
The memorial on the scene of the
first flight was erected by the National
Aeronautic Association, which spon-
sored the pilgrimage, and the stone was
unveiled by Senator Hiram Bingham OF