The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-05-20

toss-up between possible death and success.
 It's not news any more for peo- pie to follow the progress of trans atlantic flier, but on that day the whole world, stirred doubly by the reports of the precarious take-of, watched the newspapers for word of Lindbergh. When Lindbergh him. self wrote of the flight, he made it sound dull after the first hours of real danger from sleet, ice forming on the wings and heavy winds that kept him sometimes about 10 feet above the sea, and sometimes ct 10000 feet.
 He had no sextant, but he had faith in his induction compass and it served him well, for by the time he reached the Irish coast, he was only three miles of.
 Twenty-Five miles of would have been navigation" Lindbergh said later, "but three miles was luck"
 Told Amusing Story
 He told the amusing story about how, when he was finally sure he was off Ireland, he saw fishing fleet, swooped down over one of the boats and yelled:
 'Is this the way to Ireland?" at the dumb-struck fishermen. His planes sturdy motor cut out the answer, if there was one. Lindbergh admitted he didn't know.
 From Ireland to Paris, he said, 1t was easy. He flew to Cherbourg, then found the Seine and followed it upstream, and shortly after night fall saw a tall collnn of light which he knew must be the Eiffel Tower. But finding Le Bourget field was . harder job. In fact, he was right over it once without knowing it, giv- ing an. increasingly fearful and ner- vous throng what they considered 2 false alarm.
 But after circling the capital for a time, he finally made a perfect landing into the glare of the air. drome flood lights, and then began one of the most fantastic scenes in the history of national welcomes. No people, certainly, ever greeted 8 foreigner with such hysterical en- thusiasm as the crowds of Paris did Lindbergh on that historic night. Hour by hour the throng at the air drome had grown in size, until there were at least 100000 people there when the silver plane landed.
 Crowd Out of Control
 Writers on the ground were baf- fled in trying to describe 1t. All they could say was that those 100000 peo- pie swept toward the startled young American in one great surge. Fences went over like matches, police lines were scattered to the corners of the field and the men who had formed them were swept helplesSly away. Newspapermen who sprinted toward the plane as it taxied across the field found themselves being swept to- ward propeller, which Lindbergh brought to a stop just in time.
 The f1ier had scarcely stood up In the cockpit before he found himself on the shoulders of the surging crowd, and a second later on his back on the ground. Troops battled to get around him, and one energetic civilian, trying to clear a path with his cane hit Lindbergh over the head in the attempt. Finally, half dozen French aviators crushed through the crowd with him, threw a cloak over him as a sort of disguise and got him into hangar ante-room, where they kept him in the dark for two hours rather than let the crowd find him.
 At that time the throng raised a roar of welcome that could be heard for miles. AS it surged about the airdrome, thousands yelled them selves hoarse with ''Vive Lind bergh!" and 'Vive 'Amerique!"
 Feared Souvenir Hunters
 Just as Lindbergh was being car- ried away, he saw souvenir hunters taking chunks of his plane, and that was his main concern in those first bewildering hours, but he found later that the damage was not seri- otlS..
 If that welcome didn't convince Lindbergh that he was Q celebrity, the next few days did. Taken to the American embassy under the experienced wing of the late Am