America's Two Most Daring Aviators Meet Tragic Deaths -- January 3, 2010

These articles from the 01-January-1911 San Francisco Call talk about the double tragedy which struck aviation on the last day of 1910. Arch Hoxsey gave Theodore Roosevelt his first airplane ride (http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2010/04/tr-takes-to-air-april-3-2010.html). John B Moisant was a member of a pioneering family of aviators. The list of aviators killed during 1910 is also interesting. Charles Rolls was one of the founders of Rolls-Royce.

Moisant Killed While Attempting to Land, and Hoxsey Is Victim of Fearful Fall

John B. Moisant and Arch Hoxsey, America's foremost aviators, were killed yesterday. Moisant met his death when attempting to land in a field several miles from New Orleans at 9:55 o'clock a. m.

Hoxsey, displaying his skill before another crowd of thousands in Los Angeles, lost control of his Wright biplane shortly after 1 o'clock p. m., and, falling several hundred feet, was dashed to death.

Startled as was that part of the world which has watched the airmen reach farther and farther into the realm of endeavor of the birds to receive the news of Moisant's fatal drop in his 50 horsepower Bleriot machine early in the day. the later news which told of the death of Hoxsey cast a broader shadow over it.

Moisant, who won the $10,000 prize recently in New York for circling the statue of liberty from Belmont park, defeating Grahame-White of England, was killed when his monoplane tipped "on its nose" and dropped in one swoop to earth. The pilot's neck was broken.

Hoxsey was more than 500 feet in the air, where he had gone to better, if possible, his world's altitude record of 11,474 feet, made within the week. The rear control of his biplane evidently failed to answer to his touch, and the machine turned over several times, crashing to the earth. His death was instantaneous.

DEATH IS FATE OF MANY AIRMEN

LIST OF VICTIMS DURING A YEAR

Here is a list of daring aviators and balloonist killed during 1910:
Jan.4.—DeLaGrange, Leon, killed at Bordeaux, France.
April 2—Le Blan, Herbert, instantly Killed, falling on rocks at San Sebastian, Spain.
May 13—Michelin, Chauvette, killed at Lyons, France.
June 2—Zeosilly, C., a Hungarian, killed in flight at Budapest.
June 4—M. Popoff, Instructor, of aviation in Russian army, killed at Gatheina, Russia, in Wright machine.
June 17—Speyer, Eugene, killed at San Francisco.
June 13—Robl, Thad, killed at Stettin Germany.
July 3—Wachter, Charles, French, killed by fall at Rheims.
July 12—Rolls, Charles S., English, killed by fall at Bournemouth, England.
July 13, Erbsloeh, Oscarr, German, killed when dirigible balloon burst at Leichlingen, Rhenish Prussia.
July 13—Hoeppe, killed with Erbsloeh.
July 13—Kranz, killed with Erbsloeh.
July 13—Spicke, killed with Erbsloeh.
July 13—Toelle, killed with Erbsloeh.
July 15—Kinet, Daniel. Belgian, killed by fall at, Ghent, Belgium.
July, 15—Logily, F., killed by collapse of machine.
Aug. 3—Kinet, Nicholas, Belgian, brother of Daniel, killed by fall at Brussels.
Aug. 29 —Vivaldo, lieutenant, Italian army, killed in Farman biplane near Rome.
Aug. 27—Van Maadsyk, Clement, Dutch, killed; in cross-country flight at Arnheim, Holland.
Sept. 25— Poillot, Kdmond, French, killed by fall at Chartres,:France.
Sept. 27—Chavez, George, Peruvian, killed, by fall at Domodossola, Italy.
Sept. 28—Lilochmann, H., German, killed in fall of biplane.
Oct. 1—Haas, German, killed by fall at Metz, Germany.
Oct. 7—Mecievitch, Captain, Russian, killed by fall at St. Petersburg.
Oct. 23—Madiot, Captain, French. Killed by fall at Doual.
Oct. 25—Menthe, Lieutenant, Prussian, killed by fall at Magdeburg, Prussia.
Oct 26—Blanchard, M., French, killed at Issy, France when machine fell with him and crushed him.
Oct. 27—Saglietti, Lieutenant S., Italian army, Instructor, killed at Centosello,Italy.
Nov. 10—Peters, J., Dutch, killed when machine capsized.
Nov. 13--Lange, Captain, German army, swept out to sea in balloon Saar, and never heard from again.
Nov. 13—Rommeler, Lieutenant, German army, lost in same balloon.
Nov. 13—Zimmerman. civilian, lost in same balloon.
Nov. 17-—Johnstone, Ralph, killed in fall at Denver, Colo.
Dec. 3—Cammarata, engineer in Italian army, hurled from aeroplane at great height and dashed to death.
Dec. 3—Soldier, unidentified, in Italian army, carried to ground with Cammarata'a wrecked machine and killed in wreckage.
Dec. 3—Archer, Walter, 17 years old, killed at Sallda, Colo., by a fall of 70 feet in an aeroplane of his own construction.
Dec. 5—Metzer, drowned by falling from balloon in ocean flight from Munich to Orkney Islands.
Dec. 23—-Grace, Cecil, English, disappeared in return flight over channel from Calais, France, to Dover.
Dec 28—-Laffort, M., French, killed at Issy, Les Molinaux, France, in fall of 50 feet.
Dec. 28—Pola, M., French, killed with M. Laffort, with whom he was riding as a passenger.
Dec. 30—De Caumont, Lieutenant. French army, killed by collapse of monoplane at Buc, France.
Dec. 31—Moisant, John B., killed in fall at New Orleans, La.
Dec. 31 —Hoxsey, Arch, killed in 300 foot plunge at Los Angeles.

FATAL GLIDE ENDS HIGH FLIGHTS

Hoxsey, Star of Los Angeles Meet, Is Dashed to Death During Descent
MACHINE CAPSIZED BY THE TREACHEROUS WINDS
Spectators Mute as Young Birdman and Airship Drop to the Earth
BROTHER AVIATORS SOB IN GRIEF AND COLLAPSE

AVIATION FIELD, LOS ANGELES, Dec .31.—The wind, whose treacheries Arch Hoxsey so often defied and conquered, killed the noted aviator today. As if jealous of his intrepidity, it seized him and his fragile flying machine, flung them down out of the sky and crushed out his life. He fell dead upon the field from which he had risen but a short time before with a laughing promise to thousands of spectators to pierce the zenith of the heavens, surpass his own phenomenal altitude records and soar higher than any man dare go.

Caught in Current

Cross currents, whirled off by a vagrant storm that floated in from the sea, caught his biplane and shot downward 563 feet to earth. Catching his frail machine in one of the spectacular spiral glides that are dangerous even in the calmest weather, the warring winds sported it a moment, juggled It and then as if suddenly maddened and frenzied threw it down.

When field attendants reached the spot where the tangled pile of wreckage lay Hoxsey was dead. One side of his face, whose engaging smile had won the regard of thousands of spectators each day during the meet, had been crushed into an unrecognizable mass.

Thousands See Tragedy

His body lay broken and twisted almost out of all semblance of human form. Thousands of spectators in the grandstand witnessed the tragedy as it occurred, directly facing them on the far side of the course. They sat in awe stricken silence for almost interminable minutes as if paralyzed with the horror of the scene; not a person moved, not a sound came from the thousands until the announcer gave the news through the megaphone:

"Hoxsey has been killed."

Then from every part of the grandstand came the sound of sobbing and crying from scores of women, who only a short time before clapped their gloved hands to the daring aviator as he arose from the field for his fatal flight.

Goes After Record

Returning the compliments showered upon him by his feminine admirers, Hoxsey in gallant manner had promised to soar higher than he or any other man had ever flown before.

"Of course the success of this attempt is contingent upon the kind of weather I find up there," said Hoxsey just before he left the ground. "Some of the temperatures one encounters in the higher altitudes are simply beyond human endurance. But if I can stand it and my motor works as well as it has been working I'll come down with
a record of 12,000 feet or more."

Even at that moment the wind had attained a velocity that had kept more cautious aviators on the ground. After he had ascended, it gained rapidly in violence. Moreover, it created "a Swiss cheese" atmosphere, the most treacherous meteorological condition that man-birds have to contend with.

There is nothing by which it may be known why Hoxsey did not go higher than the 7,142 feet which his barograph showed he had attained, but he apparently encountered at that altitude the same conflicting air currents that finally overcame him. Notwithstanding this, and with the same reckless daring he had displayed dally during the last week, he descended by a series of spiral glides and was performing one of his thrilling rolling dips when his biplane suddenly capsized in midair and shot to earth.

Over and over the aeroplane turned as it fell, with a speed so swift that of all the thousands who saw the tragedy not one could tell what effort the aviator made to save his life. When the wreckage had been cleared sufficiently so that his body could be reached, he was found planted firmly in his seat, his arms around the levers. The fall telescoped the biplane. The steel sprocket which drove the propellers lay across Hoxsey's face, the motor resting upon the right side of his body. Every one of the ribs on that side were shattered into fragments. An iron upright, broken by the force of the crash, held the aviator's body impaled upon its jagged point. The stop watches in the judge's stand registered the exact second of 2:12 o'clock when Hoxsey's machine turned over and plunged in the fatal fall.

The news of Hoxsey's fall was on telegraph wires leading out of the press stand before his machine struck the ground in its final crash. The aviator had been In the air an hour and a half when the accident occurred and had sailed again over the snowcapped summit of Mount Wilson. whose heights he had conquered twice before since the meet began.

Walter Brookins, who originated the spiral glide and the dip which brought Hoxsey to his death, was standing in front of the press stand watching his colleague of the Wright team perform. His back was turned to tho field as he talked to friends.

"HOXSEY IS FALLING"

Then the shout went up—"Hoxsey is falling!"

At the same instant a sigh or gasp, not loud, but of a tremendous volume, rose from the packed grandstand. That single suppressed sigh was the only sound that came from the crowd for fully 20 minutes after the accident. Brookins whirled at the sound of the cry and saw the crash. He uttered but one word. "God!" His legs gave way beneath him and he fell in the roadway. Although he had been in several serious accidents himself, he rose thoroughly unnerved and cried like a child.

At that time the field announcers were rushing up and down, shouting through their megaphones, "No cause for alarm: Hoxsey is all right."

But Brookins was not convinced.

"That's a lie!" he shouted back at one of the announcers. "Hoxsey's dead; I know it," and again he burst into tears.

PROPHECY VERIFIED

Brookins was not the only airman overcome by the tragedy. Charles F. Willard of the Curtlss team likewise collapsed. Wlllard had predicted just n moment before Hoxsey fell that an accident was sure to overtake him in the dangerous atmosphere, and almost before he had completed the utterance of his prophecy, It was verified.

"I knew it was coming." he sobbed a few minutes later, as he sat in his hanger with his head between his hands.

A reporter of a Pasadena newspaper broke the news of Hoxsey's death to his mother this afternoon at her Bellevue drive home In that city.

With tact, the young man told Mrs. Hoxsey that there had been an accident and immediately she said: "Tell me about It. Was my son in it?"

Gradually he broke to her the news of his terrible fall and death.

She was very brave, and with tears rolling down her face told many incidents of "her boy" and his fine character as it showed in his home life. She bore up under the shock with an exhibition of the courage that had characterized the aerial daring of her son.

CROWD REMAINS CALM

Although the tragedy had in it every element calculated to rouse the crowd to the highest pitch of excitement, It remained remarkably calm during the seconds of Hoxsey's fall and the ensuing long period of suspense before they knew whether Hoxsey had been killed or only injured. A squad of mounted police were drawn up around the wreck, but they were not needed. Only a few field attendants and newspapermen attempted to get upon the field. The souvenir hunter was conspicuous by his absence.

Nor was there any excitement or confusion when H. la V. Twining, president of the Aero club of California and chief judge of the field, came back to the Judge's stand and in answer to a query whether Hoxsey were alive or dead, said:

"Dead as a nail!"

Every one in the boxes that lined the course heard Twining's sententious announcement. A few women raised their handkerchiefs to their faces and sobbed, hut that was all.

Without waiting for the announcement that all flying events were off for the day, the crowd of its own accord began filing out through the exits to go home. Only a few scattering, disgruntled ones remained to demand back their admission fee and to dispute with police and committeemen when their demands were curtly refused until arrangements could he made for proper refunding. Even this thoughtless few left within an hour after the accident.

In departing no one sought to hang about the little field hospital in which the dead aviator's body lay. Sorrow, not curiosity, was the sentiment apparently uppermost in every heart. Hoxsey had been a hero with the crowds since the meet began.

Before 4 o'clock the entire, field was cleared. Only the mechanicians and a few aviators remained about the hangars, and these worked silently or walked aimlessly about.

FLAGS HALFMASTED

A pall of silence seemed to envelop the entire park, embracing aviators and spectators alike, immediately after the fatal crash. Every flag about the grandstand and hangars was half masted and every scrap of fluttering bunting was torn down. The entire field was stripped bare of all festive symbols. Tonight grandstand and boxes were denuded of all decoration, excepting some mute expression of mourning which had been hastily put into place in memory of the intrepid„ aviator whose feats for the last week made him the object of admiration of the thousands who witnessed his record breaking flights.

The coroner's office in Los Angeles was notified of the tragedy within a few minutes after its occurrence. Coroner Hartwell arrived at 3.30 o'clock, impaneled a jury and held an inquest on the field. It was a short formality, involving a visit to the spot across the field to where the wrecked aeroplane lay. A verdict of accidental death was rendered in a few minutes and Hoxsey's body which had laid upon the operating table in the little field hospital, was taken to Los Angeles to be prepared for interment in his home city, Pasadena.

Miss Emily Willard, sister of the aviator, Charles F. Willard, made a flight today with her brother in a Curtiss machine. She was the first woman to take a ride in an aeroplane during the present meet, and her example set more than a score of other women to clamoring for air excursions. It was ladles' day again on the field, and a crowd of women besieged the hangars with requests to the aviators for flights about the field.

Phillip O. Parmalee of the Wright team went up with two passengers, taking on a half hour's journey Thomas E. Gibbon, proprietor of a Los Angeles newspaper, and the latter's son.

One tent was blown down by the wind that caused the tragedy, and two machines which had been standing on an eminence to the northwest of the field were wrecked by the gale as they stood on the ground. One of these belonged to Frank Stites and the other to George Deussler, both local aviators. Both were biplanes and only the motors and propeller of each were saved out of the wreckage.

"Poor Chap," Said Hoxsey

[Special Dispatch to The Call]

LOS ANGELES. Dec. 31.—Twenty minutes before Aviator Arch Hoxey ascended on what was to be his last journey Into the clouds he bought an afternoon newspaper containing an account of the death of Moisant at New Orleans.

"Poor chap," said Hoxey, "I guess he must have been tired out. The strain was too much for him and his strength failed. I am going up today. I won't go very high, but the crowd must be entertained."

Walter Brookins, who saw his friend Johnstone fall to death in Denver and witnessed Hoxsey's tragic death today, is almost heartbroken.

I would stake my life that Hoxey's aeroplane was sound and true and that the accident was not due to a break in any part," said H. J. N. Hazzard mechanician for Hoxey.

"The loss of Hoxey is the saddest blow that we could have received." said Roy Knabenshue, manager of the Wright Brothers. "Of all of the aviators on the field he was the one we least expected to suffer accident."

Elks to Conduct Funeral

PASADENA, Dec 31. —The remains of Arch Hoxsey, the aviator killed at Los Angeles aviation meet today, were brought here tonight in charge of Roy Knabenshue and Thomas P. Jackson of the Wright company.

The funeral will be in charge of the Pasadena lodge of Elks and the interment will b« here. Hoxsey was a member of the Detroit lodge of Elks.

Mrs. Minnie C. Hoxsey, the mother of the aviator, bore up remarkably well under the ordeal and discussed her boy's career.

"I spent many sleepless nights when he asked my consent to take up aviation." she said. "I finally consented. Last spring I endured much, constantly thinking of the danger my boy was experiencing. But finally I conquered my nerves and lately I have entertained no fears for him. When I saw him fly last Saturday I was not affected. I was simply proud of my boy. I do not want the remains brought to the house, because I want to remember my boy as I saw him this morning."

Hoxsey, who was 26 years old, was a native of Indiana. His father died when the boy was 7 years old. The mother and son came to California 18 years ago and have since lived here.

Hoxsey followed his mother's wish and became a machinist and later took up automobiling. For two years he was chauffeur for Charles W. Gates and traveled in Europe.

Hoxsey performed at the principal aviation meets in this country during the present year. At the recent meet in St. Louis he took up Roosevelt for his first aviation ride.

Hoxsey Star of Meet

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 31.—Arch Hoxsey had been the star performer at the meet that began last Saturday. Day after day he took out his machine and ascended to almost invisible heights. In fact, there had not been a day when the intrepid airman had not gone beyond the range of human vlsion, disappearing behind clouds or swinging in ever widening circles until he crossed the mountains, or hung over the sea. His prolonged absence from the field day after day gave rise to the salutation of one friend to another on the aviation field, "has anybody here seen Hoxsey?"

Last Monday Hoxsey broke the world's altitude record, ascending to the height of 11,474 feet, almost 1,000 feet greater than the record. But Hoxsey was not satisfied with this record. Ever since Monday he had ascended for another try at altitude. He found the conditions favorable, but could never reach Monday's height. On Tuesday he made 6,800 feet; Wednesday, 8,500; Thursday, 10,005, when he crossed 4,700 feet above the summit of Mount Wilson, some 25 miles from the aviation field, and 10,575 yesterday.

Feared for Hoxsey

[Special Dispatch to The Call]

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 31.—Charles F. Willard, who had descended shortly before the accident to Hoxsey's craft, remarked on landing that a terrific gale was raging, and that he feared for Hoxsey. According to Willard, a sudden change tn the air currents and the fact that Hoxsey unexpectedly glided into a stiff wind caused the accident.

Roosevelt's Sky Pilot

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 31. — Hoxsey came into nationar prominence at St. Louis October 11 when he took up for a short flight, former President Theodore Roosevelt, who was then visiting this city.

The flight was not premeditated. Roosevelt had gone to the aviation field as a spectator and was examining the machine when Hoxsey suggested that he take a flight.

Colonel Roosevelt instantly threw off his silk hat and frock coat, donned a leather jacket and cap and climbed aboard the machine.

Hoxsey clambored after htm, and after two trials the motor was started and the aeroplane shot into the air. It sped quickly around the field at about the height of 100 feet and made the first lap of one and a half miles before the crowd knew that Roosevelt was in the machine.

It sailed around the field a second time, going at the rate of about a mile a minute, and then Hoxsey dipped his planes and the aeroplane came easily to the earth.

Aviator Without Fear

DENVER, Dec. 31 -- Arch Hoxsey, the Wright aviator who was killed at Los Angeles today, demonstrated in Denver in November that he knew no such thing as fear. Even with the picture of his flying partner, Ralph Johnstone, falling to his death, which must have been constantly before him, Hoxsey, not wishing to disappoint the people, made most spectacular and daring flights on two days immediately following Johnstone's tragic death.

MOISANT THROWN FROM MACHINE

Skilled Airman Loses Life Trying to Win the Michelin Cup

NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 31.—Leaving the City park aviation field at 9:30 o'clock this morning full of life, vigor and hope, his eyes sparkling in anticipation of adding to his country's glory by bringing the Michelin cup to America, John B. Molsant, one of the world's most flaring and skillful aviators, flew over New Orleans only to meet death near Harahan, 11 miles from the city, 20 minutes afterward.

Tonight at the hour when he was to have been presented with a handsome loving cup bearing the legend "John B. Moisant, the glory of Central America," contributed by the Central American colony in, New Orleans, the plucky aviator lies in the morgue a martyr to the science of aviation and to his country's fame.

BROTHER FOLLOWS FLIGHT

Alfred J. Molsant, president of the International Aviators, bade his brother a cheery farewell just before he ascended. Accompanied by press representatives and mechanicians in an automobile, he followed the flight to the place up the river where the cup trial was to take place, only to he met by the stunning news that John B. Molsant was dead.

The added weight Of an extra gasoline tank, the use of a strange machine and the deadly prank of a 15 mile wind at the moment when he had pointed the nose of his machine at a sharp downward angle combined in sending Molsant down to death. Thrown from his machine by its sudden inclination, Molsant described a curve through the air, and, head first, like a diver, shot downward, landing on his neck and head. His neck was broken.

Rene Barrier's, 50 horsepower Blerlot monopalne, which Molsant was using, is a wreck.

WIND IS BLAMED

The story of the accident is best told by G. F. Campbell-Wood, representative of the Aero Club of America, who was within a few feet of where Moisant struck the ground. Wood was in Paris a few months ago when Molsant made his wonderful flight with a passenger over that city and in England when Charles Rolls fell to his death. Wood's story of today's tragedy follows:

"At the time Moisant was killed this morning he had just completed a preliminary trial prior to making his attempt for the Mlchelln distance cup of 1910, competition for which closed today. He was about to land at the spot agreed on for the start.

"The wind was at his back at the time, and although it is usual for aviators to land against the wind and considered much safer. Moisant had often landed with the wind at his back when it blew stronger than it was blowing today. The accident can not be thus entirely attributed to this fact, although it had its share in determining it. Also, Moisant was driving a machine other than his own.

MAKES SHARP DIP

"Moisant appeared to delay coming down until within 200 or 300 feet of the designated spot, and then made a very sharp dip. When about 100 feet from the ground he stopped his motor and would, no doubt, have landed without mishap, but at that instant a strong gust of wind struck under the tall of the craft and lifted it up. The angle of descent, instead of diminishing, was thus suddenly increased to an almost vertical drop and the ground was too near for recovery."

Moisant was in Rene Barrier's 50 horsepower Bleriot monoplane, a machine which he had used only two or three times. At the front of the machine, almost directly beneath the engine, was strapped a 35 gallon brass gasoline tank built especlally for the Michelln cup trial.

FLIES ACROSS CITY

Moisant ascended at the City park aviation field at 9:35 a. m. and flew across the city and along the banks of the Mississippi river to the special four mile course. He appeared to have perfect control of the machine, and probably no one will ever be able to explain Just what caused the accident. He had inclined his monoplane toward the earth for a landing before it took the fatal plunge. It fell like a plummet and buried the propellers in the soft earth.

A moment after Moisant struck the earth, falling in high weeds to the right of the field, workmen picked him up.

A special train of flatcars was landing near the scene of the accident and the body was placed aboard and brought to this city.

Wind apparently was the cause of the accident. Moisant, guided by the white flags which lined the course, rounded the circle twice in an effort to find a landing-place. The third time around the wind, which was blowing about 15 miles an hour across the course, drove the machine toward the earth. Molsant in trying to get back over the grounds swerved suddenly to the left, then attempted his famous right circle, considered so dangerous that it is said only one other man ever attempted it.

WIND TIPS MACHINE

At this instant the wind caught the machine. It tipped, pointed its nose directly at the ground and came down like a flash, while Molsant was hurled forth and fell head first.

The report that Moisant, who had endeared himself to thousands of New Orleans citizens, had met with a serious accident spread rapidly, and when the special bearing his body arrived at the union station there was a vast crowd surrounding the trainshed. An ambulance and several surgeons were in waiting, and as the train drew in several men leaped to the platform and, running to the ambulance, told the surgeons that Molsant was unconscious, but still alive. The first surgeon, however, who reached the flatoar saw that the aviator whs dead.

Moisant had a married sister living in San Francisco. Two sisters were with him here, Marida and Lulu. Moisant has two brothers in Salvador interested in the banking business.

No arrangement has been made as to the disposition of the body, but it probably will be shipped to Chicago.

Moisant's Daring Career

New YORK. Dec 31.-- John B. Moisant, who was killed today in New Orleans won the heart of every lover of the daring sport when on October 30, he flew from Belmont park around the Statue of Liberty and back to the aviation field, thereby wresting from the Englishman Claude Graham-White, one of the most highly prized of the trophies offered for the aerial feats.

Moisant was born In Chicago tn 1870 and lived there until he was 19 years old, then went to the Pacific coast, drifted down to Central America, became a solder of fortune and trader, and finally was driven from San Salvador when the general under whom he was fighting met defeat.

Moisant at that time was wealthy but his property was confiscated by the government. Soon afterward he went to Spain and later appeared in Paris when the Wright brothers were there exhibiting their machines.

It was told of Moisant at that time that he went to Paris to buy an aeroplane, with the aid of which he planned to sail into the country from which he had been excluded and in a spectacular manner revive the drooping spirits of the revolutionaries. However, so the story goes, Moisant became so interested in the possibilities of the flying machines that political affairs in Central America interested him less and less. Soon he was an avowed aerial enthusiast and himself making flights.

From the start his career as an aviator was marked with daring exploits. He first came into the world's prominence so recently as August last, when he started on a flight from Paris to London with a passenger. Albert Fileaux. He successfully crossed the Engllsh channel, being the first aviator to accomplish this feat with a passenger.

Moisant arrived in New York from Europe October 8 last and was one of the most interesting figures in the aviation meet at Belmont park. He took second prize in the International aviation race when Grahame-White captured the trophy which Glenn H. Curtiss had brought to this country from France the year before. Grahame-White went around the Statue of Liberty in 35 minutes 21.30 seconds. Moisant made the flight in 42 1/2 seconds under Grahame-White's record. His time was 34 minutes 38.84 seconds.

Moisant had a narrow escape from death last Tuesday in New Orleans. After being blown five miles from his course by a 40 mile wind he glided down from an altitude of nearly 9,000 feet and barely escaped a rough landing in a clump of trees.

Moisant's Son a Student

SAN RAFAEL. Dec. 31. —The news of John B. Moisant's death at New Orleans caused sorrow in many homes in San Rafael, where the noted avaitor's 18 year old son. Stanley, has often been a favorite guest while attending the Hitchcock military academy. The academy is closed for the holiday vacation, but Dr. M. E. Hitchcock, the principal, and other members of the student body and faculty who are present, were deeply moved by the fatality.

Stanley Molsant is spending his vacation at Los Angeles, but expected to return here when the school opened January 2. The lad had been popular among the cadets and his teachers, and had shown great interest in his father's aviation feats. In the three years that he has been attending the academy the boy had developed a fondness for aviation that seemed to indicate that he would follow his father's profession, but Molsant's death may change the lad's plans.

When the students return at the opening of school they will send a floral tribute as an expression of sympathy for their schoolmate's bereavement.

Airmen on Death Watch

NEW ORLEANS. Dec. 31.—From every section of the United States and from France and Europe cablegrams of condolence have poured in upon Moisant brothers and sisters.

Great banks of flowers from friends and admirers surrounded the lifeless form of the aviator.

Several fellow airmen—Roland Barrios (Barros), Rene Simon, Rene Barrier, Charles H. Hamilton. Edmund Audemare, John J. Frisbie and Joseph M. Seymour—were on the death watch tonight, silent and broken hearted.

Romantic and Daring

Mrs. Edward Moisant, sister in law of the aviator, was seen at her residence, 1198 Jackson street, yesterday. She said:

"It is hard for us to believe that John Molsant was killed. Although, knowing the dangers to which he was constantly subjected, we have feared that he would meet such an end. We have telephoned to his brother Alfred at New Orleans, who is his manager, hoping against hope that there is a chance that he is still alive."

All his life John was a romantic and daring fellow. His exploits in San Salvador are known to all, but his tenderness for the members of his family, his generous treatment of his two sisters, Miss Tillie Moisant and Miss Louise Moisant of Alameda, to whom he continually gave handsome presents, his deep interest in his son, and his heroic daring in the cause of his brothers, all stamp him as being a remarkable man. The boy and Mrs. Bertin A. Weyl, John Molsan't sister, are in Los Angeles. They were to wait there and meet the boy's father at the conclusion of the New Orleans meet, when John Moisant was coming to San Francisco.