Wednesday, July 31, 2019

The Maxim Aeroplane -- July 31, 2019

Aircraft, April 1910
125 years ago today, on 31-July-1894, American-born British inventor Hiram Maxim tested his giant steam-powered airplane and it rose into the air, even though Maxim did not intend to fly.  It broke one of the rails intended to hold the airplane down and Maxim stopped the experiment.

Aircraft, April 1910



Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Streets Dotted With Killed and Injured as Race Rioting Renews -- July 30, 2019

Arizona Republican, 29-July-1919

The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 lasted from July 27 to August 3. Far too many people died.

STREETS DOTTED
WITH KILLED AND
INJURED AS RACE
RIOTING RENEWS

Seven Known Dead and
Scores Wounded, as the
Whites and Blacks Clash
-- Police Unable to. Quell
Outbreaks

[Republican A. P. Leased Wire]
CHICAGO, July 28 -- Seven persons were killed and more than two score wounded, many of them, seriously in a renewal of race riots in the Chicago "black belt" tonight.

For more than five hours the five-mile area on the South Side was a battle ground of scattered fights between whites and blacks and between policemen and negroes, who fired from housetops, from dark alleys and other points of vantage.

The call for troops to quell the outbreaks resulted in four regiments of national guardsmen being mobilized, but at a late hour tonight they had not been dispatched to the disturbed district and Chief of Police Garrity expressed the belief that the worst of the disorder had passed.

Five of Dead Are Negroes

Five of the dead are negroes and two are whites.

There was no concentrated battle by the blacks, the outbreaks dotting a large area.

Every police station on the South Side was flooded with reports of deaths and injuries.

Chief of Police Garrity at a late hour said that it was impossible to make an exact estimate of the casualties because of the contradictory reports.

The riots, which started yesterday on the South Side beaches, were renewed when negro laborers began leaving the big industrial plants and by dusk more than a score of separate outbreaks had occurred.

Whites began dragging negroes from street cars, the negroes retaliating with stones and knives. Street cars in the heart of the "black belt" were tied up and the windows smashed.

Blacks Form "Flying Squadron"

A flying squadron of blacks mounted a touring car and riding at full speed through the section known as "No Man's Land," sent a volley of shots at a group of whites. One white woman was injured, but not fatally. The negroes were overtaken after a long chase and placed under arrest.

Shortly afterward a mob of several hundred blacks formed at Thirty-fifth street and began stoning a policeman. In a twinkling gun fire was opened and four the negroes fell, all mortally wounded.

A white man In the same neighborhood was dragged from a truck and stabbed to death.

A negro chauffeur was killed by whites a few minutes later in the same block.

Scores of arrests were made, but where the rioters were found to to be unarmed they were released.

Negroes began looting stores of whites in one district shortly after the firing of revolvers by a squad of policemen in an effort to break up a fight over a small purchase of groceries. The police soon emptied their guns. The looting continued until a special squad of police armed with rifles arrived. They fired low, felling a dozen blacks.

Assaults White Woman

A white woman was pulled from a street car by a negro. He was soon lying unconscious against the curb. The angry whites had left him for dead.

Groups of blacks formed in football fashion and charged against whites with razors and clubs. On one corner the scene was like a minature battle ground.

Unconscious negroes and whites dotted the street. As they regained consciousness they were arrested or permitted to leave the neighborhood.

Women Fight With Brooms

While the main battles were in progres, women, blacks and whites, battled away in front yards with brooms and missiles. In one of these fights, a white woman was knocked unconscious and taken to a hospital.

In one battle on Thirty-Fourth street, negroes knocked two policemen unconscious and were drawing guns when a group of discharged negro soldiers came to the rescue of the whites.

In another battle soon after, three policemen were shot. One may die.

In an effort to prevent quick transportation of rifle-bearing policemen from one section to another. the negroes began cutting telephone and telegraph wires.

Attack Car Men

The blacks began firing on street car conductors and motormen when they refused to allow negro passengers to board their cars because of threats made by white passengers. One conductor was reported shot in the leg.

Ambulances and patrol wagons threaded their way through the black belt throughout the early hours of the night.

A number of wounded negroes crept into alleys and other dark places. When tbey were found they were hurried to the Provident hospital for colored, which for several hours, received a virtual procession of injured men and terror-stricken women.

The more seriously wounded negroes participated in a battle with whites near Thirty-fifth and State streets. Several thousand of the blacks congregated at this point within a period of 10 minutes. It was an orderly gathering for a time. Suddenly four maddened negroes raced up the street and surrounded the home of a white man. In a twinkling shots began to fly in all directions. More than a score of negroes fell. Some were carried off by companions.

Snipers Fire Indiscriminately

For more than two blocks along one street, negro snipers fired from house tops and windows. Not a single death, resulted from this method of warfare, however.

After threats had been made by whites to "clean up" the stock yards district, a small army of negroes formed ready to meet the challenge. An automobile of negroes started over the district to estimate the number of whites present. They were stoned. Then they drew revolvers and racing at top speed, fired at whites along the road. A white man was shot in the shoulder and a bullet grazed the head of a white woman.

Police Curb Outbreak

The negroes were overtaken and rescued from the mob by policemen. In the meantime squads of mounted police arrived in the district in anticipation of trouble, and what was expected to be the most serious outbreak of the night was curbed.

Police wires were busy all nipht with pleadings from frightened women for protection. Many of them feared to leave the scene of action and they were terrified by the dramatic battles and feared their homes would be wrecked before morning.

Street lights along some streets were smashed and the streets darkened. Then the bright flashes from pistols would signify a new atttack and in almost no time the immediate vicinity would be a surging mass of whites and blacks. When they came together in large crowds, fists, knives and clubs were used.

One of the morning newspapers will place the estimated dead at 14, nine whites and five blacks, and another will place the number of dead at 13, 11 blacks and two whites. The city news bureau places the dead at seven.

After a motorman had been dragged from his car and killed by a group of maddened blacks shortly before midnight and a dozen street cars wrecked, the street car company ordered that no more cars be taken into the troubled area. The elevated trains also quit running in dangerous territory.

Troops continued to move to a centralized point on the South Side throughout the night, but up to midnight they had not been ordered to begin patrolling the streets. This was explained by the statement that the outbreaks had slackened to such extent that the police could afford as much protection as the troops.

Hundreds of stenographers, clerks and loop employers who must pass through the black belt to reach their homes remained in the business district hotels and at North Side lodging places.

Poolrooms, moving picture houses and other gathering places in the black belt were ordered closed.

While the blacK belt was seething with strife, negro educators and churchmen sent out appeal after appeal that the negroes go to their homes and keep peace.

They charged that in most outbreaks, the negroes had been heckled by whites.

The disorders did not extend north to the business district, except for minor outbreaks.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Babe Ruth Drives Out a Homer Credited as the Longest in Philadelphia History - July 29, 2019

Connecticut Labor Press, 12-July-1919
100 years ago this month, Babe Ruth of the Red Sox hit two monster home runs during a double header at Shibe Park in Philadelphia against the Athletics. George Burns (not the comedian) played first base for several American League teams including the Athletics. 

"Babe" Ruth Drives Out a
Homer Credited as Longest
in Philadelphia's History

During the activities at the Athletics ground at Philadelphia on Memorial day, "Babe" Ruth, who pitched in the morning and played left field in the afternoon game, delivered two of the longest drives that have ever been made at any ball park. In the sixth inning of the morning game Ruth drove the ball not only over the right field wall, but over the roofs of the houses on the opposite side of the street, -the ball going about ten feet foul, and then in the eighth inning of the afternoon game, with the score tied at one run each and Strunk on first, Ruth drove one of Scott Pery's pitches over the roofs of the houses on the opposite side of the street, a fair ball, the ball striking on the rear of the roof of one of the houses and bounding into the back yard.

The longest hit at Shibe park, previous to this was the one George Burns hit over the left field wall last season, when the ball cleared the back bleacher wall and struck on the opposite side of the street. Ruth's long hit traveled a considerable distance further than Burns' drive and stops all argument as to the longest hit ever made at this park.


Sunday, July 28, 2019

Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ 175 -- July 28, 2019

www.listal.com
Poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ was born 175 years ago today, on 28-July-1844.  In 1866, he converted to Roman Catholicism.  In 1868, he became a Jesuit novice.  He was ordained in 1877. Most of his poems were not published until long after he died in 1889.

I first read  his poetry while I was in high school and I enjoyed his unorthodox style.

Pied Beauty

Glory be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.


Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Art Neville, RIP -- July 24, 2019


Art Neville of the Meters and the Neville Brothers has died.  He was born and raised in New Orleans.  He wrote, sang and produced a lot of good music.












Tuesday, July 23, 2019

The New 20th Century Limited -- July 23, 2019

Facebook: The Golden Age Of Illustration
This poster for the New York Central's premiere train, The 20th Century Limited, shows a streamlined Hudson locomotive designed by Charles F Kantola. The poster was created in 1938 by Leslie Ragan.

Monday, July 22, 2019

Air Mail Carriers Strike as Protest -- July 22, 2019

Washington Evening Star, 25-July-1919
100 years ago today, airmail pilots went on strike to protest being forced to fly in zero visibility weather.


AIR MAIL CARRIERS
STRIKE AS PROTEST
Object to Discharge of Pilots
for Refusing to Fly
in Fog.
COMPLAIN OF THE PLANES


By The Associated Press.

NEW YORK, July 25. -- A strike of aerial mail pilots began today, no aviator appearing to take out the plane with Chicago mail, due to start for Bellefonte, Pa., at 5 a.m. The strike, the first of its kind in the country, follows the refusal of the Post Office Department to reinstate two pilots discharged for refusing to take out planes Tuesday on account of the fog. Post office officials at Belmont Park, Long Island, the landing field for mail planes, stated that they had received instructions to give out no information concerning the aviators' action.

Protest Pilots' Discharge.

A protest against the discharge of the two pilots. Leon Smith and Hamilton Lee, was sent to Second Assistant Postmaster General Praeger Wednesday, giving him twenty-four hours to make known his decision. Mr. Praeger in his reply, which was received by the aviators last night, announced that the orders discharging the two men had not been revoked.

"They came into the service," Mr. Praeger's telegram said, "as every other pilot, with the knowledge that they must comply with the department's orders to fly with the mail, and where flying conditions are so that they cannot operate they have the option to resign."

Complain of the Planes.

The aviators state they have complained on several occasions that the planes supplied them were poorly equipped for flying, even in good weather, because of their high speed. They said they desired lighter and slower machines, as in misty or foggy weather the visibility was so poor as to make high speed dangerous. The men declared that since July 15 no less than fifteen accidents have occurred, in which ten planes were demolished and two aviators killed.

Aviators of mail planes at Chicago, Cleveland and Bellefonte will join in the strike, according to local aviators. Twenty pilots at Belmont Park, all civilian employes of the Post Office Department, are affected by the strike action.

STRIKE HALTS AIR
MAIL DUE AT D. C.
Mr. Praeger Makes Statement
on Controversy With
Service's Pilots.
CITES FLYING STATISTICS

Washington received no airplane mail from New York today, due to the strike of twenty mail service pilots there late yesterday, but the trouble, apparently, is confined to the Belmont Park field, for the Washington-New York plane left on schedule time, 10:30 a.m., today, and reports from Chicago said that mail planes would leave there this afternoon, as usual.

Refused to Fly in Fog.

The strike of the air mail pilots began late yesterday, when the flyers demanded the reinstatement of Pilots Leon Smith and E. Hamilton Lee, discharged by order of Second Assistant Postmaster General Otto Praeger when they refused to fly in the fog last Tuesday.

In a statement issued shortly after noon today Mr. Praeger denied that the two discharged pilots had been asked to take unnecessary risks, saying that "every step possible to reduce the danger of flying in the air mail service has been taken."

Takes Issue With Strikers.

The assistant postmaster general takes issue with statements made by the striking pilots to the effect that the Curtis R-4 planes, equipped with Liberty motors, are too heavy for flying in foggy weather or that they cannot fly at a speed less than 100 miles an hour. The controversy which resulted in the discharge of Smith and Lee, said Mr. Praeger, was not one as to the danger of making the flight, but followed the demand of the pilots to be allowed to use a small JN-4-H machine, "practically obsolete for mail work."

Statement by Mr. Praeger.

Mr. Praeger issued the following statement today:

"My attention has been called to newspaper statements containing charges said to emanate from air mail pilots. These charges, if they were true, are not sincere. They were not made before the dismissals of the two pilots in question and would not have been made if these two pilots had been reinstated or had been permitted to have their own way in the matter of the selection of types of planes to fly the mail.

"Any statement that a Curtis R-4 plane with a liberty motor is an unsafe ship is a calumny on our airplane industry. The statement that this type of plane cannot be flown at less than 100 miles an hour is false, and the pilots who are supposed to have made this statement know that they have to push the engine almost to its utmost limits of performance to get 100 miles an hour out of this type of plane; also, they know that its lowest flying speed is not in excess of fifty five miles an hour, as demonstrated at a recent official test by the air mail service. This is possibly five miles an hour more than the small type JN-4H.

As to Lee and Smith.

"In the case of Pilots Lee and Smith, safety of life, limb and property was, in fact, not in question. They offered to fly a small JN-4-H plane which has not the mail capacity, nor the power to make headway against a strong head wind such as was blowing on the day in question. They refused to fly a type of ship which had been flown daily on this route during the spell of bad weather, a long time before that, as well as since July 22, when the two pilots were dismissed from the service. The weather was not good at Long Island on that day, but it was not as bad as on the days previous. The rainy spell was breaking and at Washington, the end of the line, the sun was shining about the time that the mail plane was due. In addition, I am advised by our representative on the ground that planes for hire were being flown on Long Island on the afternoon of the controversy concerning the two pilots. This demonstrates that the weather was breaking even there and it was entirely possible to have started from Long Island toward Washington with any type of machine.

The Pilot's Demands.

"The pilot who was to have taken the regular run insisted on flying a type of plane of his selection and refused to fly when he could not have his way. He having refused, the other pilot on the run declined to fly except on the condition of the first pilot. The death of Pilot McCusker is mentioned, and the press dispatches said to have emanated from information furnished by pilots saying that with his death there were two deaths in the last ten days. The pilots know that this is not true. Pilot McCusker died about two months ago by a fall from an aeroplane which developed fire in the pilot's cockpit, which caught fire, and had nothing to do with weather or flying conditions. The statement that ten machines have been demolished in this recent bad weather is likewise not true.

Says Contention Not Borne Out.

"Bearing particularly on the issue involved, that the type of Curtis machine flying the mails with high compression liberty motor is more dangerous and liable to forced landings in bad weather than that small JN-4 plane with a 150 horsepower Hispano Suiza motor, is not borne out by the year's flying in the air mail. During the siege of bad weather last December, when the small type plane with the small motor was flown exclusively, there were ten forced landings in eleven days' flying between December 12 and 24. This was over 218 miles of route between New York and Washington, and is a worse showing than during the recent ten days of bad weather over 648 miles between Washington, New York and Cleveland.

"The superintendent of the eastern division advises that during the week of the worst of that weather, thirty out of thirty-three legs of the journeys were completed.

"Again, in forced landings, the type R-4 presents elements of greater safety to the pilot than the JN-4-H, in that the tendency to turn over on a forced landing in wet ground is less with the R-4 than with the smaller ship, and the pilot in the R-4 is farther removed from his engine, propeller and mail load than in the small ship. This whole subject has been given a most careful study by expert flyers during the year and every step possible to reduce danger of flying the air mail service has been taken, the results of which are at once in evidence by comparing the crashes, injuries and deaths in any other flying in this country since the termination of the war.

Truth of Statement Denied.

"There is no truth in the statement that the Post Office Department is refusing to equip planes with gyroscope turn indicators. These instruments are in course of further development and refinement and are not obtainable in quantities on the market as yet. The indicators for the air mail service which are being developed will require two months further completion by a factory.

The instrument is a device which, by gyroscopic action, shows the pilot when he turns either right or left from his course and does not show whether the plane is on an even keel or upside down, as press statements declare. It is a device to supplement the compass in times of low visibility, when the compass does not perform accurately or when a pilot has no landmarks to show him whether he is keeping on a straight course. The indicator will have to be further perfected, and this is what the Post Office Department expects to accomplish out of the lots which are being gotten up for them by the instrument manufacturers.

"Facts in Controversy."

"The fact in the controversy that should not be lost sight of is that the pilots did not contend that the weather was such that the route could not be flown, and this is borne out by all the weather reports in the hands of the department on that day, but that the pilots refused to fly on the theory that the regular mail ship was not as safe a type of plants as the type the pilot insisted upon using and which type is practically obsolete for mail work and has been in the course of retirement for the past few months.

"The Post Office Department has taken every precaution for the protection of Its pilots against death or injury, and the year's operation of the service with its small casualties is proof of the ceaseless attention given by the department to make the mail plane flying safe for the pilots.

"Of course, there is an element of danger in all aeroplane flying, but the records show that the air mail service, by its efforts for safety, has reduced these dangers to a negligible quantity.

"The department, however, cannot leave the question of when to fly and when not to fly in each instance to the judgment of a dozen different aviators. If this were done it would be impossible to operate a mail schedule with any degree of dependability and the air mall would have to be abandoned."

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Twelve Die in Balloon Holocaust -- July 21, 2019

Seattle Star, 22-July-1919
100 years ago today, on 22-July-1919, Goodyear Blimp "Wingfoot Air Express" was flying over Chicago. It crashed through the roof of a bank. Many were killed on the dirigible and in the bank. 

Twelve Die
in Balloon
Holocaust

CHICAGO, July 22. -- (United Press.) -- Twelve dead and 26 injured was the final count today of casualties in Chicago's most modern tragedy -- the fall of an aircraft thru the skylight of a metropolitan business building. Late yesterday a 100-foot dirigible fell blazing into the counting room of the Illinois Trust & Savings Co.

Two members of the "Wingfoot" express, a photographer, and nine employes of the bank were among the dead. Most of them were burned to death when the gas bag with its heavy fuselage burst thru steel and plate glass and spread burning gasoline in all directions. A score of investigations, headed by the coroner and the state's attorney, opened today. Seventeen men, mostly employes of the Goodyear Rubber company, owners of the "Wingfoot," were held for examination.

The flight of the balloon was watched by thousands in the streets.

The great "blimp" was making a test flight and had been flying above the city for several hours. When about 500 feet above the bank the dirigible burst into flames and fell, crashing thru the glass skylight of the bank and its iron supports, and falling to the marble floor in the rotunda beneath.

The two gasoline tanks exploded and burst into flames, scattering the flames over the people in the bank. Many were cut by great chunks of broken glass from the skylight.

Women on Fire

The employes of the bank, mostly women, some with clothes afire, ran screaming from the building thru the two exits. The exits became blocked and jammed with bodies. Meanwhile hurry calls had been sent for every available ambulance and police patrol in the city. Many of the surviving women won their way to the sidewalk to collapse in a faint.

The Intense heat inside the bank broke the plate glass windows on the outside and made rescue work difficult. The work of rescuing the bodies of those burned beneath the huge craft could not be started until 35 minutes later, when the wreckage cooled sufficiently to allow approach.

John Boettner, pilot of the craft, telling of the wreck, said:

"When we were about 500 feet up, I felt the machine buckle and saw a spurt of flame shoot from the side of the bag. Calling to the others to jump, I leaped overboard. The others followed milt. My parachute caught fire, but I landed safely."

Henry Weaver and Harry Wacker, mechanicians of the "blimp," followed Boettner. Weaver's parachute caught fire and he was caught beneath the falling ship and wan killed.

Parachute in Flames

K. M. Norton, cameraman for a morning newspaper, jumped, but his parachute caught fire. He landed In the street below, breaking both legs and sustaining internal injuries.

Karl H. Davenport, publicity man for an amusement park, for some reason did not jump, and he was carried to his death in the blazing ship.

Carl Otto, another mechanic, was caught in the wreckage and died.

The dead are:
CARPENTER, Jacob, 16, bank messenger.
BERGER, Helen, bank stenographer.
DAVENPORT, Earl H., publicity man in the "blimp."
FLORENCE, Maria, bank clerk.
GALLAGHER, Mary, bank stenographer.
MILES, Irene, bank stenographer.
MEYEr, Evelyn, bank stenographer.
MUNZER. Edwin, bank clerk.
OTTO, Carl, bank telegrapher.
SCANLAN, Joseph, bank messenger.
WEAVER, Carl, mechanic in the dirigible, Akron, Ohio.

Boettner, pilot of the machine, was taken into custody last night until an investigation can be made.

The council, at a meeting last night, passed a resolution ordering the corporation counsel to draft an ordinance which prohibits aircraft from flying over the city.

With hastily gathered furniture, the bank reopened today. A loss of $50,000 in bonds, supposed to have been burned, was announced.

President John J. Mitchell hesitated to estimate the amount of property loss involved.

"I'm thinking of the deaths of those people whom I knew personally," he said. He thought $15,000 would replace fixtures.

Mitchell indicated the Goodyear company had offered to settle damages and "do whatever was right" for families of the victims.

Pilot J. A. Boettner at first blamed static for the burning of his machine. Later he said sparks from the rotary motor -- an experiment for "blimps" -- may have set the gas bag afire. The motors, he said, were intended to "pull" instead of drive a machine. Attached as they were, he said, exhaust flames may have been blown against the fabric.

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Appolo 11 50 Years -- July 20, 2019


50 years ago today, on 20-July-1969, Commander Neil Armstrong and Pilot Buzz Aldrin rode the lunar lander to the surface of the moon. Armstrong was the first person to step on the surface. Michael Collins manned the command module. We gathered at our house to watch and my mom made a cake that looked like the moon.

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Grace and Beauty -- July 17, 2019


Scott Joplin, James Scott and Joseph Lamb were the three most important composers of classic ragtime. James Scott went to St Louis to meet his hero, Scott Joplin. John Stark published "Grace and Beauty -- A Classy Rag" in 1909.



Monday, July 15, 2019

Entire Crew Lost When British Dirigible Burns -- July 15, 2019

Lake County, Indiana Times, 18-July-1919
100 years ago today, on 15-July-1919, Royal Air Force blimp NS-11 burned and fell into the sea near Norfolk.  All hands were lost.  

ENTIRE CREW LOST WHEN BRITISH DIRIGIBLE BURNS

The British non-rigid dirigible NS-11 recently went down in flames off Norfolk, England, and not a single member of the crew of twelve could be found. It is believed the dirigible was struck by lightning. Persons on shore heard two explosions. The ship had left Pelham, where the R-34 is quartered, to help a mine sweeper. During the war the NS-11 spotted submarines and mines. At one time it flew 1,000 miles over the North sea in 40 1/2 hours without a stop.



Sunday, July 14, 2019

Happy Bastille Day, 2019 -- July 14, 2019

Memphis News-Scimitar, 14-July-1919
On Bastille Day in 1919, the French and their allies celebrated with a huge victory parade.  

TRIUMPHAL MARCH OF ALLIES
IN PARIS AROUSES CHEERS

PARIS, July 14. (By the Associated Press.) -- The triumphal march of allied and American troops through Paris began at 8 o'clock this morning. The weather was brilliant, being more like October than midsummer.

A thousand wounded soldiers with crutches or in wheel chairs and clad, for the most part, in civilian clothes, led the parade, being preceded by a drum corps.

Guns began firing at minute Intervals as President Poincare placed a wreath at the foot of the Cenotaph at the Arc de Triomphe this morning. The empty casket, placed there in memory of the allied dead, was also decorated by other wreaths, these being placed by Premier Clemenceau, a French soldier, a French sailor, an Alsatian girl, a girl from Lorraine and Col. Edmund Gros. This last wreath was in memory of 72 members of the Lafayette escadrille who lost their lives during the war.

Marshal Joffre, the victor of the first battle of the Marne, passed under the Arc de Triomphe at 8:45 o'clock. He rode alone. Behind him came Marshal Foch, the commander-in-chief of the allied forces during the final campaign of the conflict. A storm of applause arose from the vast throng as the two marshals passed the president's stand and moved down the brilliant avenue.

Gen. Pershing, with a number of American generals, came next in line and was received with equal enthusiasm. Forty American organizations, soldiers and marines, marching with wonderful precision, were greeted by a sea of waving handkerchiefs and flags and with deafening cheers. During the parade this morning the roof of a house on the Boulevard St. Martin collapsed. Eighteen persons were injured.

Washington Evening Star, 14-July-1919



Saturday, July 13, 2019

That's One Smart Pup -- July 13, 2019

Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger, 28-July-1919
I love Fontaine Fox's The Toonerville Trolley That Meets All the Trains.


Thursday, July 11, 2019

Comic Book -- Mad Magazine, RIP -- July 11, 2019

coverbrowser.com
I was devastated to learn that Mad Magazine is going to cease publication.

The October-November 1952 issue of Mad, published in August, was the beginning of a great American tradition. EC, famous up to that time for horror comics, moved in a new direction. Published by Bill Gaines and edited by Harvey Kurtzman, Mad introduced sharp satire (Humor in a Jugular Vein) to comic books.

Mad became a magazine in 1955. Legend said it was because of the growing controversy about comic books, but it was done to satisfy Kurtzman's ambition.

I read Mad for many years and it certainly influenced my sense of humor. I know some movies better through reading the Mad parodies rather than seeing the movies themselves.


Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Jean Navarre Falls to Death Close to Paris -- July 10, 2019

Corpus Christi Caller, 11-July-1919
100 years ago today, on 10-July-1919, pioneering French ace Jean Navarre, who had survived four years of flying during the war, died in a crash as he rehearsed his plan to defy orders, buzz the Victory Parade on Bastille Day and  fly under the Arc de Triomphe. The story after the newspaper article explains some of his "eccentric escapades."  

JEAN NAVARRE
FALLS TO DEATH
CLOSE TO PARIS
Airplane Crashes to Ground
in Attempt to Avoid
Collision in Air

By the Associated Press.
PARIS, July 10 -- Sub-Lieutenant Jean Navarre who was one of the first aces among the French aviators during the war and who was withdrawn from the service because of his eccentric escapades, fell while flying in the vicinity of Versailles this afternoon and died soon after in a military hospital.

He was to land at the airdrome at Villacoublay, when, in trying to avoid a collision with other machines, his airplane crashed.

Navarre was officially credited with bringing down 12 enemy airplanes, although the Paris newspapers, during the latter part of his service in the French aviation corps, credited him with the destruction of 19 enemy machines.

He was awarded several decorations by the French government for his exploits in action against enemy aviators. In April 1917, after his retirement from the service, he was arrested and placed in a military prison charged with having run down several policemen of Paris with his automobile. After his release, it was reported that he intended to go to the United States as an instructor in aviation.

Flying, November, 1917

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Monday, July 8, 2019

João Gilberto, RIP -- July 8, 2019

www.listal.com
I was sad to learn that João Gilberto has died. He may have invented Bossa Nova. I particularly love his work with Astrud Gilberto, Antônio Carlos Jobim and Stan Getz.



Sunday, July 7, 2019

Attaches a Balloon to the Warship of the Air -- July 7, 2019

San Francisco Call, 28-November-1896
There were many sightings of unidentified flying objects in the United States during the late 1890s. I wonder what people saw. The Cuban junta may have been the Cuban Revolutionary Party, founded by José Martí. Martí was killed in battle in 1896. No one seems very concerned about the inventor proposing to destroy Havana. The "Normal student" who was at Mrs Young's house was studying to be a teacher at what is now San Jose State University.  A "boniface" is someone who runs a restaurant or a hotel.

This is our seventh report from the San Francisco Call.

18-November-1895: "Claim They Saw a Flying Airship" http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2019/02/claim-they-saw-flying-airship-february.html
23-November-1896: "The Great Airship That is Startling the People of Many Cities" http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-great-airship-that-is-startling.html
24-November-1896: "The Apparition of the Air"
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-apparition-of-air-april-7-2019.html
25-November-1896: "Mission of the Aerial Ship"
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2019/03/mission-of-aerial-ship-march-7-2019.html
26-November-1896: "The Mystery Again Seen at the Capital"
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-mystery-again-seen-at-capital-may.html
27-November-1896: "It Is to Be Used to Destroy the City of Havana"
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2019/06/it-is-to-be-used-to-destroy-city-of.html

IT FLITTED OVER SAN JOSE.
Aerial Lights Cross the
Vision of Prominent
Residents.
THEIR APPEARANCE MOST
VIVIDLY DESCRIBED.
Hart Takes Some of His
Professional Friends Into
His Confidence.
ATTACHES A BALLOON TO THE
WARSHIP OF THE AIR.
The Public May Be Given an Aerial View of the
Great Mystery of the Day at a Pre-
arranged Time and Place.

Interest in the great aerial mystery continues without sign of abatement. It still furnishes the main theme of discourse in all circles. Many are ready to make oath and stake all their earthly possessions that a veritable flying-ship has been hovering above the earth in this vicinity, while the scoffers are also in evidence, equally vociferous and insistent.

As yet, however, nothing has transpired that can be accepted as either positive proof or disproof of the existence of an aerial voyager, operated and controlled by human inventive genius.

San Jose has furnished one of the most interesting reports of the mysterious aerial lights that have yet been published. The strange moving illumination was seen there by a number of men of the highest standing in the community, and the description of the phenomenon given by them is both vivid and clear.

General Hart now states that the inventor is a cousin of the electrician of General Antonio Maceo, commander of the patriot forces in Cuba. He also contributes much additional information relative to the reputed warship of the air and has promised to intercede with the inventor to have the invention appear at a prearranged time and place for the purpose of gratifying the deep and widespread curiosity of the public.

PROFESSOR WORCESTER'S EVIDENCE.
The Well-Known San Jose Educator Scrutinizes the Mysterious Flier
and Gives the Result of a Calm Examination.

SAN JOSE, Cal., Nov. 27.— An interesting account of the mysterious moving light which passed over this city Thursday evening, and which is supposed to be attached to an airship, is given by Professor H. B. Worcester, president of the Garden City Business College. Professor Worcester resides with his family in East San Jose. To a Mercury reporter who asked him regarding the strange light, he said:

"There was a small party at my house in East San Jose on Thanksgiving day and dinner was prolonged until about 7 o'clock in the evening. The company then repaired to the front of the house to enjoy some music and I went into the rear yard to get a lantern. I happened to lookup and saw several miles away, apparently about over College Park or Santa Clara, a large light moving rapidly toward San Jose. In a second I surmised it was the mysterious light which people had seen and which was supposed to be attached to an airship. In order to call the attention of those in the house to the same I ran round the house to save time and called out that the airship was passing. Everybody rushed out into the front yard.

"Within the time it had taken me to run around the house the light had changed its course from east to southwest and had traveled several miles and was in a line over the southern portion of San Jose. The entire party saw the moving light and saw it go west, then turn south and then change to southeast Wo watched the light until it disappeared behind the horizon.

"When the ship turned to the southeast I could distinguish two lights, one behind the other. The single light first seen was about the size of an engine headlight and had more the appearance of a large incandescent light than anything else. It was moving at the rate of from 60 to 100 miles an hour and it was only a few moments before it had disappeared behind the horizon.

"There were three things regarding the light which impressed me, viz.: Its velocity, its regular movement and its apparent intelligent control. The motion of . the light would suggest the alternate flapping of wings.

"I have seen many fire-balloons, but the light I saw had none of the characteristics of such a toy. Its velocity was too great for a balloon on such a still night and its movements too regular. The light was about 1500 feet high when first seen and may have continued at that elevation, but it appeared to lower as it disappeared on the horizon."

Professor Worchester stated that his party consisted of Professor M. S. Cross of the University of the Pacific, Mrs. Dr. Allen, Mrs. Colonel Moore, Miss Annie Chase, Harry Worcester and himself. All of these, he said, saw the mysterious light and expressed their belief that it was under intelligent control. Among others who saw the sight was a party at Belle Vista, near Alum Rock, composed of Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Baker, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rengstorff of Mountain View, Mr. and Mrs. Bert M. Babcock and Mr. and Mrs. Elton.

SAN JOSE, Cal., Nov. 27. -- John Bawl, a farmer who bears the reputation of being practical and unimaginative, declares that he saw the airship in flight over his residence in East San Jose, on Monroe street, near Franklin, Thursday evening and though it was moving rapidly and was at a considerable altitude. he was able to plainly distinguish its general outline and most striking features. He describes the great winged ship with vividness and realism. His wife and family corroborate his story.

"I was standing in the rear of my residence about 7 o'clock, or shortly before that," be said, "when my attention was attracted by some bright object in the sky about 150 yards distant, and bearing rapidly toward me from the northwest. I looked at it closely and observed it was lunging about from side to side, sometimes swerving sharply to one side, but always maintaining a general southwesterly direction. It occurred to me that this was the famous airship, and I shouted lustily to my family and they all witnessed It as it came over our residence. It was so high up I could form no very definite idea of its size.

"It had a pair of wings which were constantly flapping not from side to side like a bird's, but with more of a forward and downward motion. Beneath it several feet hung a ball of red light which lit up the bottom of the ship and sent its rays far down below it. At the front was a cone-shaped projection which I surmised was a windbreak. The vessel lunged badly and once made a beeline to the west, but regained its course again. It varied in height considerably during the time I watched it. Its speed I judged to be about that of an electric-car doing its best."

Mrs. Bawl tells a similar story of the strange voyager of the air.


General Hart May Give the Public
an Aerial Exhibition of the
Mystery.

Ex-Attorney-General W. H. H. Hart came a step nearer to disclosing the name of the inventor of the reputed successful airship yesterday He also gave many new details regarding the marvel, and promised to confer with the inventor with the object of bringing the wonder of the air within the observation of the public at a prearranged time and place.

"Interest in the airship, general," remarked the reporter to the legal captain of the aerial warship, "continues unabated, and the public are anxiously awaiting more definite news in reference to it. They are demanding something more tangible than aerial lights at night."

"I am sorry that I am still unable to tell you all you want to know. I can tell you this, however: The inventor is a cousin of John Linn, the electrician of the Cuban patriot general, Antonio Maceo. Linn is now, of course, in Cuba, but was formerly a resident of Chicago, and is an American citizen. The inventor is not a Californian, but came here, owing to our favorable climate, to make tests of and perfect his machine."

"It is admitted that the power problem is the great one in aerial navigation, and in view of this a detailed description of the Fargo storage battery which you state is to be used on the improved and remodeled craft would be interesting," suggested the reporter.

"I would be glad to comply with your suggestion, but we have only made application for a patent for this storage battery in this country, and to expose its composition and construction would interfere with the procuration of foreign patents on it. I reiterate, however, that of my own knowledge I know that the Fargo storage battery has sufficient capacity to furnish power for a flying-ship, if the latter can be constructed to fly at all. This arrangement is different from all other methods that have been heretofore tried. No acids are used at all, and it will store electricity in any amperage and voltage. A 20-horsepower battery to run ten hours can be made to weigh 150 pounds, and to run six hours the battery would need to weigh not more than 100 pounds. Tests have been made which prove this. The man who invented the battery is not the man who invented the airship."

"Why not have the inventor, in order so satisfy public curiosity, bring his winged craft over a certain place at a certain time, giving him sufficient latitude for delays and baffling air currents? His programme could be announced through you to the public. He would thus run no risk of identification, nor would his invention be in danger of being exposed. Such an arrangement would be most gratifying to the public, and would, at the same time, most conclusively substantiate all the claims made on his behalf."

"He don't care to submit his invention to the public, and is perfectly indifferent to what the public thinks. I have an arrangement to see him on Monday, how ever, and will then endeavor to have him carry out the plan. When I last saw him he said be was going south to test his machine in the higher altitudes. He is experimenting on the difference between the heavy atmosphere near the ocean and the lighter air on elevated plains. You see he is preparing to carry out precisely what I have said in reference to Havana. I know he can and will do it, and he is not going to give out a description of his invention until he makes the attempt on Havana. I am quite convinced he will be at Havana within sixty days with one of those ships equipped to do what he says it can do."

"This plan, then, of destroying Havana is a preconceived idea of his?"

'Certainly; and he came out here to work it oat. I did not know him before he came to me on this matter, though I know his friends."

"Have you had my applications to sell stock in connection with this invention?"

'No, and there is none to sell. I asked my client if he wanted to sell any stock and he said no. He added that be had all the money he wanted, and did not care to take in any person or organize any company for the present. This was the only thing that gave me the impression that he might be off his pins. He is the first man I have struck of that kind in California. But I am quite convinced that he is not crazy nor a crank. He is thoroughly cool and logical in all be says, and his entire conduct is such as to inspire perfect confidence in his invention and faith in what he says."

In response to an inquiry as to how he looked, General Hart said he has a dark complexion and bears considerable resemblance to Arion, now performing at the Chutes

HART GETS CONFIDENTIAL.
Discloses New and Important Features
of the Aerial Mystery to
Professional Friends.

General Hart told a cluster of friends, principally professional men, gathered in the Supreme Court rooms yesterday something more about the airship which his client has in view. "My client says that he has built one airship and has successfully navigated it," said General Hart. "The first ship cost him $15,000. He says that he will now construct a second airship in the locality of Bolinas and that the expense will be $30,000.

"So far as I know, the second ship will resemble the first. I am now willing to make public some more facts concerning the general structure of the ship which has been operated in this locality recently. The sustaining power is supplied from gas tanks, which are in the hull of the vessel and which are connected with the balloon which flies over the airship by a pipe.

When the inventor wants to go up higher be lets more gas into the balloon out of the tanks, which are filled with condensed gas.

"When the inventor wants to fly lower he simply opens a valve in the balloon and the contrivance naturally descends, just as an ordinary balloon does. It appears to me that the unsafe part of the whole contrivance is this reliance upon the balloon, which is all that keeps the ship up. If the balloon would fail down would go the ship. For this reason I am frank to say I would not care to take a ride in the airship. Do I believe that the airship actually exists? Why, certainly !

"The inventor says that he has traveled 120 miles in the air in about six and a half hours, which is a little over twenty miles per hour. His storage battery he uses for power only to propel his airship when he is sailing against the wind. When he is running with the wind or a few points off he needs no power, but naturally drifts, just as a balloon would.

"I believe that four pounds of dynamite thrown vertically downward from the deck of the airship would make terrific havoc among an enemy gathered below the ship. The dynamite throwing could be done most easily by hand. All that would be necessary would be simply to drop it.

"The condensed gas serves no purpose except to raise the airship. It has nothing to do with propelling it in any other direction.

"It may or may not be possible for my client's airship to sail the air from Key West to Havana. He thinks that it is possible. Whenever be arrives in Cuba his power would be nearly exhausted. Therefore it would be necessary for him to have a Cuban base of power supply. The location may be something like thirty miles from Havana. That would seem to me to be about the proper distance."

WAS NOT A PLANET.
Observations by a Clever Watcher
of the Mysterious Light.

The following communication has been received:

Editor Call — Dear Sir: As public attention is at present very much taken up with the recent appearances of a strange light in the heavens here and in neighboring places, I venture to offer one or two observations made by myself personally on the occasion of the appearance of the strange light in the western sky some few nights ago, which attracted so much attention among our citizens. These observations you may take for what you may think them worth, merely prefacing my remarks by saying that in years gone by I made somewhat of a study of astronomy, and took quite an interest in the heavenly bodies and their movements.

On the night in question I was one of a group of persons stationed near the edge of the sidewalk in front of the Flood building, southwest corner Fourth and Market streets, watching a strange bright light in the western heavens. At first it seemed to me as though I had sometimes seen the evening star look nearly as large and bright, and so I remarked to a gentleman in my immediate vicinity. But a closer observation seemed to show that it had not the steady and serene rays that mark the light of a planet. It was observed for brief intervals from time to time, and its altitude when I first observed it seemed to negative the idea of any terrestrial obstruction.

I then decided to make a practical test and take the bearings from some fixed object, taking the small building with its turret-like cone that forms a gore at the south side of Eddy street, at its junction with Market, and maintaining my position by a telegraph-pole at the edge of the sidewalk.

The light appeared to be in a straight line from where I stood with a point directly over the aforesaid turret-llke roof that crowns the gore at the southwest corner of Eddy and Market streets. I soon observed that the light moved from over the point of the roof in an easterly and northerly direction, until at last it had crossed the path In the sky corresponding to the width of Eddy street, when it disappeared around the corner of the Baldwin Hotel.

The gentleman above referred to observed the same thing, and remarked that by stepping backward he could see it again. This test proved conclusively to my mind that the light observed was not that of a planet, for If any one ever saw Venus or any other planet travel from the westward in a north-easterly direction he must have observed a phenomenon not recorded in ancient or modern times.

You may insert the above, if you deem it of sufficient interest, in your valuable paper.
Yours respectfully, Austin R. Reid,
219 Geary street, City.

MODESTO HAS IT.
Prominent Citizens See What They
Believe to Be Lights of the
Aerial Destroyer.

MODESTO, Cal., Nov. 27.— Residents in the northern part of this city were treated to a sight of what was undoubtedly the flying machine at 10:30 o'clock last night.

J. E. Ward, cashier of the First National Bank, discovering what he believed to be the lights of the flying machine, aroused his neighbors, all reputable men, among whom were County Treasurer W. A. Downer, Deputy Treasurer W. B. Bell, C. P. Schafer, the bookkeeper of the First National Bank, Armory L. J. Maddux and others. The lights were seen at a considerable height, going in a northwesterly direction toward Stockton. The lights moved steadily and at an even height from the ground.

SEEN AT TACOMA.
Sighted Near Mount Tacoma—Varicolored Flashes.

TACOMA, Wash., Nov. 27 — The airship phenomenon which has startled San Francisco has appeared here. Several reputable people have observed it. They believe it is an airship and that the inventor has either made two models and set one up in this neighborhood or was taking an evening spin from California to Puget Sound. The airship seen here resembles that described by California witnesses in every particular. It possesses the same birdlike shape and moves swiftly with an up and down wavelike motion, varied occasionally by a dart forward and some times in slanting directions.

Last Tuesday night the operator of the airship is believed to have visited and explored the top of Mount Tacoma. Tuesday night Druggist George St. John closed his drugstore on Pacific avenue at 11:30 and went home. He reached his residence on Tacoma avenue fifteen minutes later and soon retired. It was a beautiful moonlight night and the window curtains a few feet away from the bed were left up.

Just about 12 o'clock Mrs. St. John saw the strange light and called her husband's attention to it. It appeared to be high up in the heavens east of Mount Tacoma and moving in a southeasterly direction. The distance from Tacoma must have been at least fifty miles. They watched the heavenly stranger over half an hour. They first saw it through a north window in their room, but after a while could see it through a window several feet further south without having changed their positions. This proves that the airship traveled a long distance during the time they were watching it.

Mr. St. John says that vari-colored lights were shot forth in ail directions. They were emitted from each end and both sides. Sometimes the light at one end or one side would be cut off. Some of the lights were white, others red, blue and green. These four shades were distinctly visible. When all the lights were shining the aerial monster seemed incased in a brilliant glow, having the appearance of a powerful electric searchlight. The size then seemed to be that of an arc light. It flashed often, sending the various colored rays shooting out from the center in every direction like spokes in the hub of a wheel. Sometimes it had a wavering motion and swayed back and forth in its course through the heavens like a vessel at sea in a storm, but the undulating motion was its chief course, being varied by frequent dartings.

The moonlight was not strong enough to permit a distinct view of Mount Tacoma, but the airship was seen to approach the neighborhood of the mountain at what seemed to be its exact height, and dart hither and thither as if an exploration was in progress.

The supposed airship was still in sight when Mr. and Mrs. St. John became tired of watching it and went to sleep. They spoke of the strange occurrence to many friends next day, but what they had witnessed was not made public until to-day. They have eagerly read accounts of the California airship, and declare that what they saw must have been the same or an exactly similar contrivance.

Hundreds of people are on the lookout here for another appearance of the airship.

Saturday, July 6, 2019

First Lighter Than Air Transatlantic Flight -- July 6, 2019

Scientific American, 13-July-1919
100 years ago today, on 06-July-1919, British Zeppelin R-34 finished the first transatlantic lighter than air flight.

Friday, July 5, 2019

Fish Commisioners' Steamer Albatross -- July 5, 2019

San Francisco Call, 08-May-1896
This drawing is from the 08-May-1896 San Francisco Call. William A Coulter did many maritime drawings for the newspaper.

The United States Fish Commissioners' steamer Albatross is preparing for another cruise in the Bering Sea.  She will be gone some time, and beds that were not fully examined last year will be thoroughly explored this season. The Albatross made a pretty picture yesterday as she lay in the stream. As she was sketched yesterday a scow-schooner was approaching her with a load of coal, as was one of the steamer's boats.  In the distance was the monitor Comanche, and away in the distance a small schooner.


Thursday, July 4, 2019

Fight Should Have Ended in One Round -- July 4, 2019

New York Evening World, 05-July-1919
100 years ago today, on 04-July-1919, heavyweight champ Jess Willard, the Pottawatomie Giant, defended his title against Jack Dempsey, the Manassa Mauler, in Toledo, Ohio.

New York Evening World, 05-July-1919

FIGHT SHOULD HAVE ENDED
IN ONE ROUND, SAYS EDGREN;
DEMPSEY A "BONE CRUSHER"


No Fighter Ever Worse Beaten Than
Willard -- Expert Declares Battle
Should Have Been Stopped Earlier
-- Most One-Sided Championship!
Bout Ever Staged.
By Robert Edgrcn

Copryright,1919, by the Press Publishing Co. (The New York Evening World).
Fighting with the fury of a bulldog tearing down a mastiff, Jack Dempsey knocked out Jess Willard here yesterday afternoon in one round. The second round never should have been fought, and never would have been fought but for a series of amazing blunders caused by having amateur officials. Technically, the knockout was scored at the end of the third round, when Ray Archer threw the towel into the middle of the ring, with Willard terribly beaten and helpless in his corner, one eye completely closed.

It was the most one-sided fight for a title ever seen in any ring. Willard, smiling and apparently confident, landed the first two blows before Dempsey went into him like a thunderbolt. Half a minute later the biggest of all champions was a reeling, battered hulk, dazed, smashed out of all resemblance to anything human. The effect of Dempsey's blows was startling. They landed so fast the eye could hardly follow the flying gloves. At each crunching, crashing clout Willard's face was changed as if Dempsey were a sculptor dissatisfied with a portrait in clay and deliberately obliterating it, feature by feature. Cuts and huge bruises showed every time Dempsey's hand snapped back to position for another drive. Carl Morris, in Madison Square Garden, in the tenth round with Flynn -- Battling Nelson in the fortieth round with Wolgast at Port Richmond -- were no, more terribly beaten than Willard in a single round with Dempsey.

Whether it was a one-round fight or three, Dempsey has shown the world that he is one of the most remarkable fighters that ever clouted his way to a championship. He is of a new type. They were right when they called him a "bone crusher." He fights like no other champion ever did.

FOUGHT LIKE A BULLDOG.

Beside his action in a real fight, his training work was merely play. He was cool when the fight actually started. Terribly grim and determined, he was like a bulldog taking his grip, never to be shaken off. His speed was startling, and his attack so sudden and furious that nothing could stop it. Yet when Willard rallied for a moment Dempsey stepped toward him. Panther-like, he feinted and stepped aside to make Willard follow and leave an opening. He was not simply a plugging, battering fighter -- he was cold, calculating and sure of the effect his blows would produce.

The great arena began to fill early in the day. Airplanes flew about overhead. Hundreds of flags fluttered in a sharp breeze. A big observation balloon hung over the stands at the end of a steel cable. Cars tolled down the single road of approach and masses of spectators walked in straggling column. The big park around the arena was covered with refreshment stands. It looked for all the world like the infield at the English Derby.

Inside the arena the great crowd was in its shirt sleeves, broiling under a sun that glared down from a sky of polished brass. The heat was terrific. Hardly a bit of air was stirring In the great bowl. Thousands stayed under the stands until the big event was about to go on. Tho preliminaries were hardly looked at in the tense excitement of waiting for the main event.

At 3.30 P. M when the fighters were to have been in their corners, Major Biddle appeared with his marines, with guns and bayonets, and gave an exhibition of bayonet and knife fighting that was tolerated by the waiting crowd, impatient for the appearance of the men they had come to see. Tbe Major took part In various exhibitions himself, explaining hoarsely that he had invented some marvellous fighting stunts and then demonstrating. He was always last on his feet, while the marines were strewn around the ring and tho moving picture cameras clicked merrily.

DEMPSEY FIRST IN RING.

The crowd grew restless while the Major posed. At last that was over, and just four minutes before 4 o'clock Dempsey stepped into the ring, accompanied by his training staff, who were to second him. Dempsey was pale under his deep coat of tan. His face looked drawn, and he was evidently under an intense nerve strain. But he took his corner immediately and sat down, while Bill Tate raised a big green umbrella to protect him from the sun.

Within a few seconds Willard came into the opposite corner and stood leaning against the ropes. Like Dempsey, Willard was pale. Close to him, I saw that the "goose flesh" showed on his legs, and when he stood still there was a slight twitching of the muscles of his thighs. I could see the throb of his heart under the tight drawn skin that covered his ribs. He stood in the corner, looking around over the crowd, and In a moment the signs of nervousness disappeared. A sun shade was raised over him, too, and he stood there at ease, leaning against the ropes and looking around the ringside, to nod and smile at his friends. Willard was a picture of a trained athlete On the outside, at least, he was a perfect specimen ot a man.

In the huge arena all was so still that you could have heard a pin drop. There wasn't even the click of a telegraph instrument or a typewriter, as all strained to see the two men who were about to meet for the championship of the world. After a moment, Willard walked lightly across the ring and offered his hand to Dempsey, who was still sitting in his corner. Willard was smiling -- he always smiles. A smile is his natural expression. Dempsey looked up grimly and shook hands without a word. Willard went back. Then they came out again and stood side by side while the cameras were snapped and the moving picture machines clicked. Willard towered over Dempsey, but Dempsey didn't even look up at him as they shook hands again.

DEMPSEY LOOKED THE FIGHTER.

Facing Willard squarely, he kept his head lowered and his eyes staring straight at the middle of Willard's body, as if he was concentrating every thought on striking at that spot the moment the fight began.

There was a striking contrast between the men. Willard, huge, fair skinned, slightly browned by the sun, smoothly muscled, might have been some ancient Greek Apollo come to life. He was still smiling his friendly smile. Confidence, smooth, smiling confidence, radiated from him. He seemed pleased that he was about to give an exhibition of his skill.

But Dempsey was entirely different. He was the fighter, from the squarely set feet of him to the lowered head and scowling brow. He was burned black by the sun, like some fighting aborigine from some strange savage land under the Equator. He was indescribably grim, unsmiling. He stood squarely facing Willard, legs slightly spread, broad shoulders hunched, arms drawn up as if he was already preparing to launch the blows that were to beat Willard down, eyes staring straight ahead. Willard had smiled around at the crowd. Dempsey saw only one man, and that was the man he must beat. It seemed to me that he didn't even listen to the instructions of Referee Pecord, and that he went to his corner reluctantly to await the ringing of the bell that was to begin the fight.
At last they stood there in opposite corners, Dempsey was still staring straight at Willard, head lowered. Willard was staring at Dempsey. eyes drawn to narrow slits. The smile was gone.

And then came comedy. Warren Barbour, timekeeper, had been sitting by the bell. A $500 stop watch was on tho board before him. He was ready, but being an amateur timekeeper It had never occurred to him to see if the bell would ring. Pecord nodded. Barbour reached out a fine hand and pulled the bell cord, at the same time starting his watch, while the two other official timekeepers started theirs with htm.

CLANGING GONG ONLY A TINKLE.

The bell gave out a feint (sic - JT) little tinkling sound. The fighters, poised there in their corners, waiting, didn't hear it. Referee Picord didn't hear It. Barbour pulled the cord again, and again the old traditional "clang of the gong" failed to come. There was another little tinkle.

Picord, hearing nothing, waved his hands impatiently. The fighters, leaning forward and balanced to start swiftly from their corners, shifted their foot and looked around. Barbour tried to work the gong. Experienced old timers all around his side of the ring were shouting: "Get a hammer." But nobody had a hammer concealed about his person.

Again the gong tinkled, and this time the fighters heard it and started toward each other, but Picord rushed between and waved them back. He knew well enough the gong didn't make enough of a sound to be heard at the end of the round. Pulling a whistle, Barbour tapped the tinkling gong, blew the whistle and started his stop watch all at the same time.

The fighters leaped from their corners and the fight was on. In an instant they were together.

Willard jabbed Dempsey twice. The champion was standing straight up, smiling again, and starting easily. He didn't put much behind the jabs and Dempsey hardly noticed them. Dempsey was crouching and moving swiftly. As Willard advanced, Jack turned and stepped swiftly away to draw Willard on, turning like a flash to meet him. Willard stopped. Again Willard stepped forward, and Dempsey turned half away, only to whirl and slip close under Willard's left arm, and drive a terrific right hook to Willard's side, just over the heart. Instantly Dempsey stepped away. Over Willard's ribs a round red mark showed where Dempsey's crushing blow was landed.

Annoyed, perhaps, because his careful guard had failed, the big champion stepped forward a pace and missing a jab, followed with a short right that landed lightly and didn't move Dempsey's lowered head back an inch.

BLOW THAT SETTLED OUTCOME.

Twice more Jess jabbed and tried a short right as they closed, but without hitting Dempsey effectively. Dempsey swiftly turned away, flashed back, and leaping in drove a solid right squarely into the pit of Willard's stomach before the big fellow could make a move to defend himself. The blow brought Willard up standing, and in an instant, while their bodies Were almost touching, Dempsey whipped that curving left overhand blow over Willard's lowered arms and caught him on the right eye. It was the same blow that stunned Fulton and made him easy for a first round knockout.

It didn't put Willard down, but it settled the outcome of the fight then and there. The effect of it was as if Willard had been struck with a hammer. His eyebrow was gashed, and in an instant the eye and the whole side of his face puffed out of shape.

Then Dempsey cut loose with the full fury of his attack. He no longer turned deftly to avoid Wlllard's punches and draw him on. Standing close, toes square to the front, balanced on both feet and leaning in, he hit as fast as he could, with both hands. The gloves crashed on body and jaw.

Startled, amazed, 50,000 spectators gasped at the sight of Willard beaten back along the ropes, beaten across the ring, reeling, trying with bulk and strength to stand up before that cyclonic, furious rush. Willard was beaten down like any one of the twenty men Dempsoy has knocked out in a single round. The champion was being beaten down. He was reeling backward, weaving from side to side as no Fitzsimmons and no Ketchel over weaved. Shifting lightly, Dempsey at last threw all of his splendid youthful strength into a crashing right. Caught squarely on tho chin, Willard fell with a thud. His right eye was closed, His left was popped wide open In stunned realization that at last he had been knocked down, that a referee was counting over him, that he was being knocked out of the world's championship.

Dempsey stood back not dancing, not eager, but excited. Pecord counted seven and Willard pushed his great bulk up from the floor and was on his feet. But he was no longer towering. He was bent over, crouching, reeling back and Dempsey was after him, driving blow after blow, taking no blows in return, grim fury in his set face and scowling brows, the power of a kicking mule in his flying fists.

Wlltard was tossed back by blow after blow. Nothing human could have stood against the storm. He was game enough, but what good was gameness when every blow threw his head back until his neck nearly snapped, and his huge hulk shook like an oak with the woodman's axe at its roots.

WILLARD IS KNOCKED DOWN AGAIN.

Willard went down again, and again, and each time he touched the floor he rose more slowly and heavily. The first knockdown was in Dempsey's corner. If the spots where Willard fell were cut from that ring canvns ther'd be little left. At the end of the round he was down in another corner, and the count had reached seven again when timekeeper Barbour blew the whistle and tinkled the gong desperately and every one near Barbour shouted to Pecord the time was up.

Pecord waved Dempsey to his corner and stopped counting. Men leaped into the ring from overy side. Seconds reached Willard and dragged him, half conscious, to his chair, to work on him frantically. Pecord followed Dempsey and laid a hand on him, and Jack Kearns, wildly excited, exclaimed to Dempsey that it was all over.

Dempsey looked around and stepped from the ring to run to his dressing room, The whole crowd was on its feet. Men were in the ring. Willard's seconds were trying to revive him. Pecord was trying to clear the platform. Barbour, eyes on his $500 watch, tinkled the bell and nobody heard it. He blew the whistle. In the roar around the ring, that was lost too. Pecord, running around, was shoving every one out of his way. Confusion everywhere excent in Willard's corner. There faithful Jack Hempel and Walter Monahan were working hard to revive the champion, and Willard, smashed, bloody, stirred to consciousness and sat up. Smelling salts was shoved under his nose.

Some one flagged Demnsey. who rushod back into the ring. Barbour was tinkling the bell and blowing the whistle and waving to Pecord.

NOT A "BOOB," BUT A WHIPPED CHAMPION.

The second round was beginning, and still Willard sat in his corner, and Dempsey, just back in the ring, stood irresolutely, hardly knowing what to do, and so, when more than two minutes had elapsed since the fallen champion was dragged to his corner, Willard stood up and walked unsteadily across the ring, hands in position ready to fignt again.

A man beside me, an oficial, was shouting, "the boob, the big boob." But Willard wasn't a boob. He was a whipped champion, who hadn't been counted out, who was ready to fight again. He went to Dempsey, and Dempsey met him with furious blows, trying desperately to put him down.

To the amusement of the crowd Willard refused to fall. His head was driven back nnd his distorted face became more distorted under the punishment, hut he wan going in. His one open eye glared with desperation. He crouched and hit with all the strength that was In him. Otto Floto, a Dempsey man on my right, shrieked "They'll get Jack licked. They'll get him licked" Wlllard's uppercuts drove Dempsey's head back again and again as they came together. Willard jabbed and hit as best he could, but the strength had gone out of him with the terrific batterlng of thn first round.

NOT A KNOCKOUT LEFT IN WILLARD'S ARM.

There wasn't a knockout in his big arm and solid fist, no matter how he landed.

I have said that Dempsey was over-trained. There's no doubt about it. Under the mauling and the strain of trying to put Willnrd down to stay he weakened and Willard began to fight better. It even seemed possible that through sheer desperate courage he might recover, but he was in fearful shape, his right eye closed, the whole side of his face puffed out.

His mouth opened as he gasped for breath. Dempsey steadied him again, sidestepped and turned away, only to flash back with deliberate blows that shook Willard no matter where they landed. Willard was desperate now. He felt the championship being torn from him. Hr know his only chance was to land one blow that might put Dempsey down, and he tried.

With all the heart that was in him, walking In without defense, hitting wildly, landing now and then, but almost always being driven back by Dempsey's faster travelling fists, he was hurled on the ropes, to hang there while Pecord begun to count again, for Wlllard's arms were down and his gloves on the floor. It seemed impossible for him to recover this time, but he did, and at the end of the second round Willard was fighting still. He caught Dempsey with a hard left on the jaw, and Dempsey's knees bent. He caught Dempsey with rights, straight rights and uppercuts. Dempsey was weary of putting that huge bulk down.

There was one minute's rest after this round. Barbour blew the whistle and Willard came out, a pitiable signt, to meet tne worst that Dempsey could do to him. I'll say that whatever else Willard may be, he is game.

Jack Dempsey has Indian blood in his veins, quartered with the Scotch and Irish, but I think that he pitied Willard and tried to end the fight without hurting him any more. He started this time with the deliberation, there was only cold calculation in the blows he struck. Perhaps like Fitzsimmons he thought a knockout the most merciful thing. Again and again he landed clean punches on Wlllard's chin and Willard, who had rallied, slowly lost his spred and could only paw out blindly. Dempsey had him in a corner, and with tne utmost deliberation measured him for the knockout blow. When he landed Willard held his feet. He lunged forward and struck out with all the strength he had, still trying to put over one hard blow,

Dempsey hammered him back and followed close. Willard was a fearful sight. It was then, I think, that his jaw was broken. Reeling around the ring, he sunk finally under a storm of blows, to sit on the floor looking up at the grim destroyer who stood looking down at him. There was no joy In Dempsey. He was just plain fighter, a victorious bull dog who would have had more expression, and then the round ended.

Again Wlllnrd was helped to his corner. His seconds were around him with smelling salts and all the rest of it, and the crowd around the ring was shouting to Pecord to "stop It." Pecord might have acted if Willard had come up again, but Ray Archer, his friend and adviser, turned and tossed the water soaked, blood stained towel of defeat into the middle of the ring. The fight was over and JacK Dempsey was champion of tne world.

This time Dempsey stayed in the ring, while a mad rush of admirers tore down the press benches and overturned the writers who sat at them. Willard, reeling to his feet, walked heavily across the ring to where Dempsey stood, reached out and took tne new champion's hand He tried to smile.