463 lines
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463 lines
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(word processor parameters LM=8, RM=75, TM=2, BM=2)
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Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501
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Sponsored by Vangard Sciences
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PO BOX 1031
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Mesquite, TX 75150
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There are ABSOLUTELY NO RESTRICTIONS
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on duplicating, publishing or distributing the
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files on KeelyNet except where noted!
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November 8, 1991
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AERO2.ASC
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This EXCELLENT file shared with KeelyNet courtesy of
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Jim Shaffer.
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Fate magazine has been in existence for many years and covers
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a wide range of subjects, much like KeelyNet.
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If you might be interested in subscribing to this interesting
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journal, their mailing address, etc..is:
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FATE
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PO BOX 64383
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St. Paul, Minnesota 55164-0383
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Phone - 612-291-0383
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from Fate, June 1973
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Mystery Airships of the 1800's (Part 2 of 3)
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By Jerome Clark and Loren Coleman
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The existence of the craft is beyond doubt, but what powered them?
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Who were the members of the secret "Aero Club"?
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"The airship as a practical invention is believed to be so nearly
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ripe that a story of its appearance in the sky is not necessarily to
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be received with disrespect," _Harper's Weekly_ commented in its
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April 24, 1897, issue...not unless you assumed that thousands of
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Americans had lost their senses, a discomforting notion which some
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scientists, editors and skeptics seemed to embrace.
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Prof. George Hough, a Northwestern University astronomer, assured
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everyone that the "airship" was nothing but the star Alpha Orionis
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as perceived by drunks, fools and hysterics. Most newspapers
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ridiculed reports of the airship, finally desisting only for fear of
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offending the growing numbers of readers who had seen the craft.
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California's airship, reported in November 1896, was the first to
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receive widespread publicity but that same month an unidentified
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flying object passed through central Nebraska and sightings in the
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state continued until the following May. Delaware farmers saw
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airships as early as January 1897.
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It took a sighting in Omaha involving hundreds of witnesses to put
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the airships back in the headlines, however. The low-flying object,
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Page 1
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a large bright light, "too big for a balloon," appeared on the night
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of March 29, 1897, and was visible for more than half an hour.
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From then on America's skies were filled with airships. The reports
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came primarily from midwestern states and descriptions of the ships
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varied -- as these random examples show:
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Everest, Kans., April 1 (_Kansas City Times_): "The basket or
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car seemed to be 25 to 30 feet long, shaped like an Indian
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canoe. Four light wings extended from the car; two wings were
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triangular. A large dark hulk was discernible immediately above
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the car and was generally supposed by the watchers to be an
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inflated gasbag."
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Chicago, April 11 (_Chicago Times-Herald_): "The lower portions
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of the airship were thin and made of some light white metal like
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aluminum. The upper portion was dark and long like a big cigar,
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pointed in front and with some kind of arrangement in the rear
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to which cables are attached."
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Texas, April 16 (_New York Sun_): "...shaped like a Mexican
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cigar, large in the middle and small at both ends, with great
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wings resembling those of an enormous butterfly. It was
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brilliantly illuminated by the rays of two great searchlights
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and was sailing in a southeasterly direction with the velocity
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of wind, presenting a magnificent appearance."
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Numerous persons reported seeing normal-looking men and women inside
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the ships. One of the most interesting "occupant" reports came from
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M. G. Sisson, postmaster at Greenfield, Ill.
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On the afternoon of April 19, 1897, while walking his dog through
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the woods he spotted an airship 150 feet above him -- a phenomenon
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he found less unsettling than the sight of a woman standing on a
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deck on the bow of the craft netting pigeons. When she saw Sisson
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she quickly stepped inside and the craft flew off.
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Later that day Thomas Bradburg of Hagaman, about nine miles east of
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Greenfield, found part of a letter supposedly dropped from the
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airship. On a printed letterhead of "Airship Co., Oakland Calif.,"
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it read:
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"We are having a delightful time and plenty to eat. Mollie's
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scheme for running down birds and catching them with a net
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works excellently; we feast daily upon pigeon pie.
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"Since starting out we have greatly increased the velocity of
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the ship. The following figures will give some idea of the
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speed which we are now able to make: St. Louis, April 15, 8:30
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P.M.; Chicago, same evening, 9:33; Kansas City, one hour and 40
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minutes later."
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Purportedly many such "messages" were released from airships and no
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doubt the majority were hoaxes. We mention the letter found by
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Bradburg because of its possible tie-in with Sisson's experience
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(whether Bradburg had heard Sisson's story before he "found" the
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letter is unanswerable) and because "Oakland, Calif." on the
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letterhead takes us back to the controversies of November 1896 as to
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the inventor's place of residence discussed in Part I of this
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article.
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Page 2
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The events of 1896, incredible as they were, are relatively
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uncomplicated compared to what happened in 1897. California's
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controversy concerned only one alleged inventor, the mysterious "E.
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H. Benjamin," but April 1897 produced an onslaught of conflicting
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claims involving a host of people -- stories which made it obvious
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that someone was lying. Sometimes it was the "witnesses," sometimes
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the newspapers and sometimes it may have been the airship occupants
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themselves.
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Let us examine several "contact" claims of this period:
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Springfield, Ill., April 15: Farmhands Adolph Winkle and John
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Hulle allegedly saw an airship land two miles outside the city
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and talked with its occupants, two men and a woman, who said
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they would "make a report to the government when Cuba* is
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declared free."
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* [As we pointed out last month this period (1895-1897)
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spawned the Spanish-American War over the issue of Cuban
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independence.]
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Harrisburg, Ark., April 21: At 1:00 A. M. a strange noise
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awakened a man identified as ex-Senator Harris and through his
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bedroom window he saw an airship descending to the ground. The
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occupants, two young men, a woman and an elderly man with a dark
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waist-length beard, got out and helped themselves to a supply of
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fresh well water.
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Overcome by curiosity, Harris went outside and engaged the old
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man in a long conversation, during which the latter claimed he
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had inherited the secret of antigravity from his late uncle.
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"Weight is no object to me," he said. "I suspend all gravity by
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placing a small wire around an object.
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"I was making preparations to go over to Cuba and kill off the
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Spanish army if hostilities had not ceased," he went on, "but
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now my plans are changed and I may go to the aid of the
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Armenians." He would accomplish all this with a gun which would
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fire, he said "63,000 times per minute."
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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Vangard notes...
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For those who have taken the time to study the work of John
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Worrell Keely (Patron of KeelyNet), one can see a definite tie-
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in with both of these amazing statements. We will not go into
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detail beyond the reference, since the information is freely
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available from the Keely section of this board.
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The true seeker will STUDY and find out for himself. Keely died
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in 1898, a documented fact while the mention of this mysterious
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late uncle was given in 1897, one year after Keely's death.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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After offering Harris a ride, which the ex-senator refused, the
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crew reentered their craft and disappeared into the night.
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Stephensville, Tex., late April: Alerted by "prominent farmer"
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C. L. McIllhaney that an airship had alighted in a field on his
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Page 3
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farm three miles from town, a large delegation of
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Stephensville's leading citizens (our source lists all their
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names) set out to see for themselves.
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They found a 60-foot cigar-shaped craft and its two occupants,
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who gave their names as S. E. Tillman and A. E. Dolbear. The
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pair explained that they were making an experimental trip to
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test the ship for certain New York financiers. Turning down
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requests from onlookers who wanted to examine the craft, the
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aeronauts boarded the machine and sailed off.
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Conroe, Tex. April 22-23: Around midnight four men, one of them
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hotel proprietor G. L. Witherspoon, were playing dominoes in the
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hotel restaurant when three strangers entered. They said they
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had landed their airship not far away and come into town for
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supper "by way of a change," then went on to report they had
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flown from San Francisco en route to Cuba.
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Witherspoon and his friends declined an offer to examine the
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ship, suspecting they were the victims of a practical joke. But
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about an hour later, after the visitors had left, a brilliantly
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lighted airship passed over Conroe.
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Chattanooga, Tenn., late April: Several Chattanooga citizens
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reportedly encountered a landed airship "in the exact shape of a
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shad, (a type of fish) minus head and tail," resting on a
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mountainside near the city. Its two occupants were at work
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repairing it. One, who identified himself as Prof. Charles
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Davidson, said they had left Sacramento a month before and had
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spent the intervening time touring the country.
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Jenny Lind, Ark., May 4: At 7:30 P. M. an airship passed over
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town. Three men leaped on their bicycles and pursued it until
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it landed near a spring next to a mountain. Its pilots, who
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introduced themselves as George Autzerlitz and Joseph Eddleman,
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talked with the three for a while, saying they subsisted on
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birds which they would overtake and capture in flight. Before
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leaving the aeronauts offered any one of them a free ride and
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ended up taking James Davis to Huntington, 15 miles away.
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This story appeared in the _St. Louis Post-Dispatch_ in the form
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of a letter from two Jenny Lind residents, who urged the paper
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to contact R. M. McDowell, general manager of the Western Coal
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and Mining Company in St. Louis. McDowell told the _Post-
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Dispatch_, "Yes, I know all those persons. I have extensive
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works at Jenny Lind. I don't understand the letter, though. It
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is very strange."
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Hot Springs, Ark., May 6: John L. Sumpter, Jr., and John
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McLemore, police officers, testified in an affidavit that they
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had seen a 60-foot airship land that dark, rainy night. There
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were three occupants, a young man and woman and an older man
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with a long dark beard.
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The latter approached the lawmen carrying a lantern while the
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young man filled a large sack with water and the woman stayed in
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the shadows, apparently hoping to remain unobserved. The old
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man said they would stop off at Nashville after traveling the
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country. The officers turned down an offer for a ride and then
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Page 4
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left on other business. When they returned 40 minutes later the
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ship was gone.
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The _Fort Smith Daily News Record_ noted that while Sumpter and
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McLemore were subjected to a great deal of ridicule "they,
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however, most seriously maintain that it is absolutely true, and
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their earnestness is puzzling many, who, while unable to accept
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the story as a fact, yet see that the men are not jesting."
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Are these stories to be taken seriously? If they are hoaxes, at
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least they are not so obvious as many of the tales that
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circulated during the three months of the 1897 airship scare.
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And the incidents detailed above have a certain consistency.
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Three of them note the presence of a lone young woman with one
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or two young men; two of them describe one airship occupant as
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an elderly man sporting a long dark beard.
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In two others the occupants give Sacramento and San Francisco as
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the points of origin of their flights and another mentions New
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York. These cities figure prominently in the November-December
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1896 controversies as locations either where the craft were seen
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or where they were constructed. And the business of the birds
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in the Jenny Lind report is reminiscent of M. G. Sisson's
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Greenfield, Ill., sighting.
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Even if every one of the stories is no more than a figment of some
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prankster's imagination, the fact remains that for the most part
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(the lesser part we shall examine shortly) the craft were piloted
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and PROBABLY BUILT BY HUMAN BEINGS -- as opposed to the hairy
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humanoids and golden-maned Venusians of modern flying saucer
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folklore. But who were the airship pilots and occupants? And what
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happened to their marvelous inventions?
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While 1897 newspapers printed reams of speculation about the
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mysterious inventor's identity, little of the material seems based
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on anything more substantial than rumor and hearsay. Amid all the
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nonsense, however, are several bits and pieces which ring true. One
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of these is a statement by Max L. Hosmar, secretary of the Chicago
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Aeronautical Association and presumably a reliable man.
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Speaking the day after a sighting on April 9, 1897, Hosmar told
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reporters "It was an airship. I know one of the three men who are
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in it. The ship is the customary inflated gas reservoir but the
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inventors have discovered the secret of practical propulsion. They
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can steer the vessel in any direction.
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Word reached me several weeks ago that the craft had started from
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San Francisco and would stop here for the purpose of registration.
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The object of all the mystery is to arouse great interest in aerial
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navigation and demonstrate its practicability. The trip is to end
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in Washington."
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Curiously enough, on the evening of April 15 an airship did
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appear in Washington, D. C. It reportedly approached the Washington
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Monument at an altitude of 600 feet, then sailed toward Georgetown
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and disappeared.
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About 11:00 P. M. April 19 near Beaumont, Tex., a farmer and his son
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came upon an airship in a pasture. They found four men moving
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Page 5
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around the machine and one of them, who said his name was Wilson,
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asked for and received a supply of water from the farmer's well.
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At Uvalde, Tex., 23 hours later Sheriff H. W. Baylor spoke briefly
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with the three-man crew of an airship which had alighted outside the
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town. One of them men gave his name as Wilson and said he was a
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native of Goshen, N. Y. Then he asked about a Captain Akers, whom
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he said he had known in Fort Worth in 1877 and understood he now
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lived in southern Texas. After getting water from Baylor's pump the
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aeronauts entered their craft and took off.
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A newspaper reporter located Captain Akers who said, "I can say that
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while living in Fort Worth in '76 and '77 I was well acquainted with
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a man by the name of Wilson from New York state and was on very
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friendly terms with him.
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He was of a mechanical turn of mind and was then working on aerial
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navigation and something that would astonish the world. He was a
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finely educated man, then about 24 years of age, and seemed to have
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money with which to prosecute his investigations, devoting his whole
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time to them.
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From conversations we had while in Fort Worth, I think that Mr.
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Wilson, having succeeded in constructing a practical airship, would
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probably hunt me up to show me that he was not so wild in his claims
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as I then supposed.
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"I will say further that I have known Sheriff Baylor many years and
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know that any statement he may make can be relied on as exactly
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correct."
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Another candidate for "airship inventor" is described in the _Omaha
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Globe-Democrat_ for April 10: "The indications are that John O.
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Preast of this county is the author of the mysterious machine.
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Preast is a unique character, spending his time at his country
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residence near Omaha in experimenting with airships, constructing
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models and studying all the subjects incidental to the theories of
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applied mechanics along the line of providing a vessel that will
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propel itself through the air.
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He has consumed the past 10 years in this way and the walls of his
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home are covered with drawings of queer-shaped things, some
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resembling gigantic birds, while others look like a big cigar, all
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of which he says represent models of airships. He is a man of
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superior education. He came to Omaha from Germany 20 years ago and
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his lived the life of a recluse.
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Mr. Preast refuses to admit that the ship reported in different
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sections of the state is his invention but... (it is known that) he
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told several persons that he would surprise the world with a working
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model in 1897... The two times in the past week that the light has
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been seen in Omaha it disappeared near Preast's home, hovering over
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the place and then appearing to go out."
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The most interesting thing about this Mr. Preast is how much he
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reminds us of someone else -- the mysterious C. A. A. Dellschau.
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Both men were recluses, German immigrants, compulsive students of
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Page 6
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aviation who spent untold hours making drawings of odd-looking
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aircraft.
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And who is "Wilson"? Could he be the "Wilson" of "Tosh Wilson and
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Co." to whom Dellschau refers in one of his scrapbooks? A wild
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guess, perhaps.
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Germany is involved in the airship mystery because the objects first
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manifested there in the 1850's. Unfortunately we do not have access
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to the German reports -- but how odd it is that so many German names
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crop up in Dellschau's list of men supposedly involved with the
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"Aero Club" of Sonora, Calif., in the 1850's: August Schoetler,
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Jacob Mischer, Ernest Krause, Julius Koch, A. B. Kahn and many
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others.
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Whatever the truth or untruth of Dellschau's jottings it seems
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likely that some kind of secret organization of aeronauts lived and
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worked in the United States and possibly Germany as well during the
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19th Century. The mysterious "collector of curiosities" who showed
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up in Galisteo Junction, N. Mex., in 1880 the day after an airship
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had flown over, and stole away with the evidence it had left behind
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may have been associated with the organization.
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It would have taken several dozen aeronauts to pilot the inestimable
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number of airships reported in different parts of the country in the
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1896-97 flaps.
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All of them presumably would have been involved with the society and
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sworn to secrecy, for no one ever stepped forward to answer the many
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questions raised by the sudden appearances of these airships. When
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aeronauts did speak up much of what they said was drivel, although
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there may have been some strains of truth.
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Nevertheless, no one got a straight answer from an aeronaut about
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the airship's source of power. The words "gas" and "electricity"
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dot a number of accounts and once "antigravity" crops up.
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Most airships carried both large gasbags and powerful searchlights
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but from eyewitness descriptions the craft seem to unwieldy that one
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wonders how they flew.
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Maybe Dellschau's antigravity gas, "NB," is as good an explanation
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of their propulsion as we're likely to find.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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If you have comments or other information relating to such topics
|
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as this paper covers, please upload to KeelyNet or send to the
|
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Vangard Sciences address as listed on the first page.
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|
Thank you for your consideration, interest and support.
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Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson
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Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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If we can be of service, you may contact
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Jerry at (214) 324-8741 or Ron at (214) 242-9346
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Page 7
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