| Show o A Fortune Flies While Its Owner Tries Pathetic Career Canel oI of Count Ferdinand Z Who Spent hal in To Construct a Pr and Who ow W Finds Destitute nd Dependent on I Sp Special Correspondence Dee Dec is III at B least one person In this the tho bearer moreover of tl a his historic to whom the recent achievements ot of Santos Dumont and the tho Wright brothers must have been especially galling and that person Is Count l References to 10 this German experiments with airships and dirigible blo ble balloon cannot tail to have been noticed by American newspaper read ers era but they may not know how truly the term a 11 martyr to science up plies to him The Tho venerable counts story mil ha C summed up In a single has hns sacrificed ced halt Ii a century ot of time his wealth his estates estale h hits r his happIness family hife In i to solve the problem ot of flying ANCIENT Count Zeppelin belongs to n a very ancient of tho th German no nobility HIli ancestors were doughty knights ot of Mecklenburg 1000 rears ears ago and the UIO name of Zeppelin ha been beon prominent In Gorman German and Aus Austrian trian history durIng all the IntervenIng lug Ing centuries The Tha senior branch of the family resides In Austria anti and the tho branch which separated from the tho senior branch about years ago ngo resides In Germany Gennan Count Ferdinand Zeppelin Inherited as his birthright II a magnificent landed estate at In the kingdom of together with n a rest resl deuce at Stuttgart and other landed property In Switzerland Ills father was just an ordinary nobleman and ho himself vas brought up In a 11 way that wai suitable lo for the tho scion of such an ancient house bouBe nut But at an carl early age ho showed tl a remarkable for fOl certain forms torms ot of mechanical Imon tion All his ancestors had been var and statesmen but ho he was en endowed lowed dowed with all an inventive genius lenIus When hen n ct youth Ins instead tend ot of the tho arm Irm anti lIving the tho lo life ot of IL a ga gay young nobleman ho devoted his time timeto mechanical to experiments and scion Iclon sudy UllY HIs father despaired ot of him and lila hili mother rl regarded him as a lunatic Ills HIli follow noble lion ridiculed lila his efforts and even oell his inferiors In rank pointed him out ns as the tho aristocrat who abandoned nil all the tho tn tastes and pursuits ot of the aristocracy racy III order to devote himself to the Iho ta task k of Inventing m machines D AND MOCKED Jho o who hio knew that It was wal the tho problem or of aerial navigation that thaI was vas lila hie hi hint with mocked at his hili craze ome for rOl It must ho he remembered that when whon Count Ferdinand Zeppelin bo be boHall Hall gail his hili to 10 the Iho problem of aeronautics wore vore far tal from flom being so advanced ItS as at t the tho present lay I IIlo lie Ilo to tho ho of oC hn ha was as IS 18 year of age In the tho 1856 I To of Ito world tut 1111 It was 50 O years ngo ago ono uno CUll can how Count hins tl to hla hiI WIIO In their in 11 tunc fit ney were WOlO It a toi tines hues wore few fow timid tar bo be between tween hero thelo were no electrio rail railways ways pa cain no no wireless telegraphy anti ninny othol thinKs which wo we nil as IL mutter of not exist It Is therefore rully that Count F him rather as u IL than all as n a genius His earliest experIments were weN na naturally crude and elementary In char character acter Nevertheless Count Zeppelin with an indomitable perseverance wurth worthy himself tolled toiled on year ear after attel year lI nuver ver seeming to get INt any Ut nearer his aim hut always working and studying and experimenting with without out cessation rho rhe first DAue In his career ot of re mc arch was caused by lila his marriage at thc tho age of 31 to II a noblewoman belonging to one mo ot of the ancient Gor Ger aristocratic families residing In Inthe the Iho Baltic provinces of Russia This lady Indy recognized that young oung Count Zep WitS not Ii a crank nor a man to tobo toh bo h ridiculed but a 1 loncer of II a new era ern who might easily achieve the tho tamo famo ot of being the first man to show other men how to fly in the tho all air She Sho foil Coli In lovu lovo with lie tho count and with his In ambitions and they were wed dod In Berlin In the pre presence nce of all al tho members or o families Th The counts relations tIle wo would veen een train hI eccentrIc wa ways s But In this respect they thoy were disappointed The Tho marriage Itself and honc honey moon Interrupted for tor n a time Count devotion to hIs work but within II a year ear of thu tho wed wedding hag ding lla day ho he vaa again hard lit at work worlton on the tho solution of the problem aided and encouraged by his young oung wire wife Year b by year car ani an still tho th aria aris aristocratIc mechanic continued to con all sorts of lying contrivances that for fOl the tho most part refused to 11 fly Ho He and his hili wife were fully agreed that ho should devote his whole life to the ot of teaching mankind how to fly 1 But times were bad and the tho cost or of constructing all 1111 sorts BOrts of balloons and aerial machIns began to consume consumo moro more mone money than thao tho ho count received In the form fonn of revenues from rein his es estates tates His r resources were further taxed by expensive journeys to aris London and other In order to watch the progress made mado by other othor In those places anti to con confor tel for with them regarding the tho great problem Soon In III his unbounded en enthusIasm for the cause Count Zeppelin and his equally enthusiastic countess began to sell their estates In order to provide the funds for carrying all on his First of 11 alt they sold Bold their estate at al und and the tho money moy obtained to su supply ply the lie needs of the muse cause for severn several I years yean But as time went on expenditures In Increased creased amid the tho revenues of Count Z Zen II other othor estates C il ils s the they wore forced to soil sell more marl moreland land and more houses and still moro more moreland In land 1111 and still moro more houses Finally after man many years there came camo a when the they were nero forced to taco ruin timid destitution They hind had sold bit after bit bito I oe o lund and hit bit after hit bit of their heir prop erty until the they had literally nothing In Inthe the tho world wend except the UIO genIus of tho count and tIlt or of lila his wIfe But It was WIlS not only I e which san In their ot at knowledge about aerial navigation Count hos successive hying machines were tested nt at the of his own life lito He firmly 1 In theIr and buoyancy and aboard them with perfect confidence Ico In the result rosult or of ortho lie tho trial trips On one occasion he felt fell from n a height or of 40 feet but hlll happened to alight on some pricklY bushes I which broke hIs bitt fahland but covered his hili holl body with wounds On un other occasion lie ho tell felt rota U II height hut but again had time tho good fort fortune uno to alight on soft soH I earth without sustaining III moro more 1 a broken unit On unit half a dozen oc ocI occasions I lie he snore or less son ous a while imis FORTY FUTILE After something like liko 40 to futile attempts to construct II a successful Count ho this particular bronchi h hof of his task devoted hl his energies to tot t the hu construction o a airship his ifill own mooney no longer to carry out this grea work ane and lie ho was obliged 1 to 10 borrow all the tho necessary from friend and who his formel cramer tail tires ure stilt hUll had faith in III his hili erected lit mit on oil Luke timid h bone ro Count Coun Zeppelin Constructed his lint first great greut airship It tool bolt time tho form torm of II balloon of hinge dimensions to which was attached the airship The Tho airship was 11 with powerful mn m tors anti with II a steering nl apparatus rho rhe hal loon was intended to give glo the aIrshIp buoyancy while the tho motors acting In combination with the tho steering tue were wele Intended to drive It In any di direction direction Thu Tho work of constructing the tho airship lasted hasted nearly tour four yeara and the trial trIps took In Inthe the vicinity of In tha lie fall ot of lEO 1900 The airship was not only Intended for aerial navigation but WIlS constructed In such n a WIl way that If It chanced to alight on water Ilter It would float as buoyantly IlS as any ordinary ship consequently there was no danger In maneuvering above Luke Constance O ON A CA CALM t DAY The rho first trial trip was spade on a calm da day and appeared to lie be success successful tul ful the tho airship rose to II a good height alit up so far as could be Judged from app appearances maneuvered freely treely and to the helm But appear appearanCes aztecs anCes were deceptive The Tho second trial ended In one accident and tho thia third trial trip resulted In another ac there thore was WIlS any wind at nil alt maneuvering became impossible and the steering apparatus broke broko down After a number of unsuccessful tests In 1900 Count Zeppelin announced thuit ho he would resume his voyages lu In the followIng year and that he would cur curry curry ry out the necessary improvements I durIng the winter But Bul when thu tho next year came caine the airship WIlS still II a fall I f fure tire ure Finally It was WIlS broken up and cast away as a worthless curiosity The count who hall had then reached the age of oC 63 was In deep despair antI his wife was WIlS likewise keenly distressed at atthe the tho failure of his hili lifelong efforts Ho He publicly announced that ho had decided ed to abandon hits his efforts to solve the tho I problem ot of aerial navigation and that I ho ti would retire to live seclusion In for tor forthe the remainder ot of his days Ho He pen red froni the public view for a time but apparently ho could find no peace In inactivity tar for soon afterward lie he was again at al work money In order to construct another airship NOW LIVING IlU During the tho few fow years of hili lii life lie ho has been living very cry humbly on un an made to him b by wealthy relatives and has hns been a cottage In a remote vil 11 hugo In Germany German where living Is Ismore more than cheap lie succeeded In cot eol the tho necessary funds for tor the tho thon I p n i I uv u Ut flIp u I I V un fulL was WIlS completed In the tho full fall of thIs year Previous to his trial trip Count Zeppelin declared that It if lie he failed on this occasIon lie he would terminate lila his b by blowing put out his hili brains rho trIal trip nil took place In Sep September September and like 0 the tho correspondIng trial trip six years ears ago aso a comparative success hut But the tho following trips were al also o like the tho corresponding trIps six years car ago comparative failures and the and the tho gear tailed to work c moro more the trial trips have hao been heeti until next year In order the count mil may devote deoto the tho winter to elaborating hl his Improve These trips wore were watched ly by bythe lythe the king ot or amid by a din dis company or of expert nero It II In III a tact act to have to 10 re 10 record cord carll that the they nn an verdIct oti thai tho creation or of Zeppelins genius The airship according to their opinion Is nothing moro born than n a balloon with witha superfluous a apparatus attached to It to the tho desired ott oll J ct Jt It is III practically certain that titter 50 O years or of l punt Is to complete failure Thoro Is un unspeakably trag 1 it In tIme tho rate ot of Jils hi uris lifter hIs estates amid lId his hili after lila his wife to 10 destitution au amid I hl hut 10 and after or oe nil all the rood good things or of thiN thIM life alit tInts thull transformIng himself train II a ot of the Iho into 1110 a 11 oil time Iho char charIt It II M f relatives Ito ho will he 10 to 10 that hili lii life or of hither ha been lii In fIll multi that his hili gray hairs will hIlI Iho rivo In or orrow row over th utile or of ml ought ht hll have licen II a brilliant career In outer spheres ot lit activity O |
