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Show MEETS DEATH IN MID-AIR Boston, Mass., July l.MIss Harriet Quiniby of Now York, the tirst'woman to win an aviator's license In America and tho first woman to cross the English Eng-lish channel In an aeroplane, was In-Btantly In-Btantly killed with her passenger, V. A. Willard, manager of the Boston aviation meet at Atlantic tonight when her Blerlot monoplane fell Into Dorchester Dor-chester bay from a height of 1,000 feet. Tho accident happened when Miss Qulraby and Willard were returning from a trip over Boston harbor to Boston light, a distance of twenty miles In nil. The flight was made In twenty minutes. The Blerlot, one of tho latest models of military monoplanes, mono-planes, circled the aviation fields and soared out oyer the Savin Hill Yacht club, Just outsldo the aviation grounds. Turning back Into the cight-mllo gusty wind, Miss Qulu-oy started to volplane. The angle was too sharp and one of tho guests caught tho tall of tho monoplane, throwing the machine ma-chine up perpendicular. For an instant It poised there. Then, sharply outlined against the setting sun, Willard was thrown clear of the chassis, followed almost immediately imme-diately by Miss Qulmby. Hurling over ov-er and over, the two figures shot downward, striking the water twenty feet from shore. They splashed out , of sight a second before the monoplane mono-plane nlunced down fifteen fppt away. It was low tide and the water was only flvo feet deep. Men from the yacht club In motor-boats motor-boats were on the spot quickly, and leaping overboard, dragged the bodies out of tho mud into which they had sunk deeply. Death probably was Instantaneous. In-stantaneous. Both bodies were badly crushed. Several of Miss Qulmby's bones were broken and her body bore many bruises. bruis-es. Willard, who weighed 190 pounds, hit the water face first and over one eye there was a gash from which tho blood was flowing. - He, too, sustained several fractures and brulsos. The clothing of both flyers was torn and the bodies were so covered with mud that It was scvcrnl minutes before tho doctors and nurses could determine determ-ine the full extent ot the Inju.lcsj - When tho victims wcro brought a all ore in motorboats the bodies were laid en the ground on tho edge of tho aviation field. Tho crowd which had been witnessing the flights rushed i o ei , but the troop of state cavalry htld tho people back while Dr. George Sheahan, the Held surgeon, with his staff and nurses, made hasty examinations. examina-tions. In a few moments ambulances arrived and tho victims were taken to the Qulncy hospital. Flying high over head at tho time of tho fall was Miss Blanche Stuart Scott, another avlatrice, taking part In the meet which had entered upon 1 oecond day. From her high nltltudo Miss Scott hnd watched Miss Qulmby's splendid flight and wns nearby when the gust upset the monoplane. In tho excitement excite-ment of tho moment no one noticed the lone avlatrice, but when Miss Qulmby's body was brought ashore all eyes wero directed aloft and Miss Scott wbb seen making sweeping circles cir-cles over tho field at a height of about 500 feet. Twlco she started to descend, but each time sho was seen to falter. In another moment, summoning all her nerve, she turned tho lioso of her mn-chlne mn-chlne downwnrd and landed safely, col lapsing In her seat and boforo anyone could reach her. A. I.eo Stevens of New York, man-agor man-agor for Miss Qulmby, and Miss Qulmby's Qulm-by's friend, Mrs. Helen Vanderbllt, who witnessed tho accident, wero prostrated. pros-trated. Boforo going up on their last flight, Miss Qulmby and Mr. Willard wero talking and laughing with friends, Willard making Jokes about his weight and Miss Qulmby talking confidently nbouc her plans to mako an altitude rccbrd In the future thnt would stand as a woman's high mark. In crossing tho English channel on April 1C, Miss Qulmby flew at an nltltudo nl-tltudo of C000 feet, which wns be-, lleved to be tho record for women Miss Qulmby today said sho felt sure sho could beat this mark, although sho did not believe she could excel the record re-cord of 13,943 feet set by Garros. Dlscusulng tho matter of coming In to the water If the on-jlne should fall during the fllRht over tho harbor, Miss Qulmby said to a friend Just be fore she left the ground: a t.uui uiiuiuij is ml right In a Blerlot unless you come down head lirut. In that case tho heavy motor at'tno extreme forward end ot tnu iut.kUluu v.oulu urag tho monoplane atop Into the water and sink It. But it wo como down 'pancake' the broao wings would float us for two hours or more." ' I Then with a bright smile she made' this significant remark: ' i-ut 1 am a cat and 1 don't like coiu water." iutse wero among the Inst words .-..lb wuimuy said betoro leaving Uiu starting line on what proved to be her last flight. Tue monoplane, painted u pure white, dnrted at great speed over tho harbor, tho motors dovcloped a speed at times of from seventy five to ono hundred miles an hour. An examination examina-tion of tho aneroid barometer attor the fall showed that at times the daring dar-ing pilot hnd darted to a height ot G00O feet. On tho return the great machine wns seen to wobblo In tho gusty breeze. Tho setting for tho last act of tho disaster could not have been more dramatic. dra-matic. It was sunset. The great white wings swept directly Into (ho west and dipped toward tho earth. There was an upward flash of tho tall, and outlined before tho spectators In the red light ot tho west, tho figures wero seen to Bhoot from their seats into in-to tho bay 1,000 feet below. Tho powerful Blerlot, after being freed of its two passengers, glided oft gracefully Into' tho wind nnd struck the water on an even keel, then drove Its noso Into tho mud and turned over on Its back. It was recovered undamaged undam-aged except for a few broken struts and wires. After a superficial examination, some of the officials of tho meet claimed that tho rudder control wns out of order bencnth tho chassis. W. A. 1. Willard was a widower and leaves two sous nnd a daughter. His second son, W. Harry Willard, was n witness to tho accident today and it waB only tho toss of coin probably that allowed tho fatality to rest. |
