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Show J SECOND MAN James Ward Leave s New York City to Cross I f the Continent ! ? 3 New York, Sept. 13. Work had iji barely begun thjs mornicfj In the ii 'f busy skyscrapers of lower New York . fe wlln James J. Ward lifted his bl- I mi piano from Governor's Island and I ft- started across the continent In the. I fc.' path of the sun. It was 9 08 a. m II W when the boyish aviator he Is only ly 22 years old and looks younger rose i" from the level stretch of land reft re-ft claimed from the sen at tho lower end If of the island, which offers tho best place In the city for tho start or close of a flight. Ward !b the second competitor to I try for the prize of $50,000 offered by William R. Hearst for the quickest , flight from coast to const, and the first to start on the westward route. . , To win. he muBt reach Los Angeles I or San Francisco In thirty days. f j A brisk 20-mllo breeze- from the f northwest was fluttering (the flags , over the buildings of the government j; military post and directly against it f Ward must fly for the Qrst 6tagc of jj his Journey. Starting with tho wind behind him. he turned at the lower j; end of ihe island and came humming i back, rifling high over tho bay and t heading across tho Hudson river for f Jersey City. I On tho west bank of the river he picked up the flag-decked locomotive waiting at tho Erie station to pilot him over the maze of tracks across the Hackensack marshes, then settled set-tled Into his course above the main line of the Erie railroad. His destination destina-tion this morning and his first scheduled sched-uled stop was Middleton, N. Y., sixty-eight sixty-eight mlleB away. From Mlddletown, Ward planned to a... fpllow.the Erie to Buffalo Mechanl-:' Mechanl-:' cjans with gasoline and extra parts ?S await him at Calicoon, N Y, and ; . uiioiiuuuuuuu, j. ti., null di. Llie JiLllCr place ho Hoped to spend the night s A group of about 300 persons saw $ the starL 'Among them was the avia-;h avia-;h tor's wife, who will follow him with if a pnrty of friends at 3 p. m. and ii hopes to meet him' at Susquehanna. j "I don't expect to make' much' time j" ogalnst-tha wlnd,"Ward said, whlje I ' the helpers Tvere cranking up his mall ma-ll ? 'chine. M I Just before the young aviator jump. : ed Into his seat, Major General Grant, ff commander of the department of tho y east rode up with two aides and 1 handed him a letter to the command- ll or of the military post at Los Ang-ii Ang-ii 5 ; eles. As soon as ho got clear of the isl-(i isl-(i and, Ward mounted rapidly. The air ji ' was clear and, expecting no dlfficul- , ty in picking out his landmarks, ho p ; said that he expected to make most of the journey at a. height of about 2,. i000 feet Against tho wind his fifty, horsepower horse-power engine can ntake about 45 miles an hour If tho wind changes, he will do considerably bettor. Ward !- carries fifteen gallons of gasoline, lx i enough to take him about 150 miles. - i : ( Ashbrook, N. J , Sept. 13. Aviator l Ward landed here this morning, hav- '. , Ing mistaken the Lehigh Valley rail- j J road for tho Erlo railroad. The avla- I J tor, whon ho found out where he p was, went Into the air again and re- $ traced his course toward Jersey City, ,'l where he proposed taking up his I course along the lino of the Erlo rail- 0 road for MIddletown, N. Y. , |