OCR Text |
Show AVIATOR HAS FATAL FALL Famous Anglo American Ameri-can Birdman and a Passenger Meet Instant In-stant Death at Alder-shot, Alder-shot, England Was Formerly A m e r i can Cowboy but Became British Subject London. Aug. 7. Colonel F S Cody, Co-dy, the famous Anglo-American avl ator, was killed In an aeroplane arc! dent at Aldershot today and a passenger pas-senger he was carrying also met death Cody was trying out a new aeroplane aero-plane when he met his death In the machine with him was a passenger named Evans. They were flying over the open country, most of which is government land, in Aldershoi dis trict, and had just reached the e,ov-einment e,ov-einment house when their aeronlane began traveling badly and finally fell with a crash to the ground. Several officials rushed to the spot am j I found the bodies of Cody and Evans I lying beneath the machine. Cody was the most Interesting tig ure in aviation in the British Isles, He was a real soldier of fortune He was well known to the public In England and very popular. He won a sombrero a long mustache, an imperial im-perial and long hair and was almost an exact replica of "Buffalo BUI." Was an American Cowboy He came to England from the I n ted States where he had been a cov boy in the west. He had a severe struggle to obtain a start in England After living precariously for a while, he attracted the attention of ihe ex perts In the British war office on ac count of his display of natural gifts of construction, particularl v in aerin machines He was said to be able to build anything In the way of i flying machine or balloon His first experiments were mach wiih box kites. These he developed on the British military training grounds at Aldershot. He achieved such success that the British war uf-lice uf-lice attached him to i? aviation staff. Became a British Subject. His theatrical appearance and methods meth-ods created some prejudice against him, which, however, was largely dispelled dis-pelled when he foreswore American allegiance and became a British sub Ject The public In England only be gan to take him seriously when he carried off the military prize of $20,- 000 open to the world at Salsbury Plain in August, 1912. Following that triumph. Ik- huiit several machines and was constant lj experimenting with improvements All of his aeroplanes were heavy hi planes which his rivals considered crude in their construction He nevertheless nev-ertheless made successful flights with them He leaves a wife and two sons In England Evans was a member of the Indian civil service who had obtained leave of absence to come to England io studv aviation The aeroplane was flying at an altitude al-titude of between 200 and 300 feel when it fell. Members of the Royal i Plying corps removed the bodies I the military mortuary and an Inquest Is to be held tomorrow Cody's neck was broken and both of Evans' legs were tractured In the fall. Cody's sons. Leon and Frank, were 1 eyewitnesses of the accident, which was attributed by experts to fault) construction, the body of the craft proving too heavy for the uiims The machine, they say. appeared to crumple crum-ple up. the wings suddenh shooting upward and the whole structure col lapsing. |