Evening star. [volume], April 27, 1928, Page 5, Image 5

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
BREMEN'S CREW
HOPS FOR CAPITAL
Leave Lake Ste. Agnes With
Miss Junkers to Pay Tri
bute to Bennett.
BY C. B. ALLEN.
•t*ff Correspondent of Th<* Star sod tho
North American Newtpaper Alliance.
MURRAY BAY. Quebec, April 27.
The North American Newspaper Al
liance relief plane carrying the Ger
man-Irish crew of the junkers mono
plane Bremen, now abandoned tempo
rarily where she landed two weeks
ago at the end of her transatlantic
flight, landed on the ice of Lake Ste.
Agnes at 3:52 o'clock yesterday after
noon. following a non-stop flight of
8 hours and 45 minutes from Greenlv
Island.
She was transferred from skiis to
wheels last night and took off at 7
o'clock this morning for a direct flight
to Washington in order that Capt. Her
man Koehl. Maj. James Fitzmaurice
and Baron Gunther von Huenefeld
may lay a wreath on the grave of
Floyd Bennett in Arlington Cemetery
as their first official act in the United
States.
Will Avoid Receptions.
It is planned to keep the transatlantic
aviators away from any sort of recep
tion in the Capital. They will not even
call on the President or the diplomatic
representatives of their own country.
Their wish is to make of this visit to
Washington a pure pilgrimage of hom
age to tire man who gave his life in the
heroic efforts that were made to bring
them from isolation to civilization.
Bernt Balchcn. pilot of (he great tri
motored Alliance plane on the round
trip to Greenly Island, again was at
the controls on the flight to Washing
ton It is probable that a stop will have
to be made en route to refuel, but the
landing place will be kept secret in
order to avoid any sort of demonstra
tion.
The entire crew of the relief plane
plans to spend tonight in seclusion on
Boiling Field and fly to New York to
morrow for the welcome planned there.
Miss Junkers Aboard.
Miss Herta Junkers, daughter of the
Bremen's designer, also is in the plane
with Fitzmaurice. Koehl and Huenefeld,
as are Charles J. V. Murphy, the Alli
ance correspondent who accompanied
the plane to Greenly Island, and Carl
Wenzel, the airplane mechanic who
came here with the big plane on the
flight from Detroit. If the relief plane
had arrived here a day earlier the flyers
w’ould have gone to Washington by air
to attend Bennett’s funeral today. But
this is now impossible, as the flight of
nearly a thousand miles will require all
day.
A number of planes probably will es
cort the Alliance relief plane to her des
tination, among them a Fairchild cabin
monoplane piloted by Clarence D.
Chamberlain, New York-Germany flyer
and holder of the long distance flight
record of the world, who flew* here two
days ago and greeted the Bremen’s crew
yesterday at Lake Ste. Agnes. Chamber
lain met both Huenefeld and Koehl last
Summer after he landed in Germany,
and flew to Murray Bay from New York
to repay the many courtesies that were
shown him abroad.
Perfect Weather Prevails.
Perfect weather attended the ar
rival of the relief plane, the almost
cloudless skies being in welcome con
trast to the impossible flying condi
tions that have prevailed for two or
three days. The all-metal Alliance
monoplane was sighted approaching
Lake Ste. Agnes across the incircling
mountains at 3:45, and a shout went
up from 200 men. women and chil
dren who had come from miles around
in sleighs to see the Gennan-Iri&h
flyers and the relief plane that was
bringing them out.
Balchen flew straight across the lake
over the heads of the crowd, circled
once and came down into the stiff
breeze that was blowing, the heavy
machine settling easily on her great
Ails. C. A. “Duke” Schiller, chief pilot
of the Canadian Transcontinental Air
ways, whose base is at Lake Ste. Agnes,
took charge of the situation, ordering
the crowd to keep back, as the Al
liance ship taxied in from the middle
of the lake.
Schiller Greets Crew.
Schiller, the pilot of the plane char
tered by The Star and the North Ameri
can Newspaper Alliance, and the first
flyer to reach the stranded crew of the
Bremen, was the first to greet them as
they stepped from the cabin of the re
lief plane. Balchen and Fitzmaurice
waved to him and to the rest of the
crowd from the pilots' cockpit.
Fitzmaurice and Koehl had taken
turns at the dual controls on the flight
from Greenly with the quiet Norwegian
who flew across the Atlantic with
Comdr Richard E. Byrd last year. Both
were interested in gettiiig the "feel” of
the tn-motored relief plane in the air,
and both have struck up a warm friend
ship with the likeable Balchen.
In this connection it was remarked
that Koehl and Fitzmaurice each wore
a pair of blue and white "QB” wings
prominently displayed on their coats
when they arrived here. The insignia
of the Quiet Blrdmen, a secret fraternity
of airmen which numbers the most dis
tinguished flyers of the world in its
membership, had been pinned on the
two pilots by Balchen and Bill Winston
at Greenly Island and probably estab
lished a farthest North initiation for
this order.
Welcomed by Mist Junkers.
A / the flyers stepped from the relief
Blane they were welcomed by Miss
[erta Junkers, daughter of the famous
German airplane designer and directing
head of the relief expedition plans that
have centered about Murray Bay for
the last week; Dr. Ludwig Kempff. Ger
man consul general for Canada; John
Bcbroeder, representative of the North
German JJoyd Lines, wlio lias been Mis*
Junkers chief aide snd adviser; Louis
Gouteure president of the Transconti
nental Airways, and the ever genial
“Duse'* Schiller, Who had taken over
temporarily U»* role of master of cere
monies.
The still and movie cameramen
clamored for their chance at the flyers
and the members of the relief expedi
tion. while five Fairchild monoplanes
stood by with engines ready to rush the
pictures of the arrival to New York and
Canadian newspapers and theaters Foul
of tier latter got off aoon after the Alli
ance plane's landing Blii Win Mon and
Art; ur Caperton of Curtiss Field among
the first
All these plane* were on wheels, and
tar n one broke through the surface in*
at i*a«i one* while taxiing into position
for a take-off
Baron's Monocle in Flare.
Mueru-feld kissed Mias Junkers’ iianc
fervently as s;»e ran up to greet iii/o
Fli*> Are Coming
Get Rowdy Now
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JOY REIGNS AS FLYERS LEAVE
DESOLATE GREENLY ISLAND
- Wave Sad Farewell to Bremen and Make
1 Uneventful Trip to Murray Bay on First
Hop Back to Civilization.
The followinp article teas written by
the staff correspondent of The Star and
the North American Newspaper Alliance
on the relief plane, while en mute from
* Greenly Island to Murray Bay.
* BY CHARLES C. V. MURPHY,
* Staff Correspondent of The Star and the
. North American Newspaper Alliiuive.
MURRAY BAY, Quebec, April 26.
s As I write this. Greenly Island becomes
' a flattening mound against a white sea.
. a tawdry, indistinguishable gray-green
- mass, pressed out of vision by weight
r of heavy lowering clouds. Thus does it
t already seem to fall again into its un
happy destiny, a peril to navigation.
> whose sole Justification to exist is to
i support a lighthouse to warn sailors
‘ from its cutting rocks.
Spotlight Changes.
j The spotlight of relative importance
[ flickered there for 14 days, and now it
| passes down the Belle Isle Straits to the
1 drumming cadence of airplane motors.
The smiling Irishman and the two Ger
mans are riding to civilization at 90
miles an hour. And down below, so
far below and behind that we can no
longer see them, two dozen sullen-faced j
men. who lack imagination to under
stand the forces that underlay the sud
, den interest of the world in them, must
be curiously watching a vanished speck
hurdling toward the horizon. Below,
too. lies the Bremen, the only man
made airplane to span the north At
lantic east to west, abandoned for the
moment because the harsh elements
which drove it to its lonely rendezvous
in Labrador paralyzed its motor.
Baron Gunther von Huenefeld. Maj. j
Janies E. Fitzmaurice and Capt. Her
mann Koehl. gallant crrw r of the Brr- j
men. have conceded the limitation of
oil and pistons and fuel and now fly I
on the tri-motored Alliance monoplane j
with which The Star and the North ;
American Newspaper Alliance provided j
them for their triumphant coming to ‘
New York.
Flyers Staked Lives.
Three men pitted their lives against
the Atlantic’s night and storms and. In
Capt. Koehl’s own words, “the will of
God” brought them to that island, so
small It might be environed in a couple
of city blocks.
Out of that dramatic flight and its
abrupt ending on the snow-bound coast
fate was to fashion many things.
Names such as Greenly Island, Blanc
Sablon, Long Point, mere obiter dicta
in geographical indices, were to be en
dowed with momentous importance.
The attention of a world was suddenly
to converge there, waiting expectant.
And out of it, too, was to be com
pounded swiftly urging human enter
prise. tense enough to try the stoutest
hearts, in not always successful efforts
to unlock Labrador’s unwilling doors.
Floyd Bennett, as fine a pilot as ever
held a stick, is dead. But his ship
mate Bernt Balchen. not yet 28, but
tried and tested in the crucible of a
dozen expeditionary undertakings, is
pushing his mission through, quietly,
strongly, successfully. These arc things
that flow through one-s mind half a mile
above Labrador’s ugly face of gray and
green, to the humming of the great
motors tugging powerfully into a blast
of snow that comes as eagerly to meet
them.
Balchen at Right Control.
Balchen Is forward at the right con
trol. His work-stained cap. carelessly
tops the crown of his head and a lock
of fair hair tumbles in the propeller
wash. A red jacket sits up straight
beside, Maj. Fitzmaurlce, commandant
of the Irish Free State air force, care
lessly contemplative of the horizon. He
can be carelessly contemplative, be
cause this Is the third time he has been
over this monotonous route. But his
colleagues cannot rest. They are all
eyes.
The baron's monocle swee)» the
landscape Incessantly, and Capt. Koehl.
with a smile that will be as famous
as Lindbergh’s before he leaves this
country, is pointing, gesticulating,
shouting In a most incomprehensible
admixture of French, English and Ger
man.
The Alliance plane presses Its nose
into the storm and Visibility tapers
down to a matter of yards. The howl
of the motors rises and falls. Must
this incubator of foul weather once
more prove mightier than stout effort?
But the quiet Norseman never looks
back. His eyes are fixed ahead. Per
haps it Is dramatic. Perhaps it does
thrill these men who have flown across
the Atlantic. Yet the thrill and the
drama, It seems, was concentrated in
the few minutes before and after the
1 departure.
t
i Decide to Take-Off.
t
The decision that the Bremen’s crew
; should fly down In the Alliance plane
was reached last night,. The Bremen
would be left here for the moment. In
time, probably an soon as the Ice In the
bay straits broke, its crew would come
back for her. More Important. lmm<*-
diately, however, seemed the necessity
■■in i ■ "fffmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmummfmmmmmmmmm
i His ever-present monocle was in place
: and he was as fastidious as he could be
i in his rubber boots, a flannel shirt and
■ the blue serge uniform and cap of the
North German Lloyd Lines, in which he
had made the transatlantic flight.
Koehl also was In rubber boots and
had on a blue suit, but wore a tie
and a white collar—or one that had
i been white—and a leather helmet,
s Fitzmaurice was in the khaki uniform
I of the Irish Free State air force and
- .'.heepfckin flying moccasins. His tunic
r * a * topped, however, by a brlßht red
■ jacket, which Every one thinks is a
1 part of the Irish airmen’s uniform,
1 out in reality is a warm hunting Jacket
5 loaned him by "Duke" Schiller, He
s i* the gayest member of the Bremen’s
* crew in point of apparel
5 Abbe ffavard of trie lake Ste. Agnes
r Parish made a brief speech of wel
” come before the flyer* walked In from
the ice, using the French patois spoken
1 here. Huenefeld replied in French
fc and the party then was escorted to
' 'he hangar lor refreshments by Mayor
* Hersri Dauteuil of the parish of Lamal
\ bale of Murray Bay, as It appear* on
' English maps
1 i The flyers stayed in seclusion last
1 night In keeping with their determlna
-1 tton to participate In no receptions
8 until they have paid tribute to the
memory of Bennett.
i Ooi/xrieM UC.H in *ll nninliiM 0* Nerth
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- THE EVENING STAB. WASHINGTON, T). CV FRIDAY, 'APETL* 27, 1928.
I (hat its crew should pay the long de
i ferred respects to New York and thfi
| United States.
Dawn broke sluggishly. The skies
were all dull gray ns a lumberman's
shirt. One could not see Greenly Island
3 miles away. Five of us sat in the
kitchen of Alfred Cornier’s cottage at
Long Point, listening to the lnarticu
lating mumbling of his telegraph in
strument and staring hopelessly at the
skies.
Smokes Last Cigarette.
Maj. Fitzmaurice leaned against the
wall, miserly cherishing his last ciga
rette. the last cigarette to be had In
miles.
The Germans and the Norseman
pulled on their heavy coats and trudged
j up the mound to the Blessed Virgin
< behind Long Point, to better see the
sky. It was not yet 5 o'clock. Quebec
i time, but this little bit of activity was
already energizing this village of 22
families. The rude shacks tumbled
forth round-shouldered men, muffled
m dark, cheap clothing. Through
sUashy winding paths they stumbled to
the Alliance plane, where Ernst Koep
pen, the Junkers mechanic, went over
j the motors with the precise eye of a
master mechanician. Hour later, the
three men came back. "It is settled ”
said Koehl, in that slow, hesitating
way of one who is not certain of a
new language. “We shall go.” The
barons face held a wide smile which
uncovered his widespread teeth, and
he nervously began to pack his duffle
bag. ' Right ho,” agreed Fitzmaurice,
as Irish in Labrador as he must be on
, the flying field at Baldonncl.
Pack Quickly.
i It didn't, take long to pack. Some
how or other, the major had gathered
I what he called the transatlantic flying
j officer s wardrobe, a toothbrush, a comb
j and tooth paste, vanishing cream, to
i lessen the bite of the Arctic sun. and a
j fountain pen for his extemporaneous
journalistic work. These he crammed
Into his pocket. The baron looked rc
luctantly at his spats. This climate and
the slush had not been easy on them.
Where they must have once been re
freshingly speckles* and suave they now
were shoddy and stained. So, too, were
his low-cut shoes.
“I shall change.” he said, smiling.
Into my costume transatlantic.” In M
Comier’s parlor he doffed his shoes,
spats and socks and changed to fisher
men's rubber boots. But the monocle
remained tight, seemingly as fixed as
Gibraltar, in his eye.
Balchen Carries Bag.
Balchen came trudging out of the
green and white two-story dwelling of
Jean Vatoir Le Gresly, show place of
Long Point, with a heavy bag on his
shoulder.
There was little ostentation. Indeed,
there could be none, for the people of
Long Point are simple. We shook hands
with John Jones. Fred Jongas, Jacques
La Point and others remembered sim
ply as “the man with the mustache who
talks so much.” “the man who fell in
the water,” and “the man who shot the
seal.”
At exactly 9 minutes after 7, after
taxiing the plane across the bay, Bal
chen lifted the big monoplane from the
ice flow and nosed it into the West.
Would we pass without a valedictory
after all this? Must Greenly Island, to
attain which brought so much punish
ment to mind and body, slip into the
horizon without tribute?
Balchen Romantic Figure.
For all this unassuming detachment,
his rare ability to see and never show,
the quality of understanding and
romance dwells deeply in Balchen’* set
eyes. As the plane shot across the
island at nearly a mile and one-half
a minute, he depressed the control stick
and the plane shot down Into a swift
salute. Hats were raised. The baron s
mouth opened In a wide, but soundless
exclamation, lost in the din of the
motors, and the captain waved his
hands frantically.
“Gutby, Greenly Island.” There was
an unexpected sincerity to this display
For 14 days they had dwelled there.
It had proved a haven to them when
death seemed close, inescapable. But
they were glad to leave It. Now. as if
by signal, all eyes turned to labrador,
to the little colony of houses clinging
to the rock-coarsened slope, and then
down to the edge of the ice. There lay
the Bremen in the lee of a snow wall
a jade wUng in a crystal setting, its
snout of a now pointing out toward
Newfoundland.
I do believe the baron's eyes came per
il? 118 .!! close to tears that moment, and
r£ ofi ?L. short and *tocky, clambered on
the little seat in the mechanic’s cabin
to see.
The baron's frail figure lengthened
m Prussian erectness. His hand came
up smartly in salute.
“Bremen, my Bremen,’’ his voice car
ried above the howl of the motors, “you
has carried us far und ve shall come
back for you.” He watched It until it
could be seen no more.
Only the night before, when it be
came necessary to recognize that the
Bremen was not In condition to be
flown at once, he had protested: “With
out the Bremen, it will be hard to come
to the United States. It was not we
who flew the Atlantlque. Not men. Not
alone great pilots. It was the Bremen
the marvelous Bremen.”
Snow Envelops Plane.
There is no time for sentiment. Snow
enfold* the plane and the landscape is
lost in the rush of flakes. It is neces
sary to sacrifice altitude to keep the
landmarks in view, and the sharp crests
of the mountains slide underneath by
what seem to be very few feet.
For half an hour, perhaps, the flurry
blows. Then a spot of blue widens
ahead and the monoplane cleaves
thrmifh. The grayness give* way to
light and, as the minutes go past, a bit
of gold breaks through the cloud* and
lays In flat, Irregular ribbons across the
corrugated land.
It is only to last for half an hour.
Again another bombardment of snow
And again the plane pitches .and yaws
in the wind. It is diffcult to retain
one’s footing and It becomes depress
ingly dark But the storm seems to be
revolving around us, and now It Is help-
Ing US The air speed Indicator hops
Industriously to JOO miles an hour and
flickers there.
I It Is curious to watch the reactions
of these Ihree men, whom the world has
waited SO long to greet, returning to a
nation of electric lights, and clean linen,
and telephones, and men to wait on
them. To Fitzmaurice, I fear, it is no
longer exciting. Having seen the wind
ing St, Lawrence twice, and there Is
,little change in It, he lackadaisically
awaits his turn at the controls. He
munches an uabuttered cracker, and
the baron digs into a can of bully
beef with a pocket knife, borrowed from
the lord only knows whern
Not, so disinterested is Capt. Koehl
The energy in that man is extraordi
nary. From the inner pocket of his great -
coat he has taken half a dozen maps,
great squares of papers, most meticu
lously deciphered and annotated. They
are German maps, used on the Brem
en's flight. Eagerly his eyes search the
skyline and the shore line, looking for
signs to identify the path the wandering
Bremen took that blustering day she
staggered out of Labrador and hurtled
on to find the coast. He talks excitedly
with the baron in German. The maps
and panorama are consulted, and the
compass pencils are active, but he Is
still puzzled.
Traces Path of Plane.
“I think it is there,” with a pudgy,
but singularly graceful finger, he traces
a path down the face of Labrador, from
the mouth of the Hamilton River to
Belle Isle Srtaits. “Ve come here, und
here, und here. so. Ve vere very, very
luck. Nicht wa.hr.”
Suddenly Balchen shoves his finger
toward the gulf: we all peer out. Two- ;
thousand fret below, and barely per- j
eeptible, a dark rift begins in the ice
pack and, as gracefully and as perfect
ly curved as a scimitar, it extends al
most to the horizon—3o miles away.
The ice is breaking: no one needed that
explained. It w r as what had been feared
—what had caused Balchen and Koehl
to order both planes moved the night
before from the middle of the ice be
tween Greenly Island and Long Point.
Spring is seeping into Labrador and
even the iron-clad ice must go.
Escape Breaking of Ice.
“Ve vere just in time,” shouts the
captain. “In a day oe two more, perhaps
all the ice even to Greenly Island will
be split just so. Had we chanced wait
ing two or three days, we should have
been stranded for weeks perhaps.”
“It is dangerous in the North,”
Balchen says, "to depend upon ice. It
j is ever treacherous.”
At the hilt of this natural scimitar
his prophesy seems borne out. Here the
East gale which tore out of the North
east Tuesday night had churned the
ice into rakes, tossed in splendid con
fusion. Yet when we flew here the
day before, it was as solid and smooth
as a dance floor, a perfect landing
place.
Now there are but two or three
reasonably safe landing places between
Greenly and Murray Bay. It. causes
one to marvel at the audacity of “Duke”
Schiller, who flew to Greenly first and
in a single-engined plane. One can
derive a pleasant comfort in the music
of three perfectly co-ordinated Wright j
whirlwinds.
Encounter Fair Weather.
At Natashquan we strike fair weather,
smoking fog still troops across the foot
hills. for here the mountain ranges
shelve off into the Province of Que
bec. but the skies ahead and above are
fairly clean. It is bitter cold. The
baron and the captain struggle Into
heavier jackets,
Balchen. to whom cold seems to bring
no pain, grips the wheel with unpro
tected hands. A few miles on, he
turns over the wheel to Fitzmaurlce,
and the flying Irishman, immediately
finds himself in difficulty In very
bumpy air.
Though there Is little enough to do
now, the passage is not without its
comedy. The captain produces a mon
ocle—a yellow glass from a pair of sun
glasses borrowed from a native, and de
lights in a gross burlesque of the baron,
who pays no heed and dozes on the
cushions.
Difficult Flying.
An hour of flying—lt is punishing to
handle the big plane In the bumpy
weather—-and Koehl scrambles into the
control cabin to take his turn. It is
easy to see he loves flying, and he and
i Balchen seem to be enjoying themselves
hugely. The Norweigan Is explaining
the operations, and they talk in Ger
man, a language in which the pilot
of the relief plane is remarkably pro
ficient. Fitzmaurice seta his hat for
ward on his head and slumps to the
floor, to sleep. Koeppcn, the mechanic,
who has been laying along the board
over the two emergency gas tanks In the
fuselage, comes forward and begins
vigorously to work the hand pump with
which the wing tanks are replenished
i from the main tanks.
Take Turns at Pump.
And that was the end of Joy riding.
After that, and throughout the journey,
we all took turns lifting and depressing
a ridiculously small pump handle until
the arm muscles were sore. Particularly
energetic was the baron. "Let me do
it," he insisted, “I know how.” He was
a real shipmate, and though I whs
freezing cold and he a guest, he would
have nothing of rest. And when the
■ captain finished his trick, he wrnt bac k
to his maps. He must be an extraordi
narily good cross-country flyer. He
picked the course as if It were a memo
rized book.
The baron once more Is buttering
crackers, sprlngllng them with corned
beef, and passing them to each of us.
Maj. Fitzmaurlce, who seems to have
the appetite of 10 men, looks for an ex
tra snack for his and makes the la
mentable discovery that the meat is all
gone.
Baron Produces Sandwiches.
“Vait,” says the baron. He scrambles
Into the fuselage and returns holding a
paper bag by Its throat. He tears cut
four sandwiches.
ill Wise 'Brothers '
1 Chevy Chase if
|! Dairy I
1 ? 1
PHONE WEST 183
Switchboard Snrvie#
rmmTnTii iT -
#»"' - ——— -
“Three days old. but gut.” he offered
them, and no one refuses.
“Gut, sehr gut,” says the captain,
rubbing his belly.
"I'd exchange this coat for a puff
on a cigarette,” says the major. He
stares dispiritedly at the endless ex
panse of white and gray that ebbs be
neath the wing. One can think of only
one description of this Winter land
scape of plunging precipices and stunted
peaks and spotted snow. It Is as if it
had been a battlefield, which the wheels
of giant chariots had churned Into
shapelessness.
Murray Bay Sighted.
The hours troop past, and the air be
comes so bumpy that a typewriter will
not remain on the gas tank, where it
leasts. Still we are getting nearer. The
baron and the captain are watching
their timepieces. Balchen points to a
peak far ahead, Murray Bay. Another
cheer bursts from the two Germans.
The captain reaches for the glasses
around his throat, and searches the
sky.
We are over the Lake Ste. Agnes, and
we see a great line drawn across the
ice. to guide us past the sections where
Spring suns have melted it and made it
unsafe. A mass of pudgy figures swells
out from the shore.
“Oh. diss is gut., very gut,” shouts the
captain The baron waves a hand.
Within the rim of mountains which
cup the lake, Balchen spins the mono
| ilano almost on its wing—the typewriter
i ts slipping.
We are down. A beautiful landing,
and the hungry photographers are al
ready lined up.
"Hurry,” says the captain. And they
piled out over the gas tanks, out on to
the snow r .
(Conyriirht 10’JK. in .til countries by the
Norlh American Newspaper Alliance.) ,
PHILLIPS-EXETER
ALUMNI BANQUET
James Arthur Tufts, Instructor
for 50 Years. Is Honored
on Birthday.
James Arthur Tufts, instructor in
English at Phillips Academy of
New Hampshire for the past 50 years,
was honored at the annual meeting and
dinner of the Southern Alumni Associa
tion last night at the Army and Navy
Club. Howe Totten, president, presided.
Principal speakers, who aided in eu
logizing Prof. Tufts, included Senator
Moses of New Hampshire and Repre
sentative Morton D. Hull of Illinois,
both graduates of the academy, and
Lewis Perry, principal. It also was the
occasion of Prof. Tuft’s seventy-third
birthday. A birthday cake was pre
| sented.
i Howe Totten was re-elected president
and Constant Southworth was re-elect
ed secretary-treasurer. Walter I. Mc-
Coy, justice of the District Supreme
Court; Henry B. Jacobs. Herbert A.
Smith, Frank A D>rd, Wilbur Thing
and Milton E. Roberts were elected vice
presidents.
Members of the executive committee
elected included James A. De Force,
chairman: Mowry Saben. C. M. Hester.
J. Curtis Walker, G. Adams Howard and ,
Theodore Vaill.
Those present were: F. K. Barbour,
H. P Blair. W. D. Brookings. W. D.
Brookings, jr.; E. F. Colladay, J. A. De
Force, W. P. Harman. J. A. Hill, G. A.
Howard, M. D Hull. G. H. Moses, R. R.
Perry, jr.: I. M. Saben. H. A. Smith, C.
Southworth, R. L. Underwood, Howe
Totten, T. Vaill. J. C Walker. G. S.
Ward. V. S. Ward. C. M. Hester. J T.
Roberts. Perry Lewis and James A. j
Tufts.
ADJUSTING OF PROPELLER
DELAYS JUNKERS PLANS
Sister Ship of Bremen to Come to
Capital for Return Hop
of Flyer*.
By the Associated Pre*».
CURTISS FIELD, N. Y.. April 27.
Delay In adjusting a new propeller to
the Junkers monoplane F-13, sister ship
of the Bremen, prevented its taking the
air today to convoy the Bremen crew
on its way to Washington.
The F-13 was stripped of Ha pro
peller in an attempt to refit the Bre
men so that it could continue its
tight from Greenly Island, but engine
trouble forced the Bremen crew to con-
I tinue its flight in a Pord relief plane.
The F-13 will fly to Washington to
morrow morning and will be offered to
the Bremen flyers for their flight from
the Capital.
TO SHOW CANYON FILMS.
Col. C. H. Birdseye to Exhibit Pic
tures Taken in Colorado.
One of the features of the annual
banquet of the Corinthian Yacht Club,
to be held at the Columbia Country
Club tonight, will be the showing of
pictures by Col. C. H. Birdseye of the
Geological Survey. These pictures were
taken by Col. Birdseye during a recent
trip through the Grand Canvon in
i Colorado in bateaux with outboard
motors.
Edward Colladay, Republican na
tional committeeman for the District,
will be toastmaster. The committee
in charge of thr banquet is composed
of Past Commodore C. E. Ingllng, Gar
diner P. Orme and Nelson Thomas.
TERRIFIC GALES
DELATE;. HOP-OFF
Decision to Leave Bremen on
Island Hard on Baron
von Huenefeld.
, (The delay in taking off from Green
ly Island and the reasons why the Bre
men was left behind arc explained in
the following dispatch, written on
Wednesday, but held up in transmission
by bad weather and meager wire I
facilities. It was received in New York,
only after the flyers were safe at Mur
ray Bay.)
fly Stuff Cnrrr'Knnnitant of Th>> Star ami the
North American Newspaper Alliance.
GREENLY ISLAND, April 25.—The
elemental furies of Labrador today
thrust a rude hand across the southeast
path of the now consolidated crews of
the Bremen and The Star and the
North American Newspaper Alliance’s
relief plane at a conference last, night
in the lee of the big tri-motored mono
plane. The decision was formed that
the Bremen would be abandoned for
the moment and its crew of three should
fly to New York with us In the Alli
ance plane.
We were to leave this morning at
dawn. Then out of the east howled a
terrific gale, and by midnight It had
reached a velocity of 40 miles an hour.
It shook the little house In which we
were staying until it trembled, and it
brought doubt to Balchen, the pilot of
the relief p!ane. Awakening Ernst
Koeppen, ihe Junkers mechanic, and
Eugene Thibault, mechanic for the Ca
nadian Transcontinental Airways, he
slipped out of the house and hurled his
strength against the storm.
Worked More Than an Hour.
For more than an hour the three of 1
them leaned against the gale in dark
ness, making last the tri-motor ship.
The bitter cold was ruthless. Mittens '
gave the nands no protection. Wind- j
swept ice stung the face and choked
the eyes and throats.
But the job had to be done and the
relief plane was made fast and safe in
the ice of a 10-foot snowbank of the
mainland of Labrador.
With that effort Greenly Island—a
treeless soil impoverished hump of
rocks and mud in the Gul of St. Law
rence, rising suddenly between Labrador
and Newfoundland—fell from the high
place it has held in the news of the
world and took again Its old identity of
an island w'hose sole support is a light
house to warn sailors from its knife-like
rocks. Three hours before we had moved
the Bremen from its runway in the
center of the ice floe to the safety of
Lonf Point. A slowly rising wind left
no alternative. Everything that could
be done had been done, but the motor
still balked Too long had it been left
to Labrador’s climate. Not even the
splendid motor that had powered the
monoplane for 35 hours across the At
lantic could endure that.
Gale Becomes Storm.
The gale became a storm. The wind
shifted to the northeast and brought
suffocating snow, so thick that it stran
gled the beams of flashlights into glows.
One could not see his hand before his
face. It brought punishment to most
of us except Balchen, who seemed to
relish it. The broad shouldered pilot, i
veteran of four Arctic expeditions, fair- !
ly gloried in the storm.
As we struggled to get back to the
two-story green and white house of
John Legresley he said, “That air 1s
good to breathe.” The correspondent
. shivered, clutched his leather tunic to
| his throat and would have swapped the
entire coast for a suit of Winter under
! wear.
It is not easy to tell about the deci
sion to leave the Bremen behind too
closely. Its fate is wrapped about with
the sentiments of Capt. Koehl, Baron
von Huenefeld and MaJ. Fltzmaurice.
It was not they who first flew across
the Atlantic from East to West, no, no,
they insist, it was the Bremen—the
magnificent Bremen, and what there is
of glory belongs to the Bremen.
Engine Compression fails.
But it became clear yesterday that
the Bremen cannot be restored to fly
ing condition for many weeks. The
motor itself was in perfect condition,
yet it could not hold compression. If
the propeller was turned once yester
day it was turned 500 times, and back
muscles protested against the task.
But before the spark could do its job
the benzol fumes oozed through the
cylinders past piston rings and valves
where oil could not penetrate and the
spark flashed into the air.
It seemed incomprehensible. Capt.
Koehl shrugged his shoulders. “I can
not understand, monsieur." he repeated
many times. The thin lips of Baron
von Huenefeld worked despairingly.
“The Bremen is a fine ship, she will go
—she must go,” he said.
MaJ. Fitzmaurice, in whom fatalism
Is the designating belief, merely waited
for the inevitable decision. It was in
evitable then that, the fact should be
recognized. From 2.200 miles away had
come the crew of the North American
Newspaper Alliance’s relief ship to
bring aid to the Bremen.
Everything humanly possible had
been done.
Across the red-checkered tablecloth
in the workroom of Alfred Cormier’s
house five men sat down to discuss the
problem. The baron, the captain, the
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major, Dr. Culslnier and the corre
spondent for the North American News
paper Alliance.
Cormier Is the telegrapher here, and
the Instrument on the table chattered
desperately all the while. “The me
chanic,” Interpreted Dr. Culslnier,
“says we can do no more. It, will be
necessary to take down the motor and
grind the valves, and how long will that
take?"
Capt. Koehl says it will take at least
two, maybe three, weeks. The baron’s
slender shoulders sagged. He had mort
gaged his life to prepare the Bremen.
There was no grandstand play to his
sorrow. His head bowed and he cupjied
his sloping hatchet-like forehaed in his
hands. Then his monocle flashed In
I the lamplight. His hands swept out.
“We shall leave behind the Bremen
today,” he said. “We shall accept your
kind offer to fly the Alliance plane to
New York. My comrades say yes, too.”
He looked at them intently. They
were agreeable.
Will Return Later.
“Then when we have paid our re
; spects to your great country,” the baron
added, "we shall return for the Bremen
—our wonderful Bremen —and we shall
fly it to New York.”
Perhaps it will never be realized what
these three men went through here.
Cosmopolitans bred, they have not
: found them to enjoy here. For three
days, I have just learned, the baron lay
ill in the lighthouse, suffering Intense
pain, but his determination never flag
ged.
“If the Bremen can fly back soon, I
shall wait for her.” Maj. Fitzmaurice
quotes him as saying. “She is my ship.”
To concede that it was impossible
now was hard, for the spirit of com
promise does not dwell in the baron's
mind.
At this moment the Bremen lies in
the shelter of a snow hummock, half
a mile from here. The storm is pass
ing, and it can be seen quite plainly.
A ghostly greenish bird against the
white landscape Snow has whirled
about Its wheels and buried them al
most to the top. A great piece of can
vas is wrapped about its nose, but the
propeller sent on the relief plane was
taken off this morning and has been
f packed in the Alliance plane—the final
gesture of agreement. It will be taken
to New York and there turned over to
! the Junkers F-13, the sister ship which
sacrificed it that the Bremen might rc
! new its flight to New York.
Here the Bremen will stay until its
i crew returns. Dr. Cuisinier and Thi
j bault will stay. too. to protect it against
the curiosity of the villagers and to
make final preparations for its flight.
| They are eager to do so.
“We shall stay as long as we are
needed,” the doctor said. “You go to
New York, and I shall wait for you.”
fCooTrieht. 1»28. in all oountrien. by the
North American Newspaper Alliance. 1
BANDIT FLEES AS PATRON
ENTERS TAILORING SHOP
Intruder Frightened Off After
Threatening Proprietor
With Pistol.
Frightened when a customer appear-
I ed, a bandit ran from the tailoring
i shop of Charles Gerson, 1210 Thir
teenth street, last night without getting
anything, although he had pulled a
pistol on the proprietor and demanded
his money. The hold-up man was
colored and wore a blue handkerchief
knotted about his face.
Police are investigating also a case
reported by Frederick T. Ridgeway, 618
Third street, who stated that two
armed white men entered his room
Wednesday night, threatening him
when he awoke, and getting away with
two billfolds containing $44 and his
driver’s permit.
-
PEPPER MAKES APPEAL
FOR CATHEDRAL FUNDS
Former Senator Speaks at Dinner
to Promote Money for San
Francisco Edifice.
Organized Christianity must use the
parish church to serve a permanent
family group and the cathedral to serve
large masses of people who have no
parish church affiliation, former Senator
Pepper of Pennsylvania said last night
in an address at a dinner held at the
Mayflower Hotel to promote the build
ing fund of Grace Cathedral, San Fran-
I cisco
"Churches, like railroads, banks and
! insurance companies, must express
themselves in a dramatic way.” Mr
; Pepper said. ’They must house their
i activities in worthy buildings ”
He added that $45,000,000 was not
I considered too much money to put into
a battleship. He pointed out that the
| money necessary for cathedrals was
extremely small considering their span
! of life.
• Other speakers were Representative
I Free of California. Judge George E
Crothers and H C. Wyckoff. Secretary
of the Navy Wilbur presided.
Files Suit for $20,000.
Alleging that he was detained for an
hour on a false charge of having
taken a salt shaker from Childs’
Restaurant, 1423 Pennsylvania avenue
June 5. last. Albert I. Lapkoff, 608
Otis place, has filed suit against the
Childs Co. for $30,000 damages. He
asserts that the false accusation has
humiliated him and injured his repu
tation. He is represented by Attorneys
IR. E. J. Whalen and M. Marcus
Manning.
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