Moving Picture Health Car

Every County Had One

In 1916, movies rattled into rural North Carolina communities in the back of a souped-up Studebaker “auto-truck” called the Moving Picture Health Car.

Warren Booker, working for the Health Department, and W. C. Crosby, working for the Education Department, had created an all-in-one vehicle that could deliver lights and movies to any location, and the Moving Picture Health Car was born. Their goal was to bring health education and entertainment to poor, isolated farm families in North Carolina.

The truck was outfitted with a movie projector and a canvas screen. A gasoline engine coupled with a generator provided sufficient power for lights and the “moving picture machine.”  A Victrola offered a musical interlude to begin the entertainment and supplied suitable dramatic accompaniment to the silent films. Black-out curtains darkened the hall. A switchboard allowed the show to be run from a central location, and there was a fire extinguisher. Camping and cooking equipment were included for roughing it.

Taken from The Health Bulletin, Vol. XXXI, No. 2; May 1916

The car had a two-man staff. H. E. Hamilton, a “mechanician,” took care of maintenance and kept the Health Department up to date.  Roy Tatum, knowledgeable about medicine, instructed the audiences in good health practices.

In the November 27, 1916 News and Observer, Booker reported that it took  twenty to thirty minutes to set up for a program.  This included hanging the screen and running the cable through a door or window to the motion picture machine in the hall.

It was a big deal when the car rumbled into small out-of-the-way crossroads communities bringing “real” motion pictures and offering “intensely interesting” health information. The promise of dazzling lights and moving pictures flickering across a canvas screen inevitably drew a crowd. It was magical for isolated people, some of whom would have no electricity until after World War II.

Fairview, a tiny Wake County community, got an early look at the Health Car show. According to the April 3, 1916 Greensboro News, it was the “first moving picture show ever given in the country in this State.” The show ran for over two hours.

Each show featured five or six reels of film—about sixteen to twenty minutes each. An opener might be an uproarious slapstick comedy, a film depicting a scenic landscape in a faraway land, or perhaps a western with fast riding cowboys and lots of action. This was followed by several movies offerings health information. The conclusion was usually a comedy—maybe Charlie Chaplin in The Tramp or Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Buster Keaton in The Butcher Boy.

The purpose of the Health Car was to teach disease prevention, sanitation and hygiene. Programs highlighted topics like tuberculosis, typhoid fever, venereal disease, oral hygiene, and cleanliness. One film focused on a campaign against flies and included directions for making a fly trap that were distributed to the audience.

The lessons were embedded in dramatic action stories. One popular show was The Man Who Learned.  The herky-jerky, black and white, silent film projected onto canvas with scratchy Victrola music as the background taught a lesson about typhoid prevention through sanitary milk production. The story was gripping and the Victrola played music appropriate to the scene—intense, foreboding, or jubilant as needed.

The audience is enthralled by the action. Hearts are thumping. Eyes are wide. At the end, the important lesson has been learned.

The shows were a rousing success. Care-worn farm women in faded dresses, men in shabby bib overalls, and children bouncing with excitement and anticipation arrived at places like Pikeville (Wayne County), Mount Mourne (Iredell County), or Lemon Springs (Lee County) on movie night. They came in wagons hauled by mules or worn-out horses. One man declared it was better than a Methodist camp meeting.

The car circulated around the state visiting each of the 45 counties that existed at that time. It remained in one area for three weeks, visiting up to twelve locations each week. The vehicle carried enough films to present a fresh line-up for each return visit.

The price of the truck was $750; its extra engine and generator went for $360. It cost $90 a week to operate the car, which was paid for by the communities hosting the exhibit—usually by the local government or generous donors.

 People turned out in huge numbers. One report placed daily attendance from 450 to 900. There were times when the evening productions were moved outside because no venue of adequate size was available.          

In 1917, the state legislature appropriated $25,000 to provide a Moving Picture Health Car for each county. The cars would turn rural schools into community centers, provide health information, and bring communities together in ways they had never been before.

The cost of an outfitted car was $3,000 with $2,000 paid by the county. By late 1920, every county had a movie car.

           

African Americans had little access to modern innovations like movie cars. However, in 1919, black teachers joined the North Carolina Tuberculosis Association in the sale of Tuberculosis Christmas Seals to finance a movie car. Every county had a quota, and, in almost every county, the quota was met. Over $5,000 was raised; this was used to purchase a Dodge panel truck, a Delco lighting system, and an Atlas projector. A new movie truck hit the road.

Dr. E. T. Ransom operated the car on a circuit of one week visits around the state. Each week, he presented six to ten programs. In addition, local doctors were sometimes brought in to treat people who came to the show. In some instances, Dr. Ransom also made home visits.

During the first six months, Dr. Ransom visited twenty-five counties and recorded an attendance of 34,148. The car met with such enthusiasm that a second car was added the next year.

           

A hundred years ago, it took a vehicle loaded with equipment, driven miles over terrible roads, with electricity furnished via generator, for a farm family to see a movie. Today, we can watch whatever we want, in real time, on devices we hold in the palms of our hands. We’ve come a long way since days of the Motion Picture Health Car!

Crank the Camera

"Lost Colony" Filmed in 1921

            A town full of residents-turned-actors, $3,000 in grant funds, the hide of one ox, and other necessities were the makings of the 1921 film, Covering The Earliest English Expeditions and Attempted Settlements In The Territory Of What Is Now The United States: 1584-1591, aka The Lost Colony.

Elizabeth B. Grimball
Taken from "Women Film Pioneers"
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/
ccp-elizabeth-b-grimball/

            “Crank the camera, Mr. Peterson,” shouted Miss Grimball on the first day of filming—Tuesday, September 20, 1921. The final product was to be a five or six reel silent movie recounting the events that took place on Roanoke Island in the late 1500s filmed right there on the Outer Banks.

            The first day of shooting was pleasant, and the cast of local area residents—many of whom had never even seen a movie—went home thinking what fun it was to be a movie star.

            Not much film was shot that first day—only about 650 feet. The first scene depicted an old sailor on what purported to be the English shore telling stories about the marvelous New World to a young Walter Raleigh.  Another scene portrayed Governor White’s terrible grief when he returned to Fort Raleigh and found his daughter, Eleanor, and the other the colonists missing.

            Wednesday was slightly warmer, but still nice. However, some ill-fitting shoes began to pinch and the Manteo drug store sold out of corn plasters. Thursday was hot! The actors, dressed in velvet suits, petticoats, fake whiskers, and flowing wigs, began to lose their gusto for movie making.

            On Friday, the last full day of filming, the sun blazed down on Fort Raleigh and there was no breeze whatsoever. Virginia Dare, played by a Manteo baby, squalled at the top of her lungs, and, before the day was over, one of the overdressed ladies fainted.

            All that was left was the Indian war dance and this was filmed on Monday evening. The project, which had been months in the planning, was completed in just a few days.

A scene from the 1921 movie
The Virginia Pilot Online
https://pilotonline.com/news/article_0cd59735-5222-5672-98e9-af2846619224.html

How It Came To Be

            The movie never would have happened were it not for W. C. Crosby, Secretary of the Community Service Bureau—part of the State Department of Education—and Mabel Evans, the determined and resourceful Superintendent of Dare County Schools. (Yes, there was a female Superintendent in 1920!)         

            Crosby was captivated by movies from the get-go, and he convinced the Department of Education to produce a series of educational movies depicting historical events for the state’s schools. A $3,000 grant was awarded to finance the first movie—not nearly enough to make a full-length movie, even in 1921; but Crosby was used to making a dollar go a long way, and he set about making it happen.

            When Mabel Evans heard about the proposed project in the spring of 1921, she approached State School Superintendent Brooks to ask him to begin the visual education series with the story of Roanoke Island. He was reluctant at first, asking her if she thought there was enough talent on Roanoke Island to carry out such a large venture. Evans was able to convince him that the people in the northeastern corner of the state were up to the task.

John White’s Drawings

            Roanoke Island was a remote place, reached only by boat, with few amenities and few North Carolinians had never been there. The challenges of organizing and preparing to make a feature film in such a rugged place were staggering, but the local people rose to the occasion with vigorous enthusiasm.

            The collection of watercolor drawings done by John White in 1585 provided the filmmakers with a unique and valuable record of the original colony on Roanoke Island.  There were dozens of drawings of the fort and the Indians— their villages, their food, and their ceremonies. These drawings made it possible to present an extremely realistic view of the original settlement. 

A Lot of Work

            Planning for the big event got underway during the summer. The months of August and September passed in a whirlwind of activity. Evans wrote the script. She also recruited numerous bit players to act the parts of Indians, colonists and sailors, helped design costumes, and organized the preparation of the various scenes.

            Elizabeth Grimball, who had staged several dramas in the state, was selected to direct the movie. She chose players for the main characters: Gov. White; Ananias Dare, father of the baby Virginia Dare; Amadas and Barlowe, explorers who were sent by Walter Raleigh in 1584 to find a suitable place to start the first settlement; Manteo and Wanchese, native Americans who visited England; Eleanor Dare, daughter of Gov. White and mother of baby Virginia; Virginia Dare, Eleanor’s baby played by the squalling Manteo baby. Mabel Evans was given the part of Eleanor.

            Local seamstresses were lined up to make costumes for Indians, colonists, and sailors. Many costumes for the fine gentlemen were ordered from Philadelphia. 

           On September 9, the Elizabeth City newspaper, The Independent, described the Indian costumes: “Many untrimmed furs and skins will be utilized, and at least one ox will lose his hide in the costuming of A. J. Willis, who will represent Insinore, one of the Indian chiefs. Shredded strands of hempen rope will be dyed for Indian wigs, and beards will be made from crepe-hair, bought by the yard and dyed. For the complexion a special dye made by one of the big film companies and costing $5 a gallon will be used.”  The cost was about $1 each for the locally made costumes.

Children in 1921 movie
Village Realty Blog, 7/23/2013
https://www.villagerealtyobx.com/blog/2013/07/23/1921-silent-film-about-lost-colony-roanoke-island

            There was brouhaha over the design of the costumes of the Indian maidens. On August 5, 1921, in the Elizabeth City Daily Advance, Mabel Evans was quoted, “It makes one blush just to look at pictures of the original Indian dresses. We have decided upon certain modifications, the most radical of which will be the addition of shoulder straps.”                  

             Volunteers labored to rebuild Fort Raleigh, to construct Indian villages, and to rig a borrowed shad boat to simulate a ship of the late 1500s. Most importantly, it was necessary to remove all signs of modern civilization from the view of the camera.     

            By late August, the preparations were in high gear.  Props were being borrowed from private citizens, museum collections and, where necessary, improvised. The 150 to 200 costumes needed were almost ready.

            Miss Grimball claimed to have solved the riddle of why the colonists left. Miss Grimball had been at work in the woods on the island, “close by the site of the original Fort Raleigh and small denizens of the forest—mosquitoes, redbugs and the like—have shown her particular personal attention. She is sure that the colonists left to escape being eaten alive.”[1]

            Another amusing mishap was reported: “…A few days ago, … leaders in the [film] undertaking, made a hurried trip to Kitty Hawk Bay aboard the Gretchen … . The Gretchen was brought as close to the shore as the shallow water would permit; all divested themselves of shoes and hose and began to wade ashore.

            “As they neared the beach, the party found an underwater area covered with short grass, literally alive with crabs. Brooks, Crosby and Williamson, proceeding cautiously ahead, were making creditable speed, when they were halted by a call from Miss Grimball.

            “I’m afraid of these horrid crabs,” she said, “and I’m going to put on my shoes.”

            “No, don’t do that,” said Williamson, “you’ll ruin them. I don’t mind carrying you ashore.” Miss Grimball consented and he picked her up. 

            Williamson, who is director of mechanics for the school extension division, of the State Department of Education, is a strong man, and well able to carry a woman of medium size any reasonable distance under ordinary conditions. However, he is afraid of crabs, and in avoiding a particularly big crustacean with outstretched claws, he stepped into a hole, and partly lost his balance. The result was that Miss Grimball fell full length into the water, with a resounding splash!”[2]

The Making of the Movie

            The Atlas Educational Motion Picture Company of Chicago was contracted to film, edit and produce copies of the movie. Captain A. O. Clement, a well-know photographer from Goldsboro, was appointed the task of taking hundreds of still pictures, or “slides,” during the filming. And, of course, W. C. Crosby was everywhere, supervising everything.

            And then, at last, it was September 20 and the camera rolled—or actually, was cranked, and filming began.

The filming of the movie
Taken from "Women Film Pioneers"
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-elizabeth-b-grimball/

Watch the Movie

            The 1921 movie disappeared for many years, but in 2011 a pristine copy was found and digitized. It can be viewed at https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/51195

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[1] News & Observer, Raleigh, NC; September 16, 1921, Page 5

[2] ibid

THE “FLYING PARSON.”

  

          “The Flying Parson” is first of all a preacher. The matter of flying is secondary even though it did win for him the transcontinental air race.[1]   

            When he was 17 he began to preach.

            “And a mighty good mechanic was spoiled,” his North Carolina neighbors said, for the boy had always been “handy with tools.”

            The war brought him his chance as a mechanic, first in a munitions shop and then in the flying service. In January, 1917, he went into a shell factory.

            Then, when the United States went into the war, Maynard went in too. For 18 months he was in France, first in training for aviation and then as instructor at one of the camps. During the latter part of the time he was also preaching—helping (Homer) Rodehe(a)ver[2] with a series of meetings, addressing crowds of doughboys in “Y” huts.[3]  Sometimes he preached to his fellow flyers, and the fact that he was a good aviator made them the more willing to listen to his sermons.

Front Line Hunt
"History of the YMCA in World War I"
http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/ymca.htm

            Perhaps his simple faith had something to do with his coming home first in the transcontinental race; also certainly it had something to do with the fact that he refused to let the people from his home county [Sampson] commercialize his fame.

            To him the victory was merely an incident, a beginning, not an end. A few days after he came home from the trip he was to speak in a Massachusetts town. On the train a man was attracted by the aviator’s uniform and got to talking of his own son in the service; from that they drifted to other subjects and so they talked for the whole of a four-hour trip.

            That night after Maynard’s address the first man to speak to him was his fellow traveler.

            “Why didn’t you tell me you were the ‘Flying Parson’?” he asked.

            “I didn’t think about it,” was Maynard’s answer.

[(News and Observer) Raleigh, NC) 27 Feb 1916]

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[1] See "Flying Parson," Sampson County, NC Pilot Made Aviation History: March 17, 2016

[2] Homer Rodeheaver, an evangelist, gospel song writer and publisher, worked with the famous evangelist Billy Sunday for 20 years.

[3] General Pershing ordered the establishment of servicemen’s centers in Europe. The order stated that the Y.M.C.A. would “provide for the amusement and recreation of the troops by means of its usual programme of social, physical, educational, and religious services.”

Many Living Picture Devices

            There appears to be no end to the varieties of projecting apparatus that are being placed on the market. Here is a list of a few which are already being exhibited at the various music halls and places of public entertainment: The motorgraph, the animatoscope, the theatrograph, the kinematograph, the projectoscope, the cinemetoscope, the vitascope, the cinematograph, the veriscope, the animatograph, the viveoscope, the eidoloscope, the cinagraphoscope, the biograph, the rayoscope, the magniscope.

 [Article taken from the Eastern Courier (Hertford, NC) 16 Sept 1897]

The eidoloscope, was first demonstrated in April 1895. It was built by the Latham family. In May 1895, the Lambda Company filmed a prizefight on the roof of Madison Square Garden in New York. Consisting of four rounds lasting one minute each and punctuated by 30-second breaks, the event lasted for about eight minutes. The Lathams recorded the fight in its entirety—rounds plus rest breaks—and projected the film for eight nonstop minutes. They’d solved the problem of tension on the filmstrip.[1] It incorporated a simple solution to the film breakage problem in the form of a loop in the film before it passed in front of the lens. The jerking of the intermittent mechanism thus pulled only on this inches-long loop, not on the whole reel. This innovation would become an integral part of the modern movie camera. It is called the “Latham Loop” but was actually invented by Eidoloscope Company employee Eugene Lauste, working for a salary of $21 a week.[2]

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[1] FROM THE MAGIC LANTERN TO THE PROJECTED MOTION PICTURE: http://cinemathequefroncaise.com/Chapter1-2/CHAPTER_01_PART_02.html#F1.28

[2] THE FIGHT THAT STARTED THE MOVIES: The World Heavyweight Championship, the Birth of Cinema and the First Feature Film by SAMUEL HAWLEY (Nov. 5, 2016): http://www.samuelhawley.com/The-Fight-That-Started-the-Movies.html

PARLOR CAR —The Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad company has put on its road a handsome parlor car. It runs only between Portsmouth and Weldon. Mr. Ghio always consults the comfort and convenience of passengers over his road and he and his road are deservedly popular.

An early Pullman Parlor Car
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8388309

[Taken from The Roanoke News (Weldon, NC) 8 Jan 1880, Page 3]

A Curiosity

           “A railroad velocipede, the first ever seen here, will be brought here from Weldon (Halifax Co., NC) tonight.”[1]  After the curiosity arrived in Raleigh, the News & Observer further commented on it: “It is in charge of Mr. Doyle, linesman. He made the run from Raleigh to Cary in twenty-five minutes. The odd looking machine attracted much attention there, as well as at the depot here. It is now at Merry Oaks[2] but will be brought here in a day or two.”[3]

The History of the Velocipede

            “After a long work week, George Sheffield didn't really want to walk home. But it was the 1870s, and trains didn't run on the weekend when he needed to make the 10-mile commute from his job in Three Rivers, Michigan to home in Burr Oak. So he walked, but as he did he pondered how to make the trip easier.
            “The answer came in his invention of a ‘velocipede’ or three-wheeled, hand-powered vehicle made for travel on train tracks. Without the railroad company's knowledge, Sheffield began driving his velocipede between work and home.
            ‘One night while driving, he discovered a broken rail and alerted railroad officials in time to save a train from derailing. His unique mode of transportation, now known to the officials, piqued their interest and they requested he build several more.
            “The velocipede proved useful for track inspection and maintenance and in 1879 Sheffield patented it.”[4]

The velocipede was propelled by the rider who pulled the handle back and forth.

http://www.radio-guy.net/website/vehicles/vehicles_1_image_html/vehicles1b.html

A Tale of a Velocipede Journey

            “Capt. Wm. Clarkson, the veteran conductor of the Charlotte, Columbia & Augusta Railroad, found himself in charge of his train at Statesville (Iredell Co., NC), last Saturday night, and desiring to spend Sunday with his family in Charlotte (Mecklenburg Co., NC), he decided to mount the railroad velocipede and run down. “His friends remonstrated with him and tried to persuade him from undertaking the journey, but he insisted upon it, and taking his seat on the three wheeled concern, took a firm grip on the crank and waved the boys adieu. The distance before him was 44 miles and he calculated on making it in six hours. At the expiration of eight hours he made the depot here a few minutes before the 1:15 A.M. train came in.

            “It was noticed that his lantern was smashed all to pieces and the skin was torn from the palms of his hands in pieces as large as gun wads. The Captain did not like to talk about it at first, but by and by let it all out to the boys and told them of his hardships. The velocipede jumped the track once and shot him down a fifteen foot embankment, landing him in the briars and breaking his lantern.

            “(Back on the track,) he soon pegged out entirely, the skin commenced pending from his hands and he was about to founder, when he met an able bodied darkey, who accepted his offer of 50 cents to get on the thing and pull him to Charlotte.

            “Captain Clarkson rode back to Statesville, but he didn’t ride the velocipede. He took the cars and went via Salisbury. To a man who is not practiced in the art, riding one of those velocipedes is like standing at a pump and working the handle all day, and Captain Clarkson says he believes that if he had his choice, he would take the pump next time.”[5]

---

[1]News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) 24 Mar 1883

[2] Small community in Chatham Co., NC, long inactive

[3] News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) 31 Mar 1883

[4] http://www.radio-guy.net/website/vehicles/vehicles_1_image_html/vehicles1b.html

[5] The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, NC) 1 May 1883

AUTOMOBILES IN RUSH

DASH IN SWIFT SPEED

Seven in Contest at Aviation and Automobile Meet are Led by Buchanan Lyon of Durham in Thomas Flyer Five Miles in 7 Minutes 9 Seconds

TWO RALEIGH CARS SECOND AND THIRD IN CLOSE CONTEST

___________________

The Contest Was a Spirited One and There Was Intense Enthusiasm Among the Thousands as the Fast Racing Machines Swept at Terrific Speed Around the Half Mile Track at the Fair Grounds, the Various Drivers and Mechanicians Showing Daring and All Possible Skill in the Control of the automobiles, Which Made Time Fly as the Course Was Covered in the Dash For the Laurels.

            With swiftness almost incredible, seven automobiles dashed at terrific speed around the race track at the Fair Grounds yesterday afternoon while thousands looked on and cheered, the enthusiasm being great, the hazardous racing against time being conducted without a single mishap, and records being made which set the pace in this section. And there will be more of this today.

            It was at the News and Observer Aviation and Automobile Meet that this swift racking of machines was seen to the delight of the many thousands who filled the grandstand, occupying every seat in the many stands erected about the race track and crowded in great numbers about the railing which shut in the race track. It was a speed contest of the perilous kind with men half hanging from the car to balance these annihilators of space as they swept around the curves and with increasing speed seemed almost to fly along the straight stretches. And though the sport is a perilous one, there was not a tremor on the part of the drivers who forgot all of self in the mad rush to be first in the contest.

            The surroundings and the enthusiasm were such as to spur on men to their best endeavors, and not once in the great speed contest but who rose to the occasion and almost forcing his own will and determination into the machine in which he rode made it almost human in the fight to stand first among its fellows, each being in the rush to be hailed the victor.

Let the races begin

            It was at 2 o’clock sharp that the automobile races were begun, each car in the contest having as the work before it a dash of five miles, which is ten times around the half-mile race track at the Fair Grounds. Each car made a fine record, and only one, the Vellie, driven by R. Wayland Yates, fell by the wayside and this car, which was making the fastest time in the two miles it kept going, ended its course in the fifth lap, the car carburetors failing to act fast enough in the use of the gasoline. If this car, entered by the W. H. Brewer Garage of Raleigh, had kept the speed of its first four laps it had every prospect of being a leader.

            From early in the day the crowds had begun to assemble at the Fair Grounds for the automobile racing and the aeroplane flights in Curtiss machines by McCurdy and Ely, and with from seven to eight thousand people present the automobile racing was begun sharp on time at 3 o’clock. Raleigh had a great representation, while from all the surrounding towns there came hundreds to increase the thousands. Men and women were here o see the action in the air of the marvels of the age, the gathering being representative one of the very best life in North Carolina, while in the great throng, there were many who came to study the scientific side of the Curtiss flyhing machines, as well as to see to how great a speed an automobile could be driven. It was a great crowd, and all in it were eager for the events of the day.

            In the judges’ stand the gentlemen in charge of the racing were all kept busy in making the time of the speeding automobiles, the judges being Mr. R. D. Godwin, Mr. C. B. Barbee, Col. Joseph E. Pogue, Maj. R. M. Albright, and Mr. M. W. Colcock, of Cleveland, Ohio, the latter being on the race track, and acting as the starter. As each machine started and ended its race, its name, driver and time were announced from the judges’ stand.

            The rush of the automobiles around the race track was a sight to set the nerves tingling. As the machines went at terrific speed the dust arose in clouds behind them, while on the turns of the track the assistants to the drivers would swing themselves way out towards the inner rail of the course in order to help the turn and would then crouch back on the side step awaiting the next turn. As the machine would pass the judges’ stand there was great shouting from the crowd.

The Prize Winners

            As the result of the contest the three prizes were awarded for the time made in the five-mile dash as follows:

            First—Thomas Flyer, 60 horse power, entered by E. R. Lyon Motor Car Company of Durham. Driver Buchanan Lynn. Time: 7 minutes 9 seconds.41.95 miles an hour. $50.

1907 Thomas-Flyer
http://theoldmotor.com

            Second—Jackson, 40 horse power, entered by Raleigh Motor Car and Machine Company. Driver, H. D. Mitchell. Time: 7 minutes 12 seconds, 41.7 miles an hour, $40.

1908 Jackson Touring
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/375135843933518310

            Third—Hinson, 60 horse power, entered by Carolina Carriage and Machine Company of Raleigh.  Driver John Park. Time: 7 minutes 39 seconds 39.2 miles per hour.  $30.

…
        Men who have knowledge of other automobile races and the condition of various tracks say that the time made was most excellent and that as a half mile course the Raleigh track is excellent for automobiles. The great crowd was enthusiastic over the contest and it whetted up the appetite for the aeroplane flights of  McCurdy and Ely which came after the automobile races.

[News and Observer (Raleigh, NC) 17 Nov 1910]

PERFECT FLYING MACHINE

            We shall get a perfect flying machine all right and pretty soon. Charles Hamilton tried out his aeroplane in Florida Sunday, but fell 325 feet on a board walk. All  he said was, “Dang it, I’ve lost my cigar!”—New York Telegram.

[The Raleigh Times (Raleigh, NC) 30 Jan 1906]

          Charles K. Hamilton, who would go on to become the twelfth person to earn an American pilot’s license, flew the device. Hamilton gripped a tow rope tied to an automobile that pulled his aircraft along the beach by driving quickly across the sand. Once Hamilton left the ground, he released the tow rope and glided, shifting his body weight left and right to steer. The glider flew for about 150 feet before one of the wing ribs broke, sending it crashing to the ground. The glider was seriously damaged, but Hamilton survived.

Preparing for Florida’s first glider flight at Ormond Beach near Daytona. Charles Hamilton would soon fly this glider into the air over Florida’s Atlantic coast (1906).
[The Florida Memory Blog:

https://www.floridamemory.com/blog/tag/gliders/]

A Story of How Man Is

Conquering the Air

and of the Toll the

Aeroplane

Is Exacting.

Copyright, 1915, by The International Syndicate.

            FROM time immemorial man has desired to fly. Even in the Psalms we find David saying, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove, for then I would fly away and be at rest!”

            [This newspaper article, published in 1915, begins with Icarius, who according to Roman mythology, attempted to fly with wings attached to his body by wax. The article includes J. B. Dante, a mathematician flew over a lake with artificial wings, but fell an broke his leg when he attempted to fly over Notre Dame in Paris. A Scotchman, Damian, attempted to fly from Scotland to France using wings made of bird feathers, but made one leap and fell, breaking both legs. He claimed he failed because he did not use eagle feathers. Many others named in the article tried and failed.

            Gliders were once thought to be the answer to human flight. These were tried in Germany, England, France and the United States. But the glider was not totally satisfactory, either. It was not until gasoline engines were available that real flight was possible. This article relates the story of aviation, not only from early times, but also from the flight of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, Dare County, NC to the amazing advances that had taken place by early 1915. Aviation has progressed by over 100 years since this article was publlished, but the earliest stories of aviation are still amazing.]

Wright brothers third test glider at Kill Devil's Hill, Dare County, NC in 1902.
Wilbur Wright is the pilot, Orville Wright at left, and local resident Dan Tate at right.
Found at Wikimedia Commons:
 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1902_Wright_Brothers%27_
Glider_Tests_-_GPN-2002-000125.jpg

After Gliders.

            This type (gliders) was soon followed by the aeroplane, and in 1903 the Wright brothers first used a petrol engine and astonished the world by their flights. Their tests were conducted with the greatest secrecy. While these experiments were going on Monsieur Voisen constructed a number of kites, and after testing their qualities as fliers he built an aeroplane along the same lines. (The Voisen brothers were early developers of airplanes in France.) This type afterward became very popular, both Farman (an Anglo-French aviator who set records in the Voisen planes) and Delgrange (a pioneering French aviator and sculptor) piloting them. In 1909 Robert Esnault-Pelterie, who was already known as the inventor of the R.E.P. motor (a seven cylinder radial engine) which appeared in 1904, built a curious looking machine which for a time created a sensation. Then came the famous Curtiss-Herring “June Bug” which did some remarkable flying at the Rheims aviation meet—the first one ever held. This was in 1909, and gave a special impetus to the heavier than air machine.

Wright Flyer in which the Wright brothers made the first powered flights on
December 17, 1903.
Wright Brothers Museum website: http://www.wright-brothers.org/Information_Desk/Help_with_Homework/Expert_Interview/Expert_Interview.htm

            Aviation schools were started in various parts of the world and aeroplaning soon became known as a sport. (Samuel Pierpont) Langly, (Samuel Franklin) Cody [of wild west show fame], (Louis Charles Joseph) Bleriot, (Arthur Charles Hubert) Latham, (Glenn Hammond) Curtiss and (John Bevins) Moisant at once became famous, the last three named having made flights across the English Channel.

            Three years ago an American woman, Miss Harriet Quimby [first American woman to become a licensed pilot], accomplished the same feat flying in a monoplane. Miss Quimby was killed near Boston a year later by falling one thousand feet.

Unique Damage Suits.

            Soon aeroplanes became so common in France that the farmers of that country began to consider them a nuisance and several entered suit for damages, claiming that their crops had been destroyed by the machines alighting on their land. Then, too, they claimed that colts had been ruined by being frightened by the noise of the motor, that the animals are never able to overcome the fright and cannot be used for driving horses. Chickens and ducks they declared died from fright when the big machines “swooped” down over the barnyards. Some of the French farmers contend that property in soil carries with it property of the air above it and the earth beneath. These cases are still pending in the French Courts.

            During the last two years great progress has been made in aviation, and at present nearly 3,000 persons hold Aviator’s Licenses. France has the greatest number, Great Britain is second, Germany third and the United States fourth. In fancy flying France leads, for the average French aviator seems to be able to do almost anything, including looping-the-loop and flying upside down. This was accomplished first by Adolph Pegond, and later our own Lincoln Beachy did the same thing while flying in California.

Curious Accidents.

            Flying over cities was the next achievement in aeroplaning, and in one or two places this has led to curious accidents such as that which happened to Monsieur Gilbert, a French aviator, who while flying over the suburbs of Paris was compelled to drop on the roof of a factory to avoid falling into a crowded street. This was caused by his miscalculating the distance. Another curious accident which also happened in France was that which occurred during a race at Buc where the machine piloted by (Andre) Bidot, who was carrying a passenger, dropped upon another aeroplane. Both the machines took fire; the pilot of one together with his passenger was burned to death. Several times two machines have collided in the air and last year near Vienna during a mimic battle in the clouds an aeroplane collided with a dirigible balloon. This accident is said to have been caused by the pilot of the aeroplane misjudging the height at which the dirigible was flying.

            During the past year one hundred and fifty-two people have been killed in aviation accidents. This does not include those killed in war. They have been such causes as loss of control of the machine, broken planes, explosions, wind gusts, violent landings, hitting trees, machine turning turtle, collisions, air pockets, motor trouble, etc. One man, Doctor O’Ringe, died of heart failure while in the air flying over the aviation field at Johannisthal, Germany.

            One of the most remarkable air accidents occurred at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1913, when Ensign W. D. Billingsley was killed by falling from a hydroaeroplane which was flying at the height of sixteen hundred feet. He was carrying Lieutenant John Towers as a passenger. When Billingsley fell he jammed the steering gear and rendered the machine useless and the machine fell with Lieutenant Towers clinging to one of the uprights. After falling six or seven hundred feet the machine twisted and in so doing formed a sort of parachute and dropped at a slower speed. Lieutenant Towers was in the hospital for three months as a result of the accident. He is the only man alive today who has fallen sixteen hundred feet.

            It will be remembered that during the aviation meet held in Baltimore a few years ago an aeroplane driven by Arch Hoxey fell five hundred feet landing in a cabbage patch a mile of more from the grounds. When the man who was working in the field reached him he found Hoxsey standing in a dazed fashion beside his wrecked machine complaining that he had “lost his glasses.” Hoxsey was afterwards killed at an aviation meet in California.

Hoxsey took Theodore Roosevelt for his first plane ride in 1910.
From the UPI website: http://www.upi.com/Archives/1910/10/12/TRs-flight-was-risky-flier-says/7117403814718/

Fate Plays Strange Pranks.

            Fate has played strange pranks with aviators. For instance, John Moisant, who flew across the English Channel, carried a passenger over Paris and did a lot of remarkable stunts, was killed in New Orleans when his machine dropped less than fifty feet. The same thing occurred to (Jorge) Chavez, the man who made such a great flight over the Alps and in the end died when the aeroplane fell fifteen feet. [Chavez completed the flight over the Alps, but crashed during the landing.] Colonel F. S. Cody, England’s greatest military aviator, who is said to have been one of the greatest mechanicians as well, went to his death by the collapse of a plane which he had pronounced perfect just before the flight. Fancy flying, too, has caused a number of deaths, among them Eugene Ely, who was the first man to fly from the deck of a battleship. This he accomplished successfully, but later while giving an exhibition at a county fair he attempted a “spiral glide” of the Beachey type and was killed.

Jorge Chavez, the first to fly across the Alps, beside his Farman plane.
 Found at The Early Brids of Aviation: http://www.earlyaviators.com/echavez.htm

            The newest flier is of the self-righting type—a machine which won the Bonnet prize in France. It was driven by Morceau who flew for thirty minutes without touching his planes. During his flight the wind was blowing almost a gale and the aeroplane was tossed about but it always returned to an even keel. Lieutenant Dunne also gave an exhibition with a self-righting machine of his own invention. Recently a self-righting machine has been built in the United States but as yet its flying qualities have had no fair test.

The Aeroplane In The European War.

            When the European war began the aviators of each of the warring nations at once volunteered, fancy flying was laid aside, and a regular mobilization of aviators took place in each country. Exhibition machines were turned into military fliers over night and long before the armies were ready for the field the aviators were scouting about watching the preparations of the enemy, and before the war was a fortnight old we began to read of spectacular encounters in the air between the aeroplanes of the different nations.
Very soon these fliers became the real eyes of the armies and navies, and their scout work has surprised even the most enthusiastic believer in the use of the aeroplane in war.

            Bomb dropping and being brought down and killed has become so common that almost every day we read of military aviators being brought down by the enemy. In air battles it is no uncommon thing for both aviators to meet death.

            As the carrying power of aeroplanes is limited, all sorts of death dealing vehicles have been invented; among them what is known as the steel arrow—a tiny missile about six inches in length, rounded at one end and brought to a needle point. The other end is deeply grooved for about four inches, which gives the top the shape of a four leafed clover. The finished arrow weights about six ounces. Shortly after the war began a test was made and one of these arrows dropped from the height of fifteen hundred feet killed a horse, the arrow going entirely through the body of the animal. One thousand of these arrows are placed in a box fitted with bottoms which open with a spring release. The box is placed between the struts of the aeroplane and the aviator can drop as many as he pleases by the mere pushing of a button.

News and Observer (Raleigh, NC) 14 Apr 1915

THE AIRSHIP VISITS WILLIAMSTON

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(Special to the [Wilmington] Messenger.)

            Williamson [Martin County]  N. C., April 14 [1897].—The mysterious airship seen at Wilmington and other points was observed here last night about 9 o’clock. When first noticed it appeared as a black mass against the moon-lit sky, going slowly from South to North. Its altitude was not great, being near enough to enable the observer to discern outlines of its rigging with the naked eye. As it passed over the town it ascended rapidly and a brilliant light was thrown out far ahead of it. The light was seen by some who could not, on account of the great height it had attained, catch the faintest glimpse of the aerial machine. If it should appear again there will be many to behold it as people are much interested and will watch for its re-appearance. — News and Observer (Raleigh, NC) 16 Apr 1897

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            The airship was first seen in North Carolina at Wilmington [New Hanover County] about April 5, 1897. The Semi-Weekly Messenger of that city reported that hundreds of people watched as the brilliant mass floated from east to west across the sky. “Many persons saw net-work about the aerial wonder.” Watchers with field glasses observed its wires, ropes and rigging and all were amazed by its powerful searchlight.

            The mysterious airship was next seen at Goldsboro [Wayne County] about April 9^th or 10^th. The Press-Visitor of Raleigh [Wake County] said: “Those who saw the object describe it as a great light moving rapidly from east to west.”

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Found at http://www.angelfire.com/ma4/oddities/airship.html

            On April 13 The Press-Visitor in Raleigh carried the following article:

THE AIRSHIP.

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Arrangements Made for Its Appearance Tonight.

            The Press-Visitor this afternoon completed arrangements by which the air-ship will appear over Raleigh at 3 o’clock tomorrow morning.

            Efforts were made to secure its appearance here on a dark night, but the dates were all taken save tonight. This will prevent Raleigh, owing to the moon-light, from having quite as good a view as some other towns.

________

            Apparently the mysterious airship had an identity by this time. The Press-Visitor reported that many saw the airship pass over the city. It was identified as “the first automobile dirigible balloon ever invented which is a success. It is simple in its construction. It consists of an elliptical gasbag 128 feet in length and a car weighing 45 pounds. It is constructed on the aeroplane system, and operates perfectly. [This is 6 years before the Wright brothers first flew an ‘aeroplane’ over the sandy beach of NC.] The machine is operated by an electric storage battery and propeller. Its lifting power depends upon the number of cubic feet of gas in the bag."

            This announcement this did not stop the speculation. The airship continued to be spotted and by the time it was seen over Kenly [Johnston, Wilson Counties] about April 22, watchers saw sails and (very clearly) two men. 

            The Kenly sighting was the last reported in local newspapers throughout the months of April and May of 1897. The excitement had run its course.