The Chicago Tribune de Chicago (Illinois), samedi 10 avril 1897
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Either the long expected airship from the Pacific coast reached Chicago at 8:30 o’clock last evening or the fixed star, Alpha Orionus, shone with unusual brilliance, which was augmented by the tricks of refraction. Hundreds of persons in Evanston, Niles Center, Schermerville, South Chicago and even in Chicago looked at the strange phenomenon off in the eastern sky and were convinced it was the storied vehicle of the heavens that has been worrying the inhabitants of Podunk and Squab Corners for a fortnight.
At 2 a.m. the ship, or star, or meteor, or what-not appeared over the western horizon, to spectators in Chicago looking out on Madison Street, as of the size and color of an orange. It hung in the sky for a time, and bore more of the appearance of the full moon than a star. Its nature is somewhat of a mystery.
Prof. G.W. Hough of Dearborn Observatory, Evanston, was one person in the classic suburb who refused to be hypnotized by the spectacle. He persisted it was a plain star of the first magnitude, had been in the sky for some years, and carried none of the present population of San Francisco, as the “airship” is known to do.
Thorne and Libberton of the Evanston life-saving crew and Capt. Lawson and his wife stake their fortunes with the airship side of the proposition. J.W. Donnell, once President of the Chicago Aeronautic Society, a resident of Evanston, is with them. N.D. Wright, editor of the index, is an airship partisan, and scoffs at the star in Orion. George D. Corson, N.P. Williams, L.W. Conkey, Robert Milne, Charles Burkett, and G.W. Hill, all of Evanston, are ready to testify that the spectacle was an airship.
In numbers they are weightier than Prof. Hough. But he turned a telescope on the heavenly visitor and they had only field glasses.
Various descriptions were given of the strange object that set the above citizens and nearly eight hundred others agape in Davis Street, Evanston, but the descriptions agreed on points of major interest. The object descried sweeping through the heavens bore vari-colored lights, according to all accounts. All declare the brightest light was white, and seemed to be backed by a reflector that could be turned swinging its searching rays from side by side through the night air.
Behind this some discerned a small red light, which others failed to observe; but again all agreed that still farther behind the big white headlight could be seen a smaller white light, and a green light, side by side, and Evanston is a prohibition town.
According to the reports from different points the course of the heavenly vagrant in passing over the city was erratic enough to satisfy the highest requirements of aerial navigation. At Evanston the object was first observed in the east, over the lake and low in the sky. It came nearer and nearer, being watched in its flight by a small crowd that grew into a multitude before the vision had disappeared. Evanston observers say the moving object seemed to be about 400 feet above the earth, and that it held a practically true course westward. It was during this period of its flight that the same phenomena were observed by residents in Niles Center and Schermerville, though at a greater distance.
A little more than a half hour later similar lights were described out over the lake, east of the city, and bound southward, the red, or starboard light being plainly seen.
The latest glimpse of the traverser of darkness was caught by South Chicagoans at about 9:30 o’clock, when numerous persons state they saw an object like that already described approach the land from out over the lake, and, after reaching a point some distance inland, turn slowly to the northwest and fade away into the night and darkness. These persons offer affidavits and previously good reputations.
At several points the moving wonder was observed by persons equipped with small telescopes or powerful field glasses, and these persons claim to have descried the outlines of a structure bearing the lights. The consensus of judgment, on the uncertain basis for estimating dimensions of bodies moving through the air at unknown distances, is that the main body of the night-flyer was about seventy feet in length, of slender proportions, and fragile construction. To this body, it is reported, were attached the movable headlight and the other lights described. A few observers claim they also saw, a short distance above the body, lateral structures resembling wings or sails. These appeared to be about twenty feet in width, and, as they were seen from one side, their length could not be accurately estimated.
But there is general interest in what Prof. Hough says. He turned his telescope on the object at 10 o’clock. After noting the time and declination of the light he announced that it was a fixed star in the constellation Orion. Alpha Orionus is its scientific name, it being a star of the first magnitude.
He said the star is simply following its regular course in the heavens and can be seen any evening with the naked eye when the sky is clear. It rises early in the evening and is discernible at 7:45 o’clock.
At 8 o’clock it is at its highest and on a clear night resembles a ball of fire. The effect of the atmosphere upon the star’s rays makes the light appear to change from white to red and then to green. The star disappears with the constellation of Orion in the northwest portion of the heavens at about 10:45, setting a few minutes later each night until it becomes a daystar.
Late last night some of the believers in the airship theory were willing to accept Prof. Hough's explanations, as it agreed with their observations. Prof. Hough will make further observations tonight
In Chicago there was a general disposition to laugh at the “airship” theory, but Attorney Max L. Hasmar, Secretary of the Chicago Aeronautical Association, does not smile at it. To him the fact of the airship moving across the country was not a surprise.
“There is only one thing that surprises me in the presence of the airship tonight,” said Mr. Hasmar. “We expected it Sunday and it is hard for me to believe the vessel arrived here so soon unless the conditions were exceptionally favorable. Yes, I have a good idea concerning all this mystery. I know one of the men who is in the airship. The car contains three people, but the exaggerated stories concerning the ship are laughable.”
“Spectators have announced it as their belief that the ship was composed of steel. This is a mistake. Its is paper. There is the customary inflated gas reservoir, but the inventors have discovered the secret of practical propulsion. They can steer the vessel in any direction they desire.”
“Word was received here several weeks ago that the party had started from San Francisco, and that the ship would stop here for the purpose of registration. The end of the trip is to be at Washington City, where the ship will be brought to earth and given up to inspection.”
“We had intended to give the party a reception here next Sunday. It must be very cold traveling at this season of the year, but I understand the inmates of the car are well bundled up. The only new feature applied to the propulsion is the fact that the posterior of the propeller is flexible and elastic, while the anterior is rigid. The fans have a peculiar twisting motion. President Octave Chanute of the Chicago Society has full information concerning the ship. He, with a number of other wealthy men interested in the problem, has furnished the money for the venture. Mr. Chanute is in California at the present time. I would not care to furnish details as to the experiment, as it would be unfair to the inventors and would take off the edge of public interest.”
The Aeronautical Society’s Secretary was serious, but the Hough idea of this heavenly apparition found favor with the masses and the joke seemed to lie in Davis Street, Evanston.
(Note; Mr. Hasmar will have his name spelled as Kasmar in subsequent editions of other papers and in subsequent editions of this one.) frv
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