nstructed according to the two other models,
as I had not given the full demonstration of the workings of the first,
though some remarkable and startling work was done. On one occasion
Maloney, in trying to make a very short turn in rapid flight, pressed
very hard on the stirrup which gives a screw-shape to the wings, and
made a side somersault. The course of the machine was very much like one
turn of a corkscrew. After this movement the machine continued on its
regular course. And afterwards Wilkie, not to be outdone by Maloney,
told his friends he would do the same, and in a subsequent flight made
two side somersaults, one in one direction and the other in an opposite,
then made a deep dive and a long glide, and, when about three hundred
feet in the air, brought the aeroplane to a sudden stop and settled to
the earth. After these antics, I decreased the extent of the possible
change in the form of wing-surface, so as to allow only straight sailing
or only long curves in turning.

'During my work I had a few carping critics that I silenced by this
standing offer: If they would deposit a thousand dollars I would cover
it on this proposition. I would fasten a 150 pound sack of sand in the
rider's seat, make the necessary adjustments, and send up an aeroplane
upside down with a balloon, the aeroplane to be liberated by a time
fuse. If the aeroplane did not immediately right itself, make a flight,
and come safely to the ground, the money was theirs.

'Now a word in regard to the fatal accident. The circumstances are
these: The ascension was given to entertain a military company in which
were many of Maloney's friends, and he had told them he would give the
most sensational flight they ever heard of. As the balloon was rising
with the aeroplane, a guy rope dropping switched around the right wing
and broke the tower that braced the two rear wings and which also gave
control over the tail. We shouted Maloney that the machine was broken,
but he probably did not hear us, as he was at the same time saying,
"Hurrah for Montgomery's airship," and as the break was behind him, he
may not have detected it. Now did he know of the breakage or not, and if
he knew of it did he take a risk so as not to disappoint his friends?
At all events, when the machine started on its flight the rear wings
commenced to flap (thus indicating they were loose), the machine turned
on its back, and settled a little faster than a parachute. When we
reached