Evening Star Newspaper, June 2, 1929, Page 94

scarcely opened, however, before the lieutenant found himself in the center of a circle that the burning plane was making. Three hundred and twenty gallons of gasoline, six bombs, and 2,000 rounds of machine-gun ammunition were aboard the blazing ship. “Frankly, I was alarmed,” he said later. “I rescried to slipping, twisting and every maneu- ver ¢f which I had heard. Little sucecess was met with, and resignedly I sat there and watched the plane, hearing the flames quite audibly as it passed me.” Luck was with him, though, and the bomber suddenly turned nose downward and crashed into a corn field before an explosion occurred. Hutchinson landed a short time later near his wrecked plane, while Stamley dropped safely into an open field a short distance away. A University of California graduate and his flying companion were killed and two other Army fiyers joined the Caterpiliar Club when the Pan-American good-will flight planes Detroit and New York collided while eircling over Palemar Field, near Buenos Aires, Argen- tina, on February 26, 1927. The California flyer who met his death was Lieut. John W. Benton. Benton was co-pilot in the Detroit, which at the time of the crash was piloted by Capt. Woolsey. Maj. Herbert A. Dargue, pilot, and Lieut. Ennis C. Whitehead, relief pilot, of the New York, leaped to safety = short time after the collision. The flyers, in amphibian planes, had landed in the harbor of Buenos Aires, where baggage was unloaded and flight personnel given an official inspection. The planes then took off about 4 o'clock in the afternoon to fly across the city to the airport at Palomar, on the outskirts. The Detroit took off first, as the landing gear actuating mechanism was broken and it was the intention of its crew to go out on the wing in flight and tie the left half of the land- ing gear in the “down” position with rope. This apparently had been accomplished by the time the other three planes rcse into the air, and the four ships immediately assumed a closed diamond formation and started for Palomar. *The New York was leading, the San Francisco flying at the right, the Detroit at the left, and the St. Louis slightly bchind and above the others. About half-way across the city the flight was joined by a three-ship formation of Argentine planes. 'A S THE planes approached the field the Argentine formation broke up and glided down steeply to a landing. A short time later Maj. Dargue, flight commander, signaled for the American flight to break formation. The San Francisco and Detroit turned out sharply and in steep climbing turns banked to the right and left, respectively. The New vork continued, somewhat throttled, in the general direction in which the flight had been headed. The St. Louis climbed straight away and very steeply. Thus the formation was broken completely. The San Francisco continued to turn until headed 180 degrees from the direction of ap- proach, completely clearing all other planes. "The Detroit, after pulling off sharply to the left, banked to the right, slightly diving. The New York just started a gentle turn to the left ‘when the Detroit approached at a considerable angle, and the two planes struck. The wreckage was entangled and the two ships fell together for an appreciable time be- fore the Detroit broke free and fell with con- siderably more speed than the New York. The right wings of the Detroit had been crushed in approximately to the inboard strut point, while the wings of the New York were intact and she was falling in a spin. Shortly after the wreckage separated, Maj. Dargue and Lieut. Whitchead jumped, their parachutes function- ing perfectly. The crew of the Detroit were not wearing parachutes because of the fact that they had ‘gone out on the wings to fix the landing gear. Lieut. Benton made a cool and desperate at- tempt to save himself by leaping at Dargue as the latter drifted past lyse attached to his parachute. Benton miss.d his dive and fell to his death. « It is the contention of parachute officers of the Air Service that parachutes will open in a fraction of a second, making jumps safe at 100 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JUNE 2, '1920—PART 7. = 5 = — Col. Lindbergh was forced to leap for his life when his plane collided with a ship piloted by Lieut. McAllister. Col. Lindbergh Joined the Caterpillar Club in 1925 While He Was a Cadet at Kelly Field, Texas. He Leaped for His Life IWhen His Plane Collided in Mid- Air With aShip Piloted by Licut. C. D. McAllister. Less Than a Month Later He Jumped Again. The Third Emergency Jump Was Made September 16, 1926, and the Fourth LmR Came Two Months Later While Flying the Air Mail Near Covell, 111, feet from the ground. Maj. Adlai H. Gilkeson helped to prove this theory in one of the most spectacular emergency parachute jumps on rec- ord. Maj. Gilkeson was piloting a pursuit plane over Edgewood Arsenal, Md., in a test to deter- mine the glide necessary to attain 200 miles an hour. At 50 feet from the ground at the above speed a loud crash occurred, followed by a severe jolt, which jerked the plane about 45 degrees to the right. A cloud of gas, oil and water enveloped the ship as it shot up in the air to about 150 feet, rolled to the right and then started down. At 100 feet Gilkeson jumped. 4 The plane rolled completely over, landing upside down an instant later. Maj. Gilkeson's “chute” opened an instant before he landed, breaking his fall so that he escaped with a severe shaking-up. A broken crankshaft or propeller had caused the motor to disintegrate in the ‘air, LEAP made by Charles R. Bowman, air mail flyer, was one of the highest on record. Bowman was en route from Los An- geles to Oakland with mail that included $750,- 000 in securities, of which $250,000 were nego- tiable. Above Saugus, which is on the western edge of the Coast Range, where the air mail route crosses the mountains to Bakersfield, Bowman became lost in a heavy fog. Fearing that he might crash against the rugged moun- tains, Bowmfin climbed to an elevation of nearly two miles, circling about and vainly looking for an opening in the fog. Finally, with his fuel supply nearly exhausted, Bowman decided to jump. Turning off his gas line and cutting his switches, Bowman stepped over the side of thé cockpit at an elevation of 9,000 feet. He counted five and then pulled his release ring, the parachute snapping open immediately. Because of the height from which he jumped, considerable time passed before Bowman landed, unhurt, near Castaic, 65 miles north of Los Angeles. As soon as he could reach a tele- phone, the air mail pilot notified his office at Los Angeles and a searching party was sent out to locate the plane. Nothing was publicly re- ported at the time about the value of Bowman’s mail cargo. . Despite a systematic search, it was nearly two weeks before the abandoned plane was located about half a mile from the spot where Bowman made his parachute landing. Theship was wrecked, but mail sacks with the $750,000 in securities were intact. Lieut. John A. Macready, of non-stop trans- continental flight fame, made his leap on a night flight from Columbus to Dayton. At approximately 5,000 feet, the motor died. When Macready jumped, he landed among some trees, crashing into the limbs. He grabbed and broke off branches as he went through, hoping to find one that would hold his weight. Macready expected a hard impact when his feet hit the ground, but irstead his parachute became en- tangled in the branches through which he fell, leaving him suspended against the bank of a 90-foot ravine. He was unhurt, however, and his calls for help brought aid from the owner of the estate on which he had landed. Cadet Roderick M. Krider and his observer, Cadet Shleppy, joined the Caterpillar Club by making the first emergency jumps ever accom- plished from a Martin bomber. The necessity for the jumps occurred when two Martin bomb- ers that were flying in seven-ship formation collided while making a left turn. The plane Krider was piloting was put out of control. The other ship, although damaged, was piloted safely back to Kelly Field. Of what occurred after the crash, Krider reported: “I looked around and saw that the aileron and a portion of the lower left wing were gone. I noticed that the ship that struck us was passing under our wings in a nose-down position and it looked as if it had just dived through my wings. I immediately rolled my aileron controls to the right and jammed on my left motor in an effort to lift the left wing into a horizontal position. I got no results and the ship was going into a spin. “Snleppy had been riding with the left leg- strap of his parachute unbuckled so he could reach in his pocket and get peanuts. Shleppy has nerve. He stayed right with me until I tapped him on the shoulder and motioned that it was time to jump. Shleppy climbed out ahead of me, going out between the motor and fuselage on the left-hand side. I climbed out on top of the catwalk over the bomb-bay, so we would not get in each other’s way. Shleppy jumped and I followed a short time later.” ‘AN ARMY “chute” lent to Sergt. Art Smertz by Lieut. Russell L. Maughan, transcon- tinental “dawn to dusk” flyer, saved his life in Ogden, Utah, during an air circus staged by Maughan and his Reserve officers, together with Smetz and some commercial flyers headed by Tommy Thompson. Before Smertz went up in a plane piloted by Charles Mayse, Lieut. Maughan gave him an Army parachute pack, which he strapped on his back, leaving his other parachute in front. At 4,500 feet, Smertz leaped, it being his inten=- tion to drop as far as possible without opening his chute. At about 1,400 feet, after falling unimpeded for more than 3,000 feet, Smertz found himself on his back in the air and de- cided to open his own “chute.” “The jerk of it broke the harness and se- verely jarred me,” Smertz said afterward. “In a semi-conscious state I remembered the para- chute on my back and just before I lapsed Into unconsciousness I managed to get it opened. I do not remember anything after that.” Smertz was unconscious when he landed. (Copyright, 1929.) STORY OF THE MYSTERIOUS DIAMOND OF PORTUGAL BY KATE HAPWOOD TOBIN. RECENT news item states that a huge diamond weighing 3314 carats uncut has just been discovered in the Kim- berley mines in South Africa. It is ‘said to have brought $400 per carat, which is a record price. This brings to mind a statement of Louis Cartier of the famous diamond firm in Paris that large diamonds are exceedingly rare, which, of course, adds to their value and interest. In fact, the part the diamond has played in human zffairs is one of great fascination, and the account of the discovery of some of the celebrated stones reads like a fairy tale, In the Orient, where this gem has long been a symbol of power as well as a talisman of in- fiuence as great as that of the gods whose temples it adorns, there are fanciful legends of Jurid character concerning it, but fact outruns fancy in this respect, and the actual record of human depravity on its account far exceeds the product of human invention. “HE Braganza, named after the reigning ' house of Portugal at the time of its dis- covery, is among the largest diamonds on rec- ord, weighing 1,680 carats in the rough. It has never been cut, and its genuineness has always been suspected, although never dis- proved. It is estimated that it would lose about two-thirds of its weight in the process of cut- ting, but it would still be one of the largest diamends in the world—that is, of course, if its genuinencss remains unchallenged. The ctory of its finding equals in dramatic inter =t th2 wildest fiight of the imagination, yei it is veuchod for by the most trastworthy yecord 13 ¢f the history of gems. The tale runs th2b three criminals, guilty of outrageous deeds, were banished into the interior of Brazil and ostracized from civilized gociety on pain of per- petual punishment. This was about 1792, when Brazil was still a possession of the Kingdom of Portugal. Iwiven into the most remote and lonely part of the country, they set to work to explore various mines there in the hope of mak- ing some important discovery which might re- instate them in the world of men. For over six years they wandered about in this desolate region, exposed to many hard- ships ahd always in danger of being seized by soldiers of the government. At last they tried the almost dry river bed of the Abaite, which was very low after a long drought. While washing for gold they found a stone of enor- mous size, so large indced that they doubted its reality. Although elated over their find, they hesitated between the hope of regaining their liberty and dread of the rigorous laws then in existence regarding the discovery of diamonds. Uncertain as to their course of action, they consulted a clergyman, who ad- vised them to trust to the merd; af the state, and went with them to Villa Rica, where he ob- tained for them an audience with the governor. There they threw themselves at the latter's feet, told him their story and delivered the stone to him. The governor, astonished at its size, untll then the greatest known, was in- credulous as to its genuineness, but appealed to the officers of his househeld, all of whom declared it to be a real diamond. He therefore suspended the sentence of the men and sent the stone to Rio de Janeiro, whence it was dis- patched by frigate to Lisbon, the clergyman in charge. Finally the stone was delivered to the reign- ing sovereign of Portugal, who confirmed the pardon of the unfortunate wretches and put the dia’iond safely away in the royal treasury. There is no record that the men ever received anything further for their remarkable find, which, if they had been able to keep it, would have made them rich for the rest of their lives. Being convicted criminals, however, they had small chance of escaping from the country, for it must be remembered that means of travel were not so plentiful a century and a hailf ago as they are now. THE Braganza is described by those few who have seen it as being as large as a goose egg. It weighs over 11 ounces and is of a yellowish color. It has been valued at over £5,000,000 in the rough ($25,000,000), but, of course, this value would be considerably dimin- ished in cutting, and no definite price can be set on an uncut stone. Apparently, it has never left the Portuguese treasury, where it. is jeal- ously guarded from the gaze of sightseers. This caution is evidently inspired by the doubts which have been raised as to its genuineness, for, representing so large a part of the national wealth, 1t is obviously desirable to have it known as one of the world's largest diamonds. It is said that Don Juan VI had a hole drilled in it and wore it hanging from his neck on gala occasions. The history of other large diamonds is also of fascinating interest, the most authentic work on the subject being written by an Englishman, who in 1882 undertook, with several compan- ions, an exhaustive research into the accounts of the most famous diamonds on record at that time. Having access to all the works on the diamond which had hitherto been published, they verified or corrected the earlier records, leaving a remarkably interesting book, which describes In detail the celebrated gems of this class and gives the true history of their occur- rence, discovery and the dramatic events con- nected with them. author says, in part: “The diamond has been a factor in tragedies, & motive of war and rapine, setting father against son, making life a curse where it had been a blessing. No intrigue or crime exists on record but has its parallel in the history of famous gems, and there has been no worse infamy than that in the Eastern wars which have been waged on their account. It is as if the diamond needed a dark background to show up its fascinating hues.” According to this authority, the word for diamond has been found in the oldest Greek records, although the substance itself was un- known in Europe until comparatively recent times. It is supposed that large stones may have existed in India in the time of the ancients, and a vague -tradition assigns great antiquity to the Kohinoor and other famous gems. However, only small specimens were al- lowed to reach the West, as the Indian princes kept the finer ones for themselves, prohibiting all export of stones over a certain weight. AT the time the work quoted ®as published, 1883, of those most celebrated for size and beauty there were only six diamonds in Europe of 100 carats and over. In 1838 there were only 19 weighing as much as 30 carats known, and in 1882 this number had increased to only 100. Fifty of these were in Europe, the rest in Persia, India and Borneo. This number has since been augmented by the yield of the South African fields, but still large diamonds are very unusual. The Portuguese treasury is said to have the richest collection in Europe, the exact number being unknown. The word “carat” is itself of interesting origin. It comes from a Greek word, meaning the fruit of the locust tise, the seeds of which, being largely uniform “n size. were used as weights. In the introduction the