putterings 451a < vandeveer_19171004 index
Esther Vandeveer. “A Race at the Aero Club”
Esther Vandeveer. “A Race at the Aero Club”
Alamosa Journal (Alamosa County, Colorado) 32:38 (October 4, 1917) : 2
via Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection : link
entirety below —
- Down at Wellington they’ve got the aeroplane craze. There’s a concern that has made a machine with a lot of safety appliances that is especially fitted for amateur aeronauts. The women have taken up the fad the same as men. They've organized a club, with first rate starting grounds, and, although it’s all brand new, there are a dozen members who own their machines, and in good weather some of them are flying all the while. Those who haven’t aeroplanes sit on the clubhouse porch with opera glasses in their hands watching the fliers and flirting.
- A race between two individuals, Beverly Yorke and Jim Springer, took place not long ago, on which there was a lot of money placed. It wasn’t a fair race, but there was nothing that came within the rules as being foul.
- A 200 mile course was laid out, starting from the clubhouse. It first went to Arlington, then south to Jonesville, then southeast to Merryman, then northeast to Hilton, then straight west to Barrington, then to the clubhouse. The fliers were to go over a certain church spire in each town, except Jonesville, where there was a big factory, and they were to pass above the 200 foot chimney that belonged to it. Yorke was to start westward and Springer eastward. The one who got back to the clubhouse first was to be declared the winner. As to the fliers observing all the rules, this was secured by a club member being stationed at the different points they were to pass over.
- The machines, being merely for pleasure, were not especially powerful. There were machines with strong engines in the club, but this race was limited to the pleasure class. It wasn’t expected that the race would be made in less than three hours. At 10 o’clock the club grounds were full of members and guests to see the race, and a number of machines were flying about, dashing hither and thither, rising, ducking and doing different stunts.
- One of these belonged to Kate Winterton, who in the air topped every other woman member for flying and on terra firma topped them all for flirting. She had every man in the club by the ears, and it was generally conceded that when she undertook to bring a man to his marrowbones he might as well come down at once.
- Yorke was the favorite at odds of five to four. At least these were the odds up to the day before the race. But that night they suddenly changed to two to one on Springer. The queer thing about it was that no one could find out why this change should have come about. There were rumors about Yorke not being in a condition to race or his machine having been found wanting in some particular, but they were nothing but rumors and were looked upon as mere jockeying for odds.
- At 11’clock the two machines were rolled out on the starting grounds, the one pointed west, the other east. The racers took their seats, and half a dozen men did the starting for each machine at the same moment. As they rose the aeroplanes that were tilting about to see the fun started off in different directions, either to intercept the racers or to take some central point where they hoped to keep the machines in sight by means of glasses.
- Kate Winterton’s last victim was Jim Springer. She had been seen on the clubhouse porch during the evening before the race spooning with him, and it was expected by their observers that she would keep in touch with him in the contest to encourage him. But in this there were disappointed. She followed neither of the fliers, hovering over the club grounds and by signs communicating with those below how the race was going. When the racers had been out a couple of hours she was seen to fly away in the direction of Merryman and was soon out of sight.
- When she came within seeing distance of the fliers they had met and Yorke had passed the halfway point greatly ahead of Springer. Kate made a bee line for Yorke, who had started westward and was nearing Hilton. He had met his opponent so far ahead of the point he should have been and felt so certain of winning that he was not pressing his machine. Kate sailed up with hearing distance.
- “Oh, Mr. Yorke,” she called, “I’m so glad!”
- “Glad about what?”
- “You’re going to win.”
- “That’s very nice of you.”
- They sailed along in company for a while when something seemed to go wrong with Kate’s machine. It careened [ ? ] at one side, then on the other.
- “I’m afraid I’m going to fall,” she cried in a voice of terror, and, true enough, she went down rapidly till she struck the earth, but managed her machine so well that there was no absolute drop. Yorke was too much of a man to leave her in distress and followed her, finding her lying on the ground beside her machine in a state of collapse.
- Well, to make a long story short, Kate kept him ministering to injuries that were not serious till he had lost the race. But he came out ahead in the game of love if he lost the race. He refused to say a word about what Kate confessed was a frame up, remunerating those who had lost money backing him and otherwise showing that he was a thoroughbred. This won over Kate, and instead of Yorke tumbling to her she tumbled to him.
2 August 2024