disasters consequent on the great earthquake completely stopped
all my work on these lines. The flights that were given were
only the first of the series with aeroplanes patterned after the
first model. There were no aeroplanes constructed 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.