Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 162, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 July 1918 — FLYING MACHINES PAY KENTLAND VISIT [ARTICLE]

FLYING MACHINES PAY KENTLAND VISIT

Kentland Enterprise. Kentland had awakened Monday morning with more 'or less of a brown taste in its mouth,' business and professional men wsre leisurely plodding down to the stores and offices with a half way feeling that they didn’t care whether school kept or not; and the women folks were in the wash tub up to their elbows, or hanging over the alley fence getting the llatest gossip from their neighbors. There was a kind of “morning after” blueness in the air, and the community pendulum was swinging pretty slow, when over the hesperian walls came the buzz of a flying machine. The flying machine is yet sufficiently new to attract the attention of moat everyone, and soon there was more life in the old town than there is in a three ring circus. The machine alighted in a clover field east of C. C. Kent’s residence and in less time than it takes to tell it quite the whole population of the town and countryside was wending in that direction. If a car was handy it was loaded from fender to hood, and countless others went afoot, some in sweeping caps and wash aprons, some wheeling baby cabs, some went in lumber wagons and some in drays, but they got there, and gave a wild-eyed ejaculating reception to the mysterious birdman. He modestly introduced himself as a student aviator from Rantoul, out on a cross country run and stated that six other machines were on their Way. With this prospect of seeing a great aviation tournament staged so unexpectedly the pulse of the ever increasing crowd settled down to about normal, and with gaping mouth every face was turned to the southwest and every eye was scouring the sky for m'ore machines. At brief intervals an additional machine would arrive, until the seven had landed. In the meantime the people made as close inspection of the bijj bird as possible, no one being permitted closer than ten feet of the same. They remained about an hour, then resumed their journey to Rantoul. The machine used was the standard Curtis bi-plane and the firSt aviator arriving stated that he made the trip flying between 60 and 90 miles an hour. On the return trip they flew very low over Kentland and most everyone got a good view of this “eighth” wonder both standing and flying.