Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 December 1878 — Aerial Locomotion. [ARTICLE]

Aerial Locomotion.

A citizen of Indianapolis, who has for years made the subject of aerial navigation his special study, has at last perfected a method which he believes, when fully developed, will supply a safe, enjoyable and practicable apparatus for traveling in the air. The model of his invention was shown to a Journal reporter on Saturday and its details explained. The plan is not that of a flying-machine or a balloon with a steerage apparatus, or similar in any respect to the thousand and one expedients that have hitherto been tried and failed. But its leading idea has undoubtedly been suggested by the experiments made during the FrancoFrussian War, and more recently in Faris and London with the captive .balloon. A favorite amusement with many persons in those cities who desired to.experienco the sensation of a balloon voyage without subjecting themselves to its accompanying risks and dangers has been to take an excursion heavenward in the aerial ship as far as the rope would allow and then to return to terra finna to renew their acquaintanceship with things mundane. But a voyage of that kind was of no {Tactical use for the purposes of travel. t only afforded an opportunity for a good bird’s-eye view over a vast stretch of country. The idea of the Indianapolis citizen has been, however, to supply a safe and pleasant mode of travel ifom place to place, in an aerial car, which, while buoyed up after the manner of a balloon, has also, to a certain extent, the means of self-propulsion, and is connected all the time with the ground over which it travels. His working model shows quite clearly the mechanical apparatus by which he proposes to accomplish this difficult and hitherto impossible task, and he has in preparation a larger model which he expects to have ready for exhibition within a few days, when a detailed description can more properly be given. Meanwhile, he has made the necessary application for a patent, and expects to ask the City Council at an early day for permission to make the necessarypreparations for establishing an experimental aerial line between the’eity and the stockyards. He anticipates that the aerial "ear to be constructed will be from seventy-five to one hundred feet in length and capable of holding more people than an ordinary railroad car. Ana he sees no reason why the invention may not be made applicable for traversing long distances as well as short routes. In fact, his anticipation is that, sooner or later, the idea he has partially developed will be utilized to the extent of providing aerial transit across the Continent. Journal.

—A strange history has been brought to light by the recent death of Sarah Coffrin, a lonely and mysterious character, at Essex, Vt Over twenty years ago, while living in a happy home at Waterbury, she married a dissipated fellow named Williams, against tlje wishes of her parents, and soon after he deserted her and went West. She also and her friends supposed she had followed her husband. Instead of doing so, went to Essex and lived in solitude and obscurity, refusing to divulge the secret of her home ana relatives till she died, and now for the first time her friends have learned of her whereabouts. “-The sexton of Dagenham Parish* Essex, in England, was' buried alive while digging a grave.