The Meridian Gazette
“All the Light of the Day, Printed Before the Dark.”
Airship Meridian Spans Ocean in Sixty-One Hours
Great Silver Vessel Circles Harbour at Dawn Before Crowd of Thirty Thousand; Captain Hale Reports “Not a Rivet Loosened”
Mails from Lisbon Delivered at City Post Office Before Noon — First Aerial Letters Ever Received Here
Out of a grey Atlantic dawn, and to the shrieking of every whistle on the waterfront, the airship Meridian came home yesterday morning. She crossed the harbour bar at 6.42 o’clock, her silver flanks catching the first sun, and made two stately circuits of the city before settling to her mooring mast at Fairleigh Field at 7.15. Sixty-one hours and nine minutes had elapsed since her nose left the tower at Lisbon.
Captain Aldous Hale, who commanded the vessel with a crew of twenty-three, descended the mast ladder to find the Mayor, the Harbour Board, and a considerable portion of the population waiting. Asked for a statement, he removed his gloves and said only: “Not a rivet loosened. We had headwinds off the Azores and a night of ice at eleven thousand feet. She behaved like a lady throughout.”
The crossing was made at an average speed of a little more than fifty-two miles an hour. Wireless messages received by the Gazette through the night indicated the ship had encountered a storm belt on Tuesday evening and had climbed above it, the crew reporting the curious sight of lightning playing beneath their gondola “like a city on fire under glass.”
The vessel carried eleven passengers, among them Mrs. Constance Wyndham, the first woman to cross by air, who described the voyage as “tedious, cold, and entirely wonderful.” She was met by her daughter and a considerable number of photographers.
Perhaps of greater lasting moment was the sack of mails. Two hundred and twelve letters bearing Portuguese stamps and the ship’s own violet cachet were carried by motor-car to the General Post Office and were in the hands of their recipients before noon. Postmaster Grady declared the experiment “a complete success” and hinted that a regular aerial mail might be established by the spring.
Continued on Page Two, Column One.
The Meridian over the Custom House at 6.50 o’clock yesterday, her engines throttled to a whisper.
Grand Hotel Blaze Held to Upper Floors
Guests Descend in Night Attire; Orchestra Plays On in Ballroom Until Ordered Out
Fire discovered at half past eleven last night in a linen room on the sixth floor of the Grand Hotel was confined to the two upper storeys by the exertions of four companies of the Fire Department, and no life was lost. Some two hundred guests descended by the stairways, a number of them in dressing gowns, and were accommodated in the lobby with coffee by the management.
The dance orchestra in the Palm Ballroom, learning of the fire only when smoke drifted through the ventilators, continued to play a fox-trot at the request of the leader, Mr. Sol Bettany, “so that nobody should hurry,” and were the last to leave the building. Damage is estimated at forty thousand dollars.
Radio Concert to Reach Ten Thousand Homes
Station WMRD to Broadcast Symphony from Apollo Hall Saturday Night
For the first time in the history of the city, a complete symphony concert will be sent by wireless to the homes of listeners on Saturday evening at eight o’clock. The Meridian Symphony, under the baton of Herr Anton Krebs, will perform the Fifth Symphony of Beethoven and a suite by Mr. Grainger from the stage of Apollo Hall.
Engineers of Station WMRD have suspended three microphones from the proscenium and assure the public that “every note, down to the triangle, will be heard as clearly in a farmhouse kitchen as in the front stalls.” Dealers report a brisk sale of receiving sets.
Harriers Take Cup on Last Lap
The Meridian Harriers won the Tri-County Cross-Country Cup at Fenwick Downs yesterday when their captain, T. Okonjo, overhauled the leader in the final quarter mile to finish in 31 minutes 14 seconds.
Council Debates Motor Speed Limit
Alderman Pruett Calls Twenty Miles “Reckless”; Motorists’ League Objects
A proposal to raise the speed limit for motor-cars within the city from fifteen to twenty miles an hour occasioned a lively debate in Council last evening. Alderman Pruett declared that at twenty miles an hour “a man cannot count the lamp-posts,” while Mr. Vance of the Motorists’ League replied that his members frequently exceeded that speed “without, so far, the loss of a single lamp-post.” The matter was referred to committee.
Mrs. Eleanor Ashby-Cole entertained at tea yesterday in honour of Mrs. Wyndham, the aerial passenger, at her residence in Larkspur Crescent. The rooms were decorated with chrysanthemums, and a small silver airship was suspended above the tea table.
Miss Dorothea Finch and Mr. Harold Quaid will be married on Saturday at St. Anselm’s. The bride will wear ivory crêpe.
Harbour Board Reports Record Month
Eighty-Two Vessels Cleared; Wool and Wheat Lead the Cargoes
Eighty-two ocean-going vessels cleared the port during September, the greatest number for any month since the harbour records were begun in 1871, the Harbour Board reported yesterday. Outward cargoes were chiefly wool, wheat and tinned salmon; inward, machinery, textiles and a consignment of Italian marble for the new Court House.
APOLLO HALL — Saturday, the Symphony. THE EMPIRE — “The Cabinet Minister,” a comedy in three acts, nightly at 8.15, matinée Wednesday. REX PICTURE PALACE — “Sons of the Desert,” with Wurlitzer accompaniment, continuous from two o’clock. FAIRLEIGH FIELD — The airship Meridian may be viewed at her mast daily, ten to four, admission ten cents, children free.
The Weather
Meridian Exchange — Closing Prices
| Security | Open | Close | Chg. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meridian Airship Co. | 142⅜ | 158½ | +16⅛ |
| Harbour Tramways | 61 | 64¼ | +3¼ |
| Consolidated Wireless | 88½ | 91 | +2½ |
| Grand Hotel Corp. | 34⅞ | 29 | −5⅞ |
| Fenwick Woollen Mills | 47 | 47⅛ | +⅛ |
| Northern Wheat Pool | 112 | 110¾ | −1¼ |
| Atlantic Cable & Tel. | 203 | 199½ | −3½ |
| City Gas & Electric | 76¼ | 77 | +¾ |
Sales for the day 412,000 shares. Call money 4½ per cent. Sterling 4.85⅛.