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the obstacles that each encountered that they eventually decided to go into the scheme together. In considering a route for airships that would connect the two immense amusement parks he and Mr. Dundy owned, Mr. Thompson found that to make the entire flight with safety it would be necessary to have some station about half way where the operator and pilot of the airship might rest. Mr. Weber found the need of some terminal where the ships he planned to send out from his theatre could end their flight and begin the return trip.

In looking about for a solution of their difficulties Mr. Thompson and Mr. Weber became aware of each other's plans.

The flat, low-roofed buildings owned by Mr. Weber at Broadway and Twenty-ninth street made an ideal site for a New York or Broadway station of the airship route, and the two huge parks owned by Mr. Thompson provided attractive terminals. So Mr. Thompson and Mr. Weber agreed to go into the thing together. 

As soon as they had definitely decided to carry out their plan they communicated with the leading airship pilots in the country. All the replies were more than favorable.

Capt. Stephen Baldwin, the California aeronaut, who has entered most heartily into the plans of the company, has made several trips to the sites of the three proposed stations and believes they are ideally situated. 

"I am more than anxious for the airship route to be installed between Fort George and Coney Island," said Mr. Baldwin. "The trips could be made every day, possibly excepting times of extremely severe wind storms and even then it is not impossible that it could be done. From Fort George, which is the highest point in New York City, the flight to the first station would be more than easy. The stop at Weber's Theatre could be accomplished without the least difficulty. From Weber's to Luna Park we might encounter some difficulties, but none so serious as to make any delay in our schedule time. The whole trip, in- [[cut off]]

[[?]] which will be No. 1 of the Weber and Thompson Company, will be ninety feet long. It will be similar to the California airship in which Capt. Baldwin made several successful flights last summer. Plans for the stations at Vanity Fair, Weber's Theatre and Luna Park will be prepared by architects within a few weeks and the work of building them will begin immediately. 

At Vanity Fair there is to be a steel platform that will rise nearly one hundred feet in the air. Elevators will carry passengers from the surface to the airship car. A restaurant and palm-room will make the platform a popular place. Leaving Vanity Fair, the airship will rise straight [[tear in page]] air, turn sharply until it is directly over Broadway, and then fly straight down to Twenty-ninth street. A course high enough to clear the tallest buildings by several hundred feet will be followed. 

A rest of fifteen or twenty minutes will be taken at Broadway. Then the last half of the journey will be begun. Taking a course as straight as a bird the airship will head directly for Coney Island.

The landing station at Luna Park, which will be built on the top of the Trip to the Moon building, will be nearly identical with that at Vanity Fair. A stringed orchestra will add to the attractions of the place. 

"There is nothing I have undertaken in the last few years," said Mr. Thompson, "that I am so interested in as this airship navigation company. Its success will mean more to me than the success of anything else I am interested in, though from a material standpoint it will be carried on at a loss."

Mr. Weber is as enthusiastic over the Aerial Navigation Company as is his partner. 

"By the middle of July at the very latest," said Mr. Weber, "the people in New York will see the regular flights of our airship up and down Broadway. The experimental age of aerial navigation has passed and it is time that airships began to take their rightful place in the commercial world."

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[[cut off]] of BROADWAY BUILDING at 29TH STREET OVER WHICH AIRSHIP TOWER is to be BUILT

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Under-Surface of a Twenty-Foot Devilfish.

ANY one who has a spare octopus will please communicate with Father Knickerbocker immediately.

Now, don't all speak at once!

New York is pining for a live octopus. It does not want one of those tame, house-broken octopuses, but a real wicked, red-eyed, jim-jam-[[?]] of a devilfish, with great squirmy tentacles covered with warty suckers and a beak like that of a monstrous vulture.

The city is building a nice cozy house for it and is prepared to feed it on the fat of the land, so no one need fear that his octopus will not be well taken care of.

Efforts to keep an octopus alive in New York have thus far proved unsuccessful, for the beasts grow homesick in captivity. But quarters are being fitted [[?]] the Aquarium at Battery Park, and fishermen [[?]] the coast of North Carolina have for several months been keeping a sharp eye out. Octopuses [[?]]d in those waters in numbers sufficiently large to make all fishermen wary.

There is no inhabitant of the ocean more dreaded by sailors and fishermen than the octopus. They are the most highly developed of the mollusk family, and their rapid movements, their acute senses and the completeness of their organization make it difficult to believe that their nearest relatives are snail and clams.

How the Octopus Fights.

[[?]]largest members of the family (which con-[[?]] about ninety species) delight to grasp with [[?]] long tentacles the unfortunate occupant of a [[?] and drag him to a fearsome death beneath the [[?]]s. Nothing is feared even by the smaller members of the octopus family, none of whom hesitates to tackle any member of the human family. And the more desperate the battle the better the monsters like it.

As thrilling as the tales of Victor Hugo are those [[?]]ed by men who have fought with the octo-[[?]] both on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and [[?]]ched victory from the very jaws of death. The octopus is carnivorous and preys upon fishes, [[?]]acea and other mollusks, which he captures by [[?]]ing backward, seizing the victim in his sucker-[[?]]ng arms and crushing him with his sharp, parrot-like beak.

[[?]]is the chief delight of the devilfish to rise suddenly under the boat occupied by a fisherman and throw the long, slender arms over [[?]] craft, seize the occupant, drag his body to the bottom of the sea and devour it at leisure.

Nothing in nature is more gruesome or unearthly than the sinuous writhing of these creatures. [[?]] more strangely fascinating than the wonderful [[?]] of rainbow colors over their soft, pulsating bodies contrasted with the cruel, stony stare of their eyes.

The octopus often takes up its abode within s[[?]] rocky crevice and lies safely hidden in the shad[[?]] where it assumes the color of its surroundings [[?]] order that its victims may not perceive their danger until grasped by the suckers of the long, musc[[?]] arms.

The Japanese, more familiar with the habits of [[?]] big creature, know this failing of the octopus [[?]] seeking out one of its hiding places they sink a [[?]] earthen urn, which they leave over night and [[?]] it up in the morning to find the vessel occupied [[?]] one of the repulsive creatures.

The odor of the octopus is decidedly pleasant and it is considered a dainty article of food in France, Italy and Japan. They are preyed upon by sea lions and the sperm whale and tales of great submarine battles are told by the corpses that are sometimes found on the shore.

When the Octopus Gets Homesick.

The octopus has eight long, flexible tentacles surrounding its mouth, and in many species the rims of the suckers are armed with hooks, thus increasing the tenacity of their grasp. These arms have been developed from what was once the forepart of the foot of the ancestral mollusk. The mouth is a powerful, parrot-like beak, while the tongue is provided with sharp, rasping teeth.

The teeth and jaws are horny, the beaks being coated with calcareous matter. The color, [[?]] length of the arms, and the size of the suckers vary in different species.

They can creep in any direction, but a sideways movement is preferred by most of them. If their progress in walking is slow it is compensated by the rapidity of their movements when swimming. Body foremost, with the arms stretched beyond their head, they dart backward with great swiftness, being propelled by successive expulsions of water through a funnel.

It is not likely that any of the species to be p[[?]] in the Aquarium will become parents while in captivity, or that New Yorkers will have the privilege of observing how the devilfish cares for its young. Efforts made in the past to keep them alive in captivity have proved far from successful, for their native home is in clear, cold water. The waters [[?]] New York Bay are too brackish for the well-being of the octopus, and for that reason when the first of them comes to this city, it will be kept in water brought in tanks from the deep sea.

The eggs of the octopus are small, oval, translucent granules, resembling grains of rice and not quite an eighth of an inch long. They are [[?]]

Transcription Notes:
[[?]] indicates missing/cutoff letters or words