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FIRST WOMAN FLYER TELLS OF EARLY HAZARDS Ruth Law's San Francisco Home Full of Aviation Mementoes By Stuart McClure William Howard Taft was President of the United States in 1912 and there was war in the Balkans. That was the time the Titanic struck an iceberg off the Newfoundland coast and 1,517 lives were lost. FIRST FLIGHT That was also the year Ruth Law first flew an airplane, with 2nd Lt. Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, himself a pilot of only a few months' experience, watching from the landing strip at Marblehead, Mass. Today, at 59, the first great woman pilot has moved to San Francisco with her husband, Charles A. Oliver, where their home at 34 Rosewood Avenue is full of memorabilia of the early days of aviation history. Before the first World War Mrs. Oliver had become the first human to fly at night, the first woman to fly upside down and the first woman to loop the loop. BICYCLE SEAT These feats may not seem like much these days, but Mrs. Oliver pointed out that in her heyday as a pilot no one wore a parachute and she never strapped herself in - "it would have been a mark of cowardice." The "cockpit" in those days was an outside bicycle seat fixed up in the open on the nose of the flying machine. In 1916 she capped her previous exploits by annexing the world non-stop distance record for an airplane by flying from Chicago to New York in a plane with a twenty-eight foot wing spread and one 110 horsepower engine. The propeller from this plane, along with her compass and map box, will go next week to the Ford-Wright Museum of Aviation at Dearborn, Mich. AIDED ARMY This compass, fastened to the stays beneath her feet, was her only instrument on this record flight. The map was strapped to her thigh. Mrs. Oliver, one of fifty-eight "Early Birds" whose portraits are to hang in the aviation museum at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, spoke feelingly of her experience during World War I. Refused admittance to the fledgling Army Air Corps, she was still the only woman authorized to wear an army uniform during the war. Following a trip to France, during which she became the only woman to fly a plane over the enemy lines, she flew in this country for the Liberty Loan drives and the Army recruiting program. GIVEN AWARD For this service she was awarded a gold and diamond medallion with the Air Corps insignia, which she still proudly wears as a pendant. Now devoting herself to her Monterey Heights garden, Mrs. Oliver said she had not been in the air for five years, and then just as a passenger. "But I might start flying again next year," she said. "Who knows." LITTLE ADVICE This pioneer of aviation, who says she "just flew by the seat of my pants," had a little advice for the beginning pilot. Remembering that she was told "you have just learned to fly" after but two and a half hours in the air, Ms. Oliver urged, "don't try to know more than your instructor." "Further advancement in aviation seems almost as impossible now as it did in 1916," she concluded. "So it wouldn't surprise me to see a flight to the moon one of these days." S.F RED CROSS HOLDS MESSAGES The Red Cross home service department, 2015 Steiner Street, WAlnut 1-8800, holds messages and inquiries for these Bay area persons: Mrs. Alberta Black or Edmondson, from Hugo Bradshaw; Mrs. Hazel Clawsson, from the Station Hospital at Fort Eustis, Va.; Fred McKay of Guam; Warren A. Peters and Kenneth Moosier, from the Navy Terminal Leave Office at Great Lakes, Ill. Danish Trading Ship Due Sunday The Danmark, Danish ship manned by cadets in the Danish Merchant Marine, will be in San Francisco Sunday for a five-day stay, the Consul General of Denmark announced yesterday. During the war the ship was placed at the disposal of the American Government and was used as a Coast Guard training ship. [[image]] EARLY PILOT - Ruth Law, one of the first women pilots in the United States, displays the propeller from one of her planes which she piloted in 1916. She has recently moved to San Francisco --Photo by San Francisco Examiner Canadian Vets' Chief Due Gen. Price to Visit S. F. Saturday Maj. Gen. C. Basil Price, head of the Canadian Legion, will arrive here Saturday on a tour of all Canadian Legion commands and losts in the West. General Price will confer while here with State Commander William C. G. Chandler, Maurice Drucquer, northern California area commander, and Hugh Reid, commander of Local Post 25 of San Francisco. The Canadian Legion, of which General Price has been commander for six years, has over half a million members. There are five posts in the Bay area and over 2,000 members in the State of California. General Price is a veteran of both World Wars and the holder of many service medals, including the Companion of the Bath, one of the highest British awards presented by the King. Atom Pioneer Elected Seaborg Gets Chemical Society Post Glenn T. Seaborg, University of California professor, and one of the world's leading atomic scientists, has been elected a councilor-at-large of the American Chemical Society. He will serve for three years on the council, the society's advisory body on policy and general management. Professor Seaborg is the co-discoverer of plutonium, used in making atom bombs, and also of americium and curium. He graduated from the University of California in 1934, and took his doctor of philosophy degree there in 1937. Ford Plant Again open to Visitors The Ford Motor plant in Richmond is open again to tours and visits by the general public, William A. Abbott, manager, announced yesterday. Regular guided tours through the assembly line plant start daily at 10 a. m. and 2 p. m. Large groups may make reservations by calling Richmond 3500. Village Moved on Account of Coal BERLIN, Dec. 29. - The village of Ebberitz, on the road from Halle to Koeren, is being torn town [[down]] and rebuilt a short distance away, because a thick vein of coal was found running under the village. Kevin Wallace is ill. His column, "Here Today," will be resumed tomorrow. Thousands Want To Adopt Babies A thousand married couples in northern California are asking for babies to adopt, the Children's Home Society of California announced yesterday. In an appeal for funds, the society declared a thorough study of prospective home conditions is made before an adoption is approved. Additional money is required if the work is to be continued. The society's office is at 995 Market Street. Menuhin Here January 7 Program Announced for Second Appearance Yehudi Menuhin, San Francisco-born world famed violinist, will give a recital Tuesday, January 7, at the Opera House under auspices of the San Francisco Opera Association concert division. The new program will follow his appearance here last week as guest soloist with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. For sis recital, Menuhin will play Beethoven's Sonata No. 1 in D major, Bartok's Sonata No. 3 in G for violin alone, Debussy's Sonata No. 3 in G minor, Labyrinth by Locatelli, Brahm's Hungarian Dance No. 4 in B Minor, three numbers by Nin, and Sarasate's Gypsy Airs. Tickets are on sale at the Opera box office, City of Paris. 91st to Become Reserve Division The Ninety-first Infantry Division, an organized reserve outfit deactivated from World War II a year ago, will become California's reserve division, Maj. Gen. George P. Hayes, Sixth Army commanding general, reported yesterday. The division will have its headquarters at building 651 in the Presidio. Col. Ingemer E. Hoberg, 249 Edgewood Avenue, San Francisco, has been named chief of staff. Lack of Equipment Delays Air Service Inception of feeder service by Southwest Airways from San Francisco to Redding, via Oakland and seven Sacramento Valley cities, will be delayed until January 10, company officials said yesterday. Failure of manufacturers to supply aircraft and radio ground station equipment on dates promised was given as the reason. 'Scram,' He Says, And Bandit Does CAMDEN (N.J.), Dec. 29.- Charles Welsh, 55-year-old taproom owner, mistook an early morning holdup for a joke and laughingly told the masked bandit "Go on, scram." Without a world the intruder turned and fled. Dawn Society Brings Light to Blind; 1,800 Offer Corneas After Death 8 Year Group Formed by Anonymous Berkeley Woman;Long Suffering by Sightless Rewarded By JOHN F. ALLEN He from thick films shall purge the visual ray, And on the sightless eyeball pour the day. That brief exerpt from the Alexander Pope's "Messiah" might well serve as the slogan of a unique San Francisco organization called the Dawn Society. Through the quiet workings of this selfless and voluntary group, thirty-five men and women who never before had seen the light of day have been provided with the precious boon of sight since 1938. Additionally, the society now has in its files the pledges of 1,800 persons who have legally willed their eyes at death to "pour the day" upon others 200,000 NEEDED But back of this seemingly bright pictures lies the tragedy of perhaps 200,000 sightless Americans, each needing only one such pledged cornea to restore him to visual normality. This condition, think officers of the society, exists only because thousands of potential donors are unaware that such transplantations are feasible. The group came into being in 1938 on the strength of the magnificent gesture of a Berkeley woman who knew she was about to die. The woman, who insisted upon remaining anonymous, willed her eyes to two young blind men-Arthur Morton of Sacramento and the Rev. U. E, Harding, now of Indianapolis. FOLLOW EXAMPLE In San Francisco a group of members of the International Order of Good Templars read a newspaper story about the successful transplantations. They had long sought some charity in which members of the order could interest themselves. On that day the Dawn Society was organized. Heart and soul of the group was and still is Secretary G. K. H. Hanson, a carpenter, who lives at 420 Oriente Street. All of his spare time, and that of his wife Anne, is now devoted to the work of the society. Like other officers and directors, neither receives a cent in return. NO CASH GIVEN Their chief job is that of getting pledges. In most cases responses are immediate and even joyful. But the society also receives many offers from people who want to sell an eye while still alive. No such sale can legally be made, of course, and no money is paid for the eyes of the dead. The society's operating system is relatively simple. First of all a donor must sign a pledge card and have it countersigned by a close relative. He is then issued an identification card outlining the method of removal. SIX HOUR LIMIT Any doctor is authorized to remove the corneas, and such an operation must take place within six hours of death. The corneas, which are the outer tissue coverings of the eye balls, are then packed in moist, sterile cotton and shipped in an iced container by air mail. The corneas must be transplanted within seventy-two hours after removal and only a very few highly skilled surgeons are capable of performing the operation. Locally there is a waiting list of twenty-five blind persons. Yet only thirteen corneas were sent here in 1946. Once man has waited twenty years, and no one can even estimate the number who would add their names to the list if they knew the existence of such a service. Some day, the Hanson's hope, such donations will become as common as the giving of blood. APPEAL MADE. Meanwhile any one who wished o join the movement is urged to write to Hanson at his San Francisco address, 420 Oriente Street. And at least one San Franciscan (among dozens who preferred to remain anonymous)) could publicy thank the Dawn Society for a "purging of the visual ray." She is Mrs. Dorothy Halsall, 1144 Mission Street, once completely blind, but now the bright-eyed, successful manager of an apartment house. MAN GROPES WAY FOR HELP CHATTANOOGA (Tenn.) Dec. 29.-Newell Sanitarium attaches said a Guntersville, Ala., road construction worker, blinded in both eyes and with both hands blown off by the premature explosion of a half stick of dynamite, groped his way through woods for miles before getting help in reaching a hospital. The victim of the accident was George F. Bradford, 25. He was injured near Guntersville. Physicians said his condition, critical upon arrival, was improved. Bradford also suffered injuries to his chest. MONEY SAVED FROM BANDITS KANSAS CITY, Dec. 29.-Eben M. Calder, operator of the Congress Restaurant, saved considerable cash by throwing a roll of bills over a fence into the neighbor's yard when two bandits followed him as he drove into the driveway of his home. Calder was struck several times with a blackjack by one of the bandits but was not made unconscious. The bandits fled in their brown coupe when John Williams, the neighbor into whose yard the money was thrown, stuck his head out of an upstairs window and asked what was going on. [Image] GAINS SIGHT - Mrs. Dorothy Halsall, one of those who has regained her sight through a corneal transplant arranged through the Dawn Society. - Photo by San Francisco Examiner. Speaking Class Will Open Jan.6 A public speaking class for adults will open Monday, January 6 at Marina Junior High School, Chestnut and Fillmore Streets, under supervision of the city schools department. The class will meet from 7 to 7 p.m. Enrollment is being taken by phone at WAlnut 1-2707 Tuition is free. Economist to Speak On Palestine Jan.19 Robert R. Nathan, economist and author will be the principal speaker at the northern California regional conference of the United Palestine Appeal January 19 at the St. Francis Hotel. Nathan, author of "Palestine: Problem and Promise," will discuss conditions in the Holy Land. The regular conference will be preceded by a luncheon meeting. I. Magnin & Co. Continuing our SEMI- ANNUAL APPAREL CLEARANCE on the second floor MAGNIN DRESSES All types from regular stock reduced to clear 23.85 originally 39.95 to 45.00 28.85 originally 49.95 to 59.95 38.85 originally 65.00 to 85.00 48.84 originally 89.95 to 110.00 COATS 1/3 and 1/2 OFF originally 89.95 to 585.00 . NOW 60.00 to 292.50 SUITS 1/3 and 1/2 OFF originally 69.95 to 370.00 . NOW 46.64 to 185.00 on the third floor RANLEIGH APPAREL Sizes 10 to 16 and 9 to 15 DRESSES originally 19.95 to 39.95 . 11.85 to 19.85 COATS and SUITS originally 35.00 to 75.00 . 19.85 to 38.85 on the Fourth Floor SPORTS APPAREL DRESSES orig. 19.95 to 49.95 13.85 to 23.85 KNITS 1/3 and 1/2 OFF orig. 39.95 to 215.00, Now 26.65 to 107.50 No Mail or Phone Orders No C. O. D.'s No Returns All Sales Final No Alterations on Sale Apparel under 30.00
