Viewing page 278 of 468

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

FAMOUS AVATRICE READY TO FLY FOR HER COUNTRY IN WAR

WOMAN FLYER WANTS TO FIGHT FOR U.S.

[[PHOTO]]

RUTH LAW WITH FRENCH TRENCH DOG
By World Staff Photographer        Yesterday

Miss Ruth Law, Back Home, Tells of Ambition and What She Saw Abroad

  "I am at the service of my country for flying duty at any moment I may be called upon," said Miss Ruth Law, aviator, as she came into port, yesterday on the steamer Alfonso XII., after several months spent in England and France observing the latest methods of using aeroplanes in warfare. 

  I am willing to fly a fast little scout machine alone, travelling 130 or 150 miles an hour, or I'll drive a heavier machine carrying a gun and gunner and go into actual battle with the enemy," added the diminutive holder of the Chicago-New York flight record.  That's what I'd like to do more than anything - get right into the fight.

  "The only request I shall make of the Government when I offer my services formally, which will be in a day or so, is that I be sent to the front, wherever it is.  Above all things, I'd like to go to the front in France, if America sends any soldiers over there.

"If we have a woman Congressman, why can't we have a woman fighting aviator?" she demanded..

   Record Shows Her Ability

  Of Miss Law's ability there is not question.  Her performances prove that.  She holds the altitude mark for a woman-nearly 12,000 feet-and the cross-country American record for either sex.

  "I am arranging to get a Morane-Saulnier monoplane from France, and am willing to enter it in the service of the United States," Mill Law continued.  "That is the fastest plane in use in Europe.  I had a flight over Paris in a two-seater with Robert Morane, the inventor.  I thought I had flown fast before, but my eyes were opened by the speed of that 'bus."

  The little queen of the air was enthusiastic in her praise of the way in which young men of England and France had turned out for aviation training.  She displayed a picture of one of the French fields at Le Bourget, near Paris, where there are 150 hangars and 100 machines in each hangar.  "I never dreamed there were so many aeroplanes in the world," she said. "Why, they buzz over the city of Paris almost like mosquitoes.
  "You'll see a big triplane carrying a crew of three or four men and a three-inch gun, surrounded by twenty or thirty fast little 'planes armed with machine guns to protect the bit fellows."

 Met the Famous Guynemer.

  Miss Law tried to get to the fighting front, but was permitted no further than Compiegne, close to where the Germans were turned away from their march toward Paris early in was.

  "I met all the boys of the Lafayette Escadrille-the America flying group," she said, "and I had the privilege of chatting with the greatest fighting flyer of all, Lieut. Guynemer, who has shot down more than thirty flyers.  He gave me a ring fashioned from the button of a German airman's coat.

[[2ND COLUM OF ARTICLE]]

said ours are entirely too heavy.  The English and French machines are very much lighter, and therefore easier to handle an capable of far greater speed.

  "Just think of those Morane machines getting up 6,000 feet in seven minutes," she said.,"Many of them can climb almost 1,000 feet a minute-and it took me an hour and a half to get up to 12,000 with my little old biplane when i made the altitude record.  Our materials and bodies should be refined and heightened."

  The little aviator said American men by the thousands ought to be turning out for air service right now, particularly for coast defense duty.

Saw the "Gimlet Trick."

  "I saw a wonderful new bit of trick flying at Le Bourget," she wen on.  "It is a stunt called 'le vrille' (the grimlet).  While the machine is on a level, the head stands still and then the tail whirls around and around.  it is done by jamming the rudders.  But, with all the fancy flying I saw, I still believe the best trick aviator I ever beheld was Lincoln Beachey, our own Yankee boy."

  Miss Law brought back with her a French trench dog called poilu, who saw much actual fighting and was wounded several times.  He wears a miniature steel helmet.  He had to go into quarantine because of the regulations regarding the importation of animals.
  The flyer will remain in this city a few days, at the Hotel McAlpin, and then to Chicago. 
  
MISS RUTH LAW, HOME FROM FRANCE, TO OFFER HER SERVICES TO COUNTRY

Famous Aviatrice Ready to Act as Instructor or in Any Other Capacity.

BRINGS HERE POILU, BELGIAN POLICE DOG

Miss Marian Haviland Denies Report of Discourteous Treatment by German Officials.

Photo by J. J. Sullivan, HERALD Photographer.
MISS RUTH LAW, AND POILU, WEARING HIS WAR HELMET.

After an absence of six months, passed principally in the aviation camps at Campiegne, Villecorblay and Buc, France, Mrs. Charles Oliver, who is better known as Miss Ruth Law, aviatrice, returned to America yesterday with her husband on board the steamship Alfonso XIL, of the Spanish line. She said, rather ruefully, that she had made but one flight of any consequence. "But it was the speediest flight I ever made in my life," she added. "It was at the rate of 118 miles an hour, while the fastest I ever made in America was 103."

Miss Law said she also had made a flight with Paul Moraine, maker of the Moraine-Saulnier aeroplanes, fastest and most up to date flying machines in the world. And of the Caudrenne and PEugeot machines she was equally enthusiastic. They are not so swift as the Moraine-Saulnier type, she said, but they can carry a great deal more. 

"And particularly the Caudrenne machines," she said, "now carry a 3-inch gun, which has three recoil chambers and is so synchronized with the propeller blades that it can fire its shell through them while they are making 5,000 revolutions a minute."

Miss Law brought from France, Poilu, Belgian police dog. He was muzzled and carried on his head a shrapnel helmet, such as dogs, as well as men, are protected with in the trenches.

"poilu is a good, nice dog," said Miss Law, "but just look at his molars and canines," pointing at the animal's powerful teeth, as he yawned. "He makes use of them with telling effect when he is ordered to attack."

When Miss Law uttered the word "attack" Poilu arose hastily from his reposeful position and, prinking up his ears, looked searchingly, apparently undecided about the person whom he was supposed to attack. The reporters discreetly and quickly stepped beyond the end of Poilu's leash, for, even muzzled, a dog that was able to display so large a part of its denture was not to be trifled with.

Asked why she had not made more flights, Miss Law said:--"The Frenchmen want women to do anything that looks heroic. It's all right for a woman to run a street car or work in a factory; but when it comes to doing something that has a touch of real danger in it, they are too gallant, I suppose, to let a woman tackle it." Se said that she has returned to offer her services to her country, either as aviation instructress or in any other capacity. 

Among ither passengers were Mr. Royal Phelps Carroll and his daughter, Miss Dorothea Carroll; Miss Jane N. Morgan, daughter of J. Pierpont Morgan, and Mrs. Benjamin Thaw and her son, Blair. Miss Morgan was met at the pier by her brother, Mr. Junius Spencer Morgan, Jr.

Miss Marian Haviland, who had gone abroad to finish her vocal studies under Mme. Felicia Kaschowfska and had met with obstacles while coming from Warsaw to Spain, expressed regret that an article had been published in the United States to the effect that the German officials had robbed her and been rude generally.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," she said. "There appears to be some regulation which does not permit anybody to leave Germany with more that $200. I suppose that is that no appreciable sum should fall into hostile hands. Accordingly my money, except the permissible amount, was taken away, with the understanding that it was to be restored when I reached Spain. And at Coruna, Spain, every penny of it was returned to me. And I also wish to say that the utmost courtesy was shown to me throughout the trip through Germany.

With Miss Haviland, who is a grand-daughter of one of the founders of the big porcelain firm of Haviland & Co., was Miss Martha Thompson, of Oklahoma, returning from Leipsic, where she had gone to finish her piano studies. She is sixteen years old, and is said to be of the "prodigy" class of piano players. They were met at the pier by many friends and relatives, among whom where Mr. and Mrs. Northrup Castle, of Honolulu, Miss Haviland's brother-in-law and sister.

The four Consuls who had not been able to come by the vessel which brought Ambassador Gerard also arrived. They were Mr. Henry H. Morgan, United State Consul to Hamburg, and his son, Mr. Henry K. Morgan; Mr. George M Ifft, Consul to Suttgart, and Mrs. Ifft; Mr. Milo B. Jewett, Consul to Kiel, and Mr. Theodore Jaeckel, Consul to Stettin, and his wife and son, Theodore Jseckel, Jr. Mr. Watter Schultz, United State Consul at Berne, Switzerland, has come home on leave of absence, bringing his wife and two children.

Mrs. William Gardner, wife of the British Vice Consul at Paris, and daughter of Mr. James B. Regan, of New York, brought her daughter Sybil, three years old, along. With them was Mrs. Gardner's brother, Mr. James B. Regan, Jr. Mrs. Bianche Paillard, wife of the French Consul at Manila was also a passenger.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JAN
Miss Ruth Law in Paris, Seeks New Aeroplane Styles

[[PHOTO]]

MISS RUTH LAW.
Young American Aviator Declares She Is Not Interested in Feminine Fripperies--May Go to Front, but Barred by Military Authorities from Flying.

PARIS, Wednesday--Miss Ruth Law, the young American aviator, is shopping in Paris to-day for the latest wrinkles in aeroplanes and the last word in motors. She says she has not the slightest interest in feminine fripperies at all, and gowns and fashion do not make an appeal, but she may buy a gown or hat or two before she leaves.
 Miss Law cannot fly while she is here, for any civilian who tried to do that would find himself in conflict with the military authorities. Before she left London she said she would like to fly as a military aviator, but this is a wish that is not at all likely to be granted.
 Opportunity may be granted to Miss Law, however, to see the latest models in military aviators, and she may also have an opportunity to watch the military aviators at work at or near the front.

Aviatrix Brings Home From Paris the Latest Style in Dogs

[[PHOTO]]

flown high above the French lines and seen what no other woman has ever seen of trench warfare below, and she has, no doubt, brought most valuable information home to the government, but there is nothing which she has had to offer which has struck the women of the country with more interest than her wonderful tips upon this latest dog fad in Paris.
 The big axiatrix was unable to withstand the fad when she was in Paris, and so has come back to America with a dog. He is a beautiful Belgian police dog--same as the German P. D., but diplomatic relations have caused him to have one name in one country and another name in other countries. He belonged to a wounded French soldier who had been dismissed from the army and for whom the selling of Poilu meant much in the way of funds. Poilu means hairy one--that is what the poor old shaggy French soldiers are called.

Calls Valet for Him.

When Miss Law landed in New York she sent her bandboxes and bags to the hotel in a taxi, and then she and Poilu walked. The dog was terrified with the crowds; at the front he has never seen so many peo-




 

Transcription Notes:
The last article was cut off.