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* CHICAGO HEREALD AND EXAMINER —Picture Magazine— SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1922. 3 [---] AVIATRIX QUITS AIR FOR GREATEST ADVENTURE "I Want Babies, a Home and Love" [---] THERE comes a time in the life of every woman—be she queen or shop girl, lawyer or actress—when she feels the maternal urge, the yearn for a home, a fireside, children and contentment. This desire is no respecter of persons or personalities—it has now reached into the sky to bring an aviatrix down to earth. RUTH LAW volplaned from the sky—and landed by the fireside. The daredevil aviatrix, who has thrilled thousands, has quit flying to have babies, a home and the love of her husband. In private life she is Mrs. Charles Oliver. The maternal urge has again conquered. "I'm through," said Miss Ruth, excuse, Mrs. Oliver. "It's me for the simple life—and kids. "I want a little home somewhere in the country, perhaps; books, a fireside—even if its only a gas log—and the uninterrupted companionship of my husband. "I've never had time for these things. Now I'm going to make time for them. STUNTS WITH MOP "All my future stunts are going to be performed with a vacuum cleaner and an oil mop instead of with a fast automobile and a faster airplane. "I've been playing housewife, and—well, I love it! It's more thrilling, more sweetly thrilling than anything I've ever done before." Mr. and Mrs. Oliver have taken an apartment at 4531 Hazel av., for their second honeymoon. "Man, I've been proud of her before," says her happy husband, "but, well, you tell 'em, that's all. I can't! Now I am proud!" The retirement of the petite flyer marks the end of ten years of distinguished achievement, during which she has never had an accident. She was among the first, if not the first woman, to take up flying. ROMA DISASTER HAUNTS She is a sister of Rodman Law, one of the original daredevil airmen, who once contemplated a trip to the moon in a giant skyrocket. She attempted to enlist during the war, but was turned down as no provision had been made for women flyers. She then joined the Red Cross and "bombed" the country from one end to the other with Red Cross appeals. Much of her war work was done in Chicago. She holds the altitude record for women flyers, having ascended 14,700 feet in 1917. Her "stunts" consisted of all tried before and new ones no one else would try. She asserted yesterday that the recent Roma disaster also had something to do with her determination to retire. "I always thought that sometimes I would quit," she said. "That's what every flyer thinks. Some do and others—well, there are dozens of broken propeller blades above as many graves. "Friends of mine, men I knew and flew with, 'crashed out' and others flew knowing that some day they, too, would end that way. "Not that I'm afraid—I've never known what fear is; but I do want a home, and babies, and peace. I tell you, when you're way up there all alone, and you know that the slightest mishap, the least mistake, could only mean a sickening fall and a crash, it makes a person think. "The public is unreasonable in its demands. It wants thrills and is oblivious of the danger to the flyer. That's what made the Roman amphitheater what it was. "So I've quit and I hope .... well, you know!" [---] [[image]][[/image]] Why She Quit— "I want a home, and babies, and love. . . ." "My 'stunts' from now on will be with a vacuum cleaner and an oil mop." "Every flyer hopes to quit some day....But broken propeller blades mark many graves." "The public is unreasonable, demanding Roman spectacles." "Me for the 'simple life!'" —RUTH LAW. [[image]][[/image]] [[image]][[/image]] RUTH LAW in flying togs, when she was known as the woman dare-devil; as she appears in home life, and the plane she has forsaken for the fireside. Portraits by Morrison. [---] V. Y. EVENING SUN. MARCH 10TH 1922 [---] HAS QUIT SKY FOR THE FIRESIDE. [[image]][[/image]] Keystone View Co. Ruth Law (Mrs. Charles Oliver), once famous aviatrix and air stunt performer, who has settled down, and the cause of her change of heart. [---] [[image]][[/image]] —Photographs by Wade Mountfort, New stunts and old met at the fair grounds in the centennial celebration at Sedalia Monday morning and afternoon. 1—This fellow probably was thinking of past glories and prime freedom as he rode down the parade grounds, attired in the regalia of ancestors. 2—Your grandfather was acquainted with this mode of transport. 3—Introduction of the new came in conjunction with ox teams and Indian dress parade. Louis James, Miss Ruth Law's devil challenging partner changing from a speeding automobile to an airplane driven by the aviator. Miss Law also stunted on the wings and atop the ship. [---] Former Lynn Man Dies on West Coast The funeral of Charles Augustus Oliver, 67, a native of Lynn, who, with his wife, the former Ruth Law, famous aviatrix, was a pioneer in aviation, will be held at the Rhodes Memorial Chapel, Pine Grove Cemetery, on Monday at 2:30 PM. He died in San Francisco last Saturday. A graduate of Lynn schools, Mr. Oliver resided here until 25 years ago, when he and Mrs. Oliver moved to Beverly Hills, Calif. When in Lynn, they made their home on Myrtle Street. Besides his wife, he leaves his sister, Mrs. Bertha Haney of Los Angeles, and an uncle, Frank Parker of Swampscott; and a niece, Mrs. LaVilla Gannantschnig of Honolulu. [---] [[image]] Last flight at Trenton N.J. Oct 1, 1921 [[/image]] [---] Noted Aviatrix Picks Her Circus Flyers With Care RUTH LAW GIVES HER EXPLANATION OF HOW SHE ELUDED JINX IN HER AERIAL CAREER; HAS CONFIDENCE STUNT AT AIR GROUNDS WILL BE DONE WITHOUT MISHAP [---] BY RUTH LAW Beating the game. That is what Ruth Law has been accused of doing by those who have followed her career in aviation since July, 1911. This is how she explains it in her own words: "First, I knock wood, because I don't believe in bragging, and secondly, I will give you the plain facts because boasting never gets you anywhere. I always knock wood when I speak of my success in the flying game because of the old saying, 'pride goeth before a fall,' and a fall in an airplane is usually the finish. I have never been afraid of the air, and I have a great loe for flying. My frieds ask me why I don't quit flying while the quitting is worth while, meaning that they are afraid that I will get killed. I believe that I will never be killed in the air. Why? Because I never do anything without first studying out the possibilities, good and bad. I never try a stunt on the impulse of the moment. People laugh at me when I say that I am always very careful when I fly..They ask how it is that I can be careful when we seemingly take such risks. Flying low to the ground, over trees and under wires, be-hit some obstacle and crash to the ground. Before these flights are made we look over the grounds and make sure, as a burglar does when he is robbing a house, that when we go into a tight place that we have a way open to get out again. A Wartime Stunt. "Once when I was flying in Washington, D. C., during the war I flew up Pennsylvania avenue from the capitol to the treasury building, not ten feet above the top of the trolley cars, down between high office buildings and hotels. It was a stunt to attract people to the White house lawn, where a liberty loan campaign was in progress. "The people thought it was a daredevil stunt done on the spur of the moment. But it wasn't. I had walked up and down the avenue the day before and observed that there were no wires of any kind strung across the street between the buildings, and that if I could, that my only danger would be motor failure, which is rare when a motor receives the care and attention that we give our motors. "Fear and daredeviltry are the two greatest dangers in aviation. "There are many aviators, good flyers, who are never quite free from the fear of the game. They took up aviation during the war as a patriotic duty. Some learned to fly as a means of earning a living and not because they loved the game, for itself. When something goes wrong, the fear that they are powerless to avert an accident that would never have occurred to an aviator with a cool head. "Then, there is the daredevil, who jumps into his airplane and for the fun of scaring his friends or outdoing some other aviator, usually with the aid of a little 'home brew,' goes through some wonderful maneuvers, winding up with breaking his own neck. "For several years I have managed my own flying circus, and it has been the most interesting to study the different types of aviators. Our engagements are booked sometimes months in advance, and advertising the performance costs a great deal of money, so it is necessary to have only dependable as well as daring aviators and performers with the flying circus—men who will make good under all conditions. "My friends, knowing that I am always on the lookout for new material, often come to me with the information that in such and such a town, there is an aviator who pulls off the most hair-raising stunts, and last week he landed in a tree or fell down the chimney of his house, and he ought to be just what we wanted for a stunt man. I thank them, but the description is enough. We don't want aviators who are likely to kill themselves or someone else. In selecting our aviators, first we ask them to make a flight, a good flier can be recognized at a glance, the way he handles his plane. Next he must have no bad habits, and third, the real aviator never has much to say about his ability to fly."
