The Balloon Hoax by Edgar Allan Poe
(Published in 1884)
 
SUN OFFICE
April 13, 10 o'clock A.M.
==================================
ASTOUNDING
NEWS!
BY EXPRESS VIA NORFOLK:
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THE
ATLANTIC CROSSED
IN
THREE DAYS!
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SIGNAL TRIUMPH
OF
MR. MONCK MASON'S
FLYING
MACHINE!!!
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Arrival at Sullivan's Island,
near Charlestown, S. C., of
Mr. Mason, Mr. Robert Hol-
land, Mr. Henson, Mr. Har-
rison Ainsworth, and four
others, in the mm.
STEERING BALLOON
"VICTORIA,"
AFTER A PASSAGE OF
SEVENTY-FIVE HOURS
FROM LAND TO LAND.
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FULL PARTICULARS
OF THE
VOYAGE!!!
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Read the full article at: http://poestories.com/read/balloonhoax
Last Updated (Wednesday, 17 February 2010 02:46)
Florence Loentine "Pancho" Lowe Barnes
 
Birth: Jul. 14, 1901
Pasadena
Los Angeles County
California, USA
Death: Mar. 29, 1975
Boron
Kern County
California, USA
Aviation Pioneer. Born in San Marino, California, into the prominent Lowe family. Her grandfather, family scion Thaddeus Lowe, was appointed Chief Aeronaut of the Union Army Balloon Corps by President Lincoln during the Civil War and is considered the founding father of the United States Air Force. Under his tutelage, Barnes at an early age learnt horseback riding, camping and hunting along with the more genteel pursuits of dancing and needlework befitting a budding society lady. Despite her marriage in 1919 to Reverend C. Rankin Barnes, Florence eschewed the social strictures of her era to become a pioneer of women's aviation. Florence gained the moniker Pancho, a conflation of the name of Cervantes' character Sancho Panza, during an improbable stint as a gun-runner for Mexican revolutionaries. In 1930 Barnes broke Amelia Earhart's women's speed record in her "Mystery Ship," a Travel Air Model R sponsored by the Union Oil Company. After her marriage to the Reverend Barnes ended in divorce, Pancho founded the Happy Bottom Riding Club, a dude ranch and restaurant serving the test pilots from the adjacent Edwards Airforce Base in Southern California. It was in this role that she was immortalized in Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff. She died at home in Cantil, California. (bio by: Richard Arthur Fenner)
Article from : http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=32134405
More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancho_Barnes
A documentary of her life: http://www.panchobarnesfilm.com/film/
Last Updated (Wednesday, 03 February 2010 00:59)
Bill Doolin ~ Outlaw!
 
| Birth: |
1858 |
| Death: |
Aug. 24, 1896 |
The exact date of his birth has been lost over time and the date of his death, while not a true controversy, is listed as August 25th as often as August 24th, but the year is definitely 1896. At the age of 23, he left his sharecropping family in Arkansas and moved to the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) and went to work as a cowboy on a ranch. After some scrapes with the law, he joined the notorious Dalton Gang, known as the "most cold-blooded gang in the west." The Daltons were led by brothers Bob, Grat, Emmett, and later Bill Dalton. Over the next year Doolin rode with the Daltons as they robbed trains, depots, and banks in the Indian Territory. In October of 1892, the Daltons made a decision to rob two banks at the same time in Coffeyville. Not everyone, including Doolin, thought this to be a good idea as many of the members were known by citizens of Coffeyville and it was a risky proposition. Riding toward Coffeyville, Doolin claimed that his horse had come up lame and that he was going to a nearby ranch to replace it, saying he would catch up with the gang. Some historians claim it was just a way to get out of joining the gang in a robbery that he felt was doomed to failure. If so, he was right. The poorly planned, poorly executed attempt was recognized as a bank robbery by the local citizens and in a big shootout only Emmett Dalton escaped. Following this failure, Doolin formed his own gang which became known as the "Wild Bunch." For a period of time they were the most powerful gang in the southwest and terrorized southern Kansas and the Indian Territory. In July of 1893, E D Nix was appointed US Marshall for the Indian Territory under the jurisdiction of Judge Isaac Parker. Nix immediately put together a strong force of 100 deputies, including Bill Tilghman, Heck Thomas, and Chris Madsen. They were to bring law and order to the territory. In August of 1893, Nix learned that Doolin was in Ingalls, Indian Territory and sent a deputy and13 man posse to capture him. Most historians consider it the biggest shoot out in southwest history and on September 1st three marshals were killed, two bystanders were killed and one wounded, three of the gang members were wounded and Arkansas Tom Jones was wounded and captured. Doolin was wounded but shot and killed Deputy Marshal Richard Speed and escaped with several of his men. Hearing that Doolin was in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, Bill Tilghman was sent to arrest him and he did so. Unfortunately, the night before his trial was to begin, Doolin and several inmates escaped from the Guthrie, Oklahoma federal prison. Heck Thomas received word that Doolin was hiding at his father-in-laws homestead near Lawson, Oklahoma. On the night of August 24 (or 25), 1896, Thomas and nine deputies, including his son Albert, surrounded the place and when Doolin came out of the barn Thomas called for him to surrender. Instead he shot at Thomas and the posse in turn shot and killed Doolin. The fatal shot was probably a shotgun blast from Heck Thomas. Once again controversy springs up and there are several versions of what happened in the shooting and whose shotgun killed him. The undertaker counted twenty buckshot wounds in his chest. One story says he died of natural causes and the posse shot him to collect the reward. By the end of 1898, all of the remaining former Wild Bunch gang were dead, killed in various shootouts with lawmen. Heck Thomas had tracked most of them; the remainder were tracked down and eliminated by lawmen Chris Madsen and Bill Tilghman, and other posses. (bio by: Tom Todd)
Info from http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1215
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Last Updated (Friday, 29 January 2010 02:54)
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