Mattoon High School - Riddle Yearbook (Mattoon, IL)

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28 THE RIDDLE rnpberp of lass of 1925 The giant air machine which has been constructed by Lawrence Guthrie and Joseph Sawyer, has been announced ready for the start of the record breaking flight. Such was the short announcement Harry Clark read in the New York Times one evening in 1930. Just that morning he had received a notice of the trip planned by the members of the class of '25, telling him to meet on Riddle Field near Mattoon, on Tuesday, April 8, at 9 oiclock. He had been informed of the trip planned by his class and was anxious to see the giant plane and hear more details about the trip. The mechanism was not known to the worldg and therefore a great deal of curiosity was attached to the undertaking. At the ap- pointed time, a large crowd was assembled to see the class leave and to tell them goodbye The roll of the class was called, and every one was found to be present except Harry Clark. His announcement had been sent to him, and no one knew why he had not come. The other members regretted this, but it was now too late to wait for him. The giant machine had been rolled out of the hangar and had been inspected with the most minute care. lt was declared in perfect condition and ready for the flight. The class entered the cabin and waved good-byes from the windows as the plane began to slowly rise. Some of those left behind feared that it would be a foolish undertaking, but those going on the trip knew the con- struction of the machine and had confidence in the inventors and mechanics. The crowd watched the machine until it grew smaller and smaller and was finally lost to sight in the heavens. Many years passed, in which relatives and friends had grown afraid that the plane had been lost somewhere, and its occupants had died from lack of oxygen. They did not know that all this had been provided for. Mr. Clark who was working, at the time of the leaving, on new radio inventions, by which he hoped to communicate with other planets, had been un- able to go on the trip his class planned. He, in one way had regretted it very much, for he would have liked to have gone with his classg but on the other hand, he would have made a great success of himself on this earth, should his invention work. So he immediately set about interesting other scientists in his inven- tion and planning to try it out. One summer evening when the night was very still, there being no wind, five of America's leading scientists gathered at the electrical laboratory of Mr. Clark, who was both nervous and anxious for the result of his apparatus. It was all connected up, and ready for the demon- stration. The current was turned cn, and it lighted a string of blue lights. At first they were light blueg and then, as the hand moved around on an indicator, they turned darker and darker until finally they were a deep purple. More switches were turned, and other instru- ments were put to work, Mr. Clark telling the purpose of each as he went from one to the other. All of the scientists were interested to the point of excitement when Mr. Clark walked to a large square magnavox and said that this was the final instrumentg and when turned on, if he had been successful, they should be able to hear from the other planets. He pushed in the switch and pulled a slide along the indicator. At first nothing was heard to break the breath- less stillnessg and then as the slide was pushed along farther, a harsh, grating noise was heard. The lights turned to a pale green, and as the noise continued, the silence of the room be- came more awfull The sounds stopped, the lights again turned purple, and there was an audible sound. of the relaxed tension to which each one was keyed. Mr. Clark felt both success and failure in the same moment. Suc- cess because he believed he had heard an at- tempted communicationand failure because he had received nothing definite. His audience rose and started to leaveg they congratulated him on what he had done, and encouraged him to work farther. He bid them good, night and promisedeto allow them to be present at his next trial. But they were not present at his next

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THE RIDDLE 29 trial, nor when he first received anything defi- nite, for that was the very next evening, and came unexpectedly to the inventor. He was in his laboratory tuning it up and going over it. He had tuned it all on and was trying to get the noises of the previous evening. He slid the indicator along, and caught a noise. He hur- riedly pushed the slide back until he again heard the noise and then listened. This is what he heard: -coming from the planet Utopia, and we are trying to establish communication with the earth. We have tried for 37 days and will continue to try to until we have heard from you in some way. If you have heard us, try to connect up at your end. We will broadcast again to-morrow, between the hours of 5 and 10 P. M. Class of '25 M. H. S.-Good-night. Mr. Clark was so surprised and happy that he coulld not wait until morning to tell the scientists. He called them all, told them his good luck and asked them to come the next evening at five o'clock so that they could talk with the others, if his apparatus would allow them, or at least hear from them at that time. They were very glad to come and were there early the next afternoon to hear for them- selves if possible. Before 5, they had the instruments ready, anxious to begin receiving. Promptly at 5, a noise was heard, the lights changed to a pale green, and the same voice was heard again. It said, This report comes from the planet Utopia, and we are trying to establish communication with the earth. We have tried for 38 days and will continue to try until we have heard from you in some way. If you have heard us, try to connect up at your end. We broadcast every evening from 5 until 10 P. M. If any one has heard us, we will now remain quiet for 30 minutes to give you a chance to talk to us. The group was astound- ed, but foremost in the minds of each one was to talk back to those on the other planet. Mr. Clark set about changing his switches and pre- paring his other instruments for use. When they were ready, he turned on the current and spoke into the oddly shaped box which re- sembled a telephone in some respects. This is station ABC broadcasting from New York City, U. S. A., Earth. We are attempting to communicate with persons living on the planet Utopia. We have heard your message, and want to talk to you. If you have heard us, answer back. When they found that they could talk to each other, the conversation grew very interesting, for the class had many ex- traordinary adventures to tell about. It was planned that a series of talks would be given which would be relayed from station ABC to the minor stations all over the -earth, so that every one could learn what had become of the Class of '25 from M. H. S. The first of these talks was to be given the next evening and would tell about the machine and the flight to the planet. After a personal conversation, the the talk was discontinued so that station ABC might broadcast it's success and inform the people to be ready for the message the follow- ing evening. The news was broadcasted, and. in all the morning papers there was an account of the connections. Everyone was curious and anx- ious to hear about the most extraordinary flight since the invention of the aeroplane. At five o'clock all those who could possibly get to a radio were there, ready to listen in, and the message came in on time and as clear as if it were being broadcasted from a local station. This is the planet Utopia broadcasting to the Earth. To-night our message will be a history of our trip to the planet Utopia. First I will give you a short description of our aircraft and how it operates. As you all know, Mr. Lawrence Guthrie and Mr. Joe Sawyer worked on this machine in secret for some time. The greatest difference between this craft and any other is that it did not have wings with which to keep itself in the air while in motion, but contained several gas compart- ments which held it in the air while the propel- lers were used to make it go forward. The ship was shaped like a cigar to reduce the head resistance, and in this manner it could be made to travel at a tremendous speed. This aircraft contained, as I have said, three gas compartments with which to raise it. These were located, one in front, one in the center and one in the rear. Th-ere were five engines with which to run the propellers, two on either side and one at the front. The one at the front was the main one, being about twice the size of each of the others. This engine produced 750 horse power at 5000 revolutions per minute. The propellers were of the best