THE CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS AIRSHIP SIGHTING OF 1897
CRAFT OF MYSTERY FINALLY TRACKED TO ITS LAIR--PERHAPS!
The Willimantic Chronicle
24 Dec 1909
"Home of the Worcester Aeroplane Located in west Boylston, Massachusetts,
it is Believed"
"SHED IS IN DENSE WOODS ON J. B. GOUGH ESTATE"
"While Trying to Get Close to the Place United Press Representative Was
Captured, Hauled Before Justice of the Peace and Fined for Trespassing"
Worcester, Mass., Dec 24.--The home of the mysterious aeroplane which has
been cruising at unheard of altitudes over Massachusetts for the last two
nights and causing wonderment to thousands, it is believed has been
found.
Scouring the country about Worcester in a search for the home of the
Tillinghast machine a United Press representative discovered at West
Boylston, six miles from this city, that fourteen men in the employ of
Paul B. Morgan of the Morgan Construction company of Worcester were busy
in some secret occupation on the old estate of John B. Gough, the
old-time temperance lecturer. On this estate, and situated in dense
woods, there is a shed more than 100 feet long which, it is believed,
contains the aeroplane that is to startle the world. No aeroplane was
seen by the United Press representative, however. As he was advancing
through the woods to reconnoiter he was captured by some of the men
employed on the estate, haled before a justice of the peace and fined for
trespassing.
This, so far, is the only clue to the aeroplane. That it is pregnant with
possibilities, however, is certain from the fact that Paul B. Morgan is
known as an intimate of Wallace E. Tillinghast and is also known to be
interested in aerial navigation. Two years ago Morgan spent $15,000 on
the aeroplane of a Swedish aviator but later abandoned it as
unsatisfactory. It is now thought that with Tillinghast he has perfected
the machine which has been sailing over New England, the same that
Tillinghast declares he used in a flight from here to New York and return
on September 8th.
Through Tillinghast himself is belived to have been himself in Worcester
last night thousands all over Massachusetts today declare the aeroplane
associated with his declarations and probably manned by his mechanics was
winging its way through the skies up to last midnight. Between six
o'clock last evening until midnight its flashlights were trailed from
Marlboro to Fitchburg and back through Worcester, thence to Boston via
Natick, Wellesley, Newton and Needham. From Boston the light passed to
the northeast, circling over Chelsea and Revere, through Lynn toward the
Salem line, then returning as far as Farmingham where it mysteriously
disappeared from the eager searchings of newspaper men who hoped to trail
the daring aerial navigator to his lair and unfathom the mystery which
has now perturbed the entire eastern part of the state.
Many of the 10,000 people who saw the light are positive in their belief
that made the outlines of the same aerial craft that closely resembled a
monoplane of the type used by Latham and Bleriot.
They say the machine was under perfect control and that it flew close to
the ground, coming as near to the earth as 100 feet in Natick and later
rising to fully 1,000 feet. Some say there were two men in the craft. One
was standing forward near the headlight, which has been seen by thousands
of people, and the second man was in the stern, where a much dimmer light
was burning. They say the craft at times attained a speed of fully 80
miles an hour, while again it remained stationary for fifteen minutes at
a time.
