The Airship Again.

Daily News de Salem (Ohio), 24 avril 1897 s1Clark, J.: "airship, District of Columbia, 1897", Magonia Exchange, 15 août 2007.

It Appears to a Number of People at Washington.

The mysterious airship was seen in Washington yesterday morning, so says a dispatch. It came down the Potomac and gradually disappeared from view over the hills of Virginia, sailing southeast. It was plainly seen by the officers and soldiers at Fort Myer, by the attaches of the Analostan Boat Club and by hundreds of other reputable citizens who are willing to make oath that it was the genuine thing. To the naked eye it seemed like an oblong balloon floating upon its side, with a slight pitch in the direction in which it was going. Those who were fortunate enough to have glasses declare that it was a double-barreled arrangement, shaped like a catamaran, hanging vertically, rocking from side to side, and often shifting its position as it was drifting in the atmosphere. Sometimes one of the ends would be toward the observers and then they would see it full broadside. No smoke or smoke-stack or wings or other means of propulsion could be detected, nothing more than the two cylinder-like objects that were coupled to each other fore and aft.

It is suggested at the agricultural department that the object in the air which created so much excitement was a kite sent up by the weather bureau for the purpose of meteorological experiments, but those who saw it insist that such a thing is not possible.