A oscillé vers l'ouest au-dessus de la station locale.
Un autre appareil aérien dans cette section.
Un vaisseau aérien de puissance apparemment élevée et voyageant à grande vitesse a été observé dans cette section à une heure matinale de vendredi dernier, selon les déclarations de plusieurs témoins crédibles. La machine fut remarquée par des membres de l'équipage du train de passagers se dirigeant vers l'est 3, attendu ici peu après minuit. Il les suivit de la jonction de Dekalb jusqu'à ce village et disparut en direction de l'ouest. Perry Nichols, 3ᵉ opérateur de voie à la station locale, vit la machine, et entendit le rugissement de son moteur. Plusieurs automobilistes dehors à cette heure dirent également avoir vu et entendu l'aéronef. On pense que l'aéroplane était un de ceux achetés par le gouvernement canadien pour être envoyé en Angleterre avec son contingent de troupes et qu'il était conduit jusqu'au camp de concentration de Valcartier (Québec), sous son propre pouvoir.
L'aéronef fut vu pour la 1ère fois par un freineur de l'arrière sur le train de passagers peu après qu'il ait quitté Dekalb. Il vit les 2 lumières du flyer as they rose and fell in the wake of the coaches. The train stopped at Canton and Eben to unload milk cans and at each point the machine hovered in the sky above until the train started, when it fell in behind again. The brakeman called attention of the other members of the train crew to it and all plainly saw the moving lights. When Potsdam was reached they told Nichols, and after the departure of the train he watched the machine which swung to the westward and disappeared in the direction of Ogdensburg and the St. Lawrence river. The noise of the motor's exhaust was plainly audible. She was flying at a height of several hundred feet.
Those who saw the machine have a theory that she was heading for the border along the St. Lawrence river and followed the train, thinking that its terminus was Ogdensburg. It is known that since the outbreak of the European war, the Canadian government has been purchasing large numbers of motor trucks and aeroplanes in this country for use against the Germans and that considerable difficulty has been experienced in getting them over the border. These adjuncts of modern warfare are contraband of war and in pursuance of its policy of strict neutrality, the American government cannot allow them to pass its customs. There seems to be little doubt but [sic] that several airship's [sic] have been flown into Canada under their own power recently and that some have passed over Northern New York.
Confirmation of the airship stories comes from various localities. Friday night of last week, Abe Jerue, a farmer residing five miles east of Ogdensburg, claimed that an aviator was flying about in that vicinity and Saturday night H. J. Randles, residing at No. 110 Jay street, Ogdensburg, was confident he heard the buzz of the aeroplane's motor near the St. Lawrence river and believes the birdman flew over the city.
Carthage saw what the residents believed to be a big biplane flying north a few days ago. Carthage saw it at night fall and Chateaugay noted it the following morning. When first seen the air ship was at a point almost directly over the residence of William Johnston, where it made a circle and thence proceeded in a southeastward direction. After a short flight the craft again came to a point over the village and then went in a northeasterly direction, as if it were heading for Canada. Pratt Hill, who was one of the spectators who witnessed the evolutions of the mysterious craft, says that it was apparently up about 300 feet from the ground and that the whirring of the engine could be very distinctly heard.
Another big airship was unloaded on Isle La Motte one Sunday recently. The machine came by express knocked down and five men appeared to assemble her. The machine was of the hydroplane type and she rose from Lake Champlain the following morning. Her first course was south to North Island City and then circling about she steered for Quebec. The plane carried two men and was under about 100 horse power. The work of building was done on the shore [of] Loren Wedgeworth's farm. The plane was shipped from Malden, Mass.