Bennett Trophy

The wind blew south and east, hurrying twelve huge inflated bags from Detroit to various spots remote and obscure in the Virginias. One great gas bubble, more enterprising than the rest, floated across the border and came to rest in North Carolina. Another settled in a dead tree on a hillside in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Piloting the bag which reached North Carolina was Frenchman Charles Dollfus. But the airline distance from Detroit to Walnut Cove, N. C., is only 447.9 miles, 11.5 miles less than the distance from Detroit to Chase City, Va., where German Hugo Kaulen ended his trip, 13 miles less than the distance to Kenbridge, Va., where Capt. Edmund W. E. Kepner of the U. S. Army landed his bubble. Capt. Kepner was unofficially adjudged, last week, to have brought the U. S. its third consecutive victory in the James Gordon Bennett International Balloon Race, assuring permanent possession of the trophy.

The U. S., following the precedent set several years ago by Belgium, is expected to put the trophy back in competition.