Chaffee County Colorado Obituaries

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Walter Archer
Aviator Meets Death
    Denver, Dec. 4- Walter Archer, a 17 year old aviator, fell 700 feet in aeroplane of this own invention yesterday at Salida, Colo., and was instantly killed, according to a report received here today. Nearly every bone in his body was broken.
    Archer's machine was driven by electricity, secured from the Salida Power company's plant. A coil of wire 100 feet long connected the power plant with the aeroplane, and Archer, when he made his ascension, intended to maneuver within the radius of the wires. He venture a trifle too high and the wires snapped, leaving him without power to operate his propellers. With little experience as an aviator, he lost control of the machine, which turned over, dashing him to death on a pile of rocks below.
    Archer had constructed his machine on original lines and built it of odds and ends of material secured from the mines in which his father worked as a miner. ["The Evening News", December 5, 1910, Ada Oklahoma - Submitted by Shauna Williams]

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