The Aeronautic Society of New York  
  in none of these mishaps was Mr. Kimball much hurt. The worst misfortune of all befell
him on Dec. 5th, 1909, when a fire broke out in the new workshops in which he ws working
just outside the Park. The entire building was destroyed and with it all its contents,
including a new machine built for W. H. Butler.
     The exhibition came off eventually on Saturday, June 26th, 1909. As was expected, it
suffered through the postponements, and from the effects produced in the minds of the
public and on the Press by the absurd show that had been held at Arlington, N. J. Cir-
cumstances also prevented it form being properly advertised.
     Mr Curtiss promised to make some flights during the week preceding the exhibition,
and the fulfilment of that promise was relied upon solely to advertise the event. Once or
twice, just at dusk, he made short, straight hops down the track for a couple of hundred
yards or so. All who had part in that memorable exhibition will be long in forgetting how
hour after hour every eye was glued to the flagstaff across the grounds, and everybody
wished the flag was glued to the pole too, for it was only when that flag was absolutely
dead still that Mr. Curtiss would think of flying---and then, sometimes, that wretched flag
would go and move again before the machine could be gotten out.
     It is beyond all doubt that if Mr. Curtiss had made anything like the flights his
machine was capable of, or had given on the afternoon of the Exhibition even such a
flight as he did make at dark, when practically everybody had left the Park tired out with
waiting, the Exhibition would have been a great success, and the forerunner of many
successful shows during the Exhibition of June 26th was a highly creditable one. Its
 
 
 
  The Beach-Willard Monoplane          Photo Edwin Levick, N. Y.
 
  most inspiring feature for the Society lay in the remarkable advance it showed over the
Exhibition of the previous Nov. 3rd. The work done in the eight month's interval was of the
most promising character, and the display of machines on the lawn was a very fine one.
In almost every instance, even also in the great collection of models, there was an entire
absence of the freak idea, and members showed that they had advanced on the right lines.
The full-sized machines exhibited were those of Dr. Greene, the Brothers Lawrence,
 
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