In the same edition of that paper, on the first page, was published another account of a serious accident, in which an air-ship soared too high and broke away from the attraction of the earth's gravity. It read as follows:
The Pontiac Ten Days Overdue at Vera Cruz.
Washington, Mexico, Jan. 14. 1999.--The Transoceanic air-freighter Pontiac has been overdue at Vera Cruz for ten days. It is feared the ship has got snarled in the upper ether currents. As she has not been spoken by other air-ships it is probable she has drifted away from the influence of the earth's gravitation, and drawn into the orbit of some neighboring planet. It may land in Mars.
Ærial navigation in 1999 was not merely confined to large express, passenger and [Everybody in the Air.] freight ships, but also came into general use by the public. The Ærocycle of the twentieth century was an ærial bicycle that skimmed through the air with admirable ease, being operated like the old-fashioned bicycles suffering mortals in 1899 used to jump over hills and rough roads, straining muscle and nerve to the utmost tension, and frightening horses with their "bicycle face." Two or three of the bicycles of 1899 were kept as curiosities in a glass case in 1999 in the war department at Washington, Mexico. They were regarded as instruments of voluntary torture, relics of a species of refined barbarism. The invention of the Ærocycle sealed the doom of bicycles.
Ærial navigation shunned by many people in 1999. The great Age of Electricity. The Passing of the Horse. The noble beast loses its fetters and becomes a Household Pet. Steam engines a relic of the past. No more smoke in railroad travel. Tunnels lighted bright as day and filled with pure air. Single-rail electric roads all the go.
It must not, however, be imagined that people in 1999 passed away their whole lives traveling in the air. Millions could not be induced under any consideration, to plant a foot in any ærial ship. They hugged old Mother Earth with a true devotion worthy of a better cause. Many people in the year 1899 were to be found who entertained strong antipathies against traveling on water, but in 1999 the opponents [Old Earth Good Enough for Them.] of ærial navigation outnumbered them one hundred to one. For this and other more important reasons, the genius of the twentieth century applied itself assiduously to the perfecting of electrical and compressed air machines of every conceivable character.