Telegram to Benjamin Lipsner, September 9, 1918

September 9, 1918

Assistant Postmaster General Otto Praeger in Washington, DC wires Benjamin B. Lipsner in Chicago that A. F. Cryder, combination mechanic and rigger, had never left Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. Lipsner had appointed Cryder to assist chief mechanic Edward C. Radel. Radel accompanied Edward V. “Turk” Gardner in the two-seat Curtiss R4-1M biplane on the return flight of the New York to Chicago pathfinder flights. Praeger writes that he told Cryder to wait in Lock Haven until both planes had passed through. He notes that Cryder had not received instructions from Lipsner. Praeger sent the 31-word Western Union Telegram at 11:15 a.m. on September 9, 1918, the starting day of the return New York to Chicago pathfinder flights.