Captain Lindbergh was discovered at the American Embassy at 2:30 o'clock this morning. Attired in a pair of Ambassador Herrick's pajamas, he sat on the edge of the a bed and talked of his flight. At the last moment, Ambassador Herrick had canceled the plans of the reception committee and, by unanimous consent, took the flier to the embassy in the Place d'lena.

A staff of American doctors who had arrived at Le Bourget Field early to minister to an "exhausted" aviator found instead a bright-eyed, smiling youth who refused to be examined.

"Oh don't bother; I am all right," he said.

"I'd like to have a bath and a glass of milk. I would feel better," Lindbergh replied when the Ambassador asked him what he would like to have.

A bath was drawn immediately and in less than five minutes the youth had disrobed in one of the embassy guest rooms, taken his bath and was out again drinking a bottle of mile and eating a roll.

"There is no use worrying about me, Mr. Ambassador," Lindbergh insisted when Mr. Herrick and members of the embassy staff wanted him to be examined by doctors and then go to be immediately.

It was apparent that the young man was too full of his experiences to want sleep and he sat on the bed and chatted with the Ambassador, his son and his daughter-in-law.

By this time a corps of frantic newspaper men who had been madly chasing the airman, following one false scene after another, had finally tracked him to the embassy. In a body they descended upon the Ambassador, who received them in the salon and informed them that he had just left Lindbergh with strict instructions to go to sleep.

As Mr. Herricks was talking with the reporters his son-in-law came downstairs and said the Lindbergh had rung and announced that he did not care to go to sleep just yet and that he would be glad t see the newspaper men for a few minutes. A cheer went up from the group who dashed by Mr. Herrick and rushed upstairs.

In the blue and gold room, with a soft light glowing, sat the conqueror of the Atlantic. He immediately stood up and held out his hands to greet his callers. The NEW YORK TIMES correspondent being first to greet him.

"Sit down, please," urged every one with one voice, but Lindbergh only smiled again his famous boyish smile and said:

"It's almost as easy to stand up as it is to sit down."

Questions were fired at him from all sides about his trip across the ocean, but Lindbergh seemed to dismiss them all with brief, nonchalant answers.

"I expected trouble over Newfoundland because I had been warned that the situation there was unfavorable. But I got over that hazard with no trouble whatsoever."

"I flew as low as 10 feet in some places and as high as 10,000 in others. I passed no ships in the daytime, but at night I say lights of several ships, the night being bright and clear.

Everyone then wanted to know if the flier had been sleepy on the voyage.

"I didn't really get what you might call downright sleepy," he said, " but I think I sort of nodded several times. In fact, I could have flown half that distance again. I had enough fuel left to 1,000 miles, I think -­ certainly 500‹although I had not time to examine my fuel tanks, the crowds were so terrific.

"If it wasn't for the soldiers and two French aviators I think I might have been injured by wild enthusiasts in the throng. Anyway, I paid no attention to economy of fuel during the voyage."

Ambassador Herrick then asked the young aviator if he had any difficulty finding his way once he reached Europe.

"Well you know this is my first trip to Europe, and I just had to take a chance," was his reply.

He added, with another of his smiles, that he like what he had seen of Paris and wanted to stay as long as he could.

The American youth said the never once during the trip had he doubted his eventual success, and when he was over Cherbourg, or what he thought was Cherbourg, he knew he would make it.

"About forty miles away from Paris," he continued. " I began to see the old trench flares they were sending up at Le Bourget. I knew then I had made it, and as I approached the field with all it s lights it was a simple matter to circle once and then pick a spot sufficiently far away from the crowd to land O.K.

"I landed perfectly. Then the crowd descended on me, and it was all over but the handshaking."

Lindbergh refused to take seriously the problem of flying the Atlantic, when he was asked how he had performed the almost unbelievable feat.

"You know, flying a good airplane doesn't require near as much attention as a motor car," he explained.

"I had four sandwiches when I left New York," he said. "I only ate one and a half during the whole trip and drank a little water. I don't suppose I had time to eat any more, because you know it surprised me how short a distance it is to Europe."

By this time the interview had lasted from seven or eight minutes and Mr. Herrick insisted that it would involve too much strain on the flier to submit him to further questioning. Every one then withdrew, and with a cheery "good night" and a final handshake with the Ambassador, Lindbergh hopped into bed like a schoolboy after a hard day's play, and before this correspondent left the embassy word came downstairs that Lindbergh was sound asleep.

Immediately after this Mr. Herrick sent the following cable to Lindbergh's motor in Detroit;

"Warmest congratulations. Your incomparable son has honored me by becoming my guest. He is in find condition sleeping sweetly under Uncle Sam's roof. "Myron Herrick"

Lindbergh brought no baggage, so a hasty wardrobe was assembled for him at the embassy from the personal effects of Ambassador Herrick and his son, Parmely.

The young flier, however, did bring three letters, the only excess baggage he carried. Two were from Theodore Roosevelt for Ambassador Herrick and his son, and the third was addressed to the Ambassador and was from Charles Lawrence of the Wright firm that built the motor for the Spirit of St. Louis.

<< Return to Article Index