Note 2 — Chapter I · THE RHEIMS MEET FIRST INTERNATIONAL AEROPLANE CONTEST

Tod Shriver, or "Slim" as he was known to all American aviators because he was very tall and slender, went to Rheims as a mechanic before taking up flying himself. He was successful as an aviator and accompanied Captain Thomas Baldwin to the Orient in the spring and summer of 1911. This trip created great excitement among the Chinese, who had never seen the "foreign devils" fly before. Captain Baldwin tells a story of the crowd that witnessed the flights in Tokyo, Japan, which he describes as numbering seven hundred thousand persons! In proof of this he states that advices received from Japan in the spring of 1912 report that the crowd had not entirely dispersed even at that time! "Tod" Shriver flew in many places in the United States and in the winter of 1911 met his death in Puerto Rico. He fell while flying at Ponce. His death was a shock to his many friends. [Note by AUGUSTUS POST.]