in Right Edition

Stupid Thief – Zepplin – Man Shoots Robber

With the delivery of LZ 126, the Zeppelin company had reasserted its lead in rigid airship construction, but it was not yet quite back in business. Acquiring the necessary funds for the next project proved a problem in the difficult economic situation of post-World-War-I Germany, and it took Eckener two years of lobbying and publicity work to secure the realization of LZ 127.

Another two years passed before 18 September 1928, when the new dirigible, christened Graf Zeppelin in honor of the Count, flew for the first time. With a total length of 236.6 metres (776 ft) and a volume of 105,000 m3, she was the largest dirigible yet.

Eckener’s initial concept was to use Graf Zeppelin for experimental and demonstration purposes to prepare the way for regular airship traveling, by carrying passengers and mail to cover the costs. In October 1928 the first long-range voyage brought her to Lakehurst, where Eckener and his crew were once more welcomed enthusiastically with confetti parades in New York and another invitation to the White House. Graf Zeppelin toured Germany and visited Italy, Palestine, and Spain. A second trip to the United States was aborted in France due to engine failure in May 1929.

In August 1929, LZ 127 departed for another daring enterprise: a circumnavigation of the globe. The growing popularity of the “giant of the air” made it easy for Eckener to find sponsors. One of these was the American press tycoon William Randolph Hearst, who requested the tour officially start in Lakehurst. As with the October 1928 flight to New York, Hearst had placed a reporter, Grace Marguerite Hay Drummond-Hay, on board who therefore became the first woman to circumnavigate the globe by air. From there, Graf Zeppelin flew to Friedrichshafen, then Tokyo, Los Angeles, and back to Lakehurst, in 21 days 5 hours and 31 minutes. Including the initial and final trips Friedrichshafen–Lakehurst and back, the dirigible traveled 49,618 kilometres (30,831 mi).

Man shoots man with Axe

A homeowner told Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office deputies that he had no choice but to use deadly force when a man came onto his property with an ax.

It happened around 11:30pm Friday at a home in the 16200 block of Suzanne near Plaster Circle.

When deputies arrived at the home they found a 40-year-old man shot in the chest. He was taken by ambulance to a Conroe hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The homeowner told deputies he was inside the house with his wife and children when the man drove a pickup truck onto his property. Investigators said there was a disturbance involving the 40-year-old shooting victim at a nearby residence before he drove his vehicle through the homeowner’s yard.

The homeowner came outside and got into a yelling match with the man, who was reportedly making threats to the family.

That’s when deputies said the suspect walked back to his truck and grabbed an ax, then allegedly came after the homeowner.

The 35-year-old homeowner armed himself with a gun and fatally shot the suspect in the chest. The man fell to the ground just inside the fence.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=9203652

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