Washington, Feb. 25.
Corrosive acid, purposely poured metal girders, caused the disaster to the US. naval dirigible Macon. was alleged before the House of Representatives Patents Committee to-day by Mr. Roy W. Knabenshue. Pasadena designer and experimenter of lighter-than-air craft Commander H. V. Wiley, skipper of the ill-fated craft, did not agree With the dirigible expert that sabotage could have caused the wreck. do not believe sabotage could. pos sibly have had anything to do with the disaster. We always maintained 'a heavy guard in and around. the Macon hangar and the ship was closely inspected at regular inter= vvals,"" he said. "I believe it particularly improbable that the airship could" have been damaged while in fight."
Whether or not the United States will "venture further in the field of dirigibles will be decided as a result of the various inquiries now. under way in Washington. The Navy has officially charged the Macon crash te "profit and loss," explaining that a structural weakness caused the wreck and that it could not be helped.—United Press.
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