Linn Grove entity encounter — April 15, 1897

A Chicago Times-Herald story published April 16, 1897 attributed an airship chase to residents of Linn Grove, Iowa, the previous morning. It named James Evans, F.G. Ellis, Ben Buland, David Evans and Joe Croskey as men who pursued a low-moving object in a horse-drawn rig. The newspaper said they found it on the ground north of town but remained hundreds of yards away. It allegedly extended four enormous winglike structures and rose northward. Two occupants tried to conceal themselves; two pursuers emphasized the extraordinary length of their whiskers. The article also claimed that unusual stones were thrown from the craft and brought back to town. These are newspaper assertions, not authenticated recovered specimens. The story belongs to the 1897 airship press wave, where dramatic reports frequently circulated without a surviving investigation. Later catalogues abridged it, sometimes changing distances and describing hair rather than beards. The plate is labelled an unverified newspaper story and shows five pursuers, two long-bearded occupants and a four-wing airship. Its mechanical body design is interpretive, because the article gives no adequate engineering description.