Dusseldorfer and Pickpockets

The attached articles were printed May 31, 1911 in the Indianapolis Star. The larger article describes the menace of pickpockets who were prolific and preying on visitors to Union Station, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and downtown Indianapolis. A more significant article is a smaller item on the second of two pages that notes that the Dusseldorfer balloon of Captain George Bumbaugh did have a brief aerial view of the first Indianapolis 500 as it ascended at 3:35 p.m. during the closing stages of the race. Riding with Bumbaugh were: A.W. De La Poer (New England Selling Company); Frank B. Hill (Overland Automobile Company) and John M. Maxwell of the Indianapolis Star. For me, this is definitive evidence that there was an aerial view of the cars racing during the first Indianapolis 500.