Swell

Swinging lazily through the Western air, Col. Charles Augustus Lindbergh made a landing at San Diego. Here he was informed of the most extraordinary thing which has happened to him since he landed in Paris. An Amarillo, Tex., newspaper editor, one Gene Howe, son of famed Atchison (Kan.) Daily Globe's Ed Howe, had called Charles A. Lindbergh "swell-headed." Lindbergh said: ". . . if I have the swelled-head my hatter has not noticed it."

The Arlenesque suavity of this reference to his "hatter," was offset by the perceptive wit of the Colonel's other comments: "It is time the public started land-sliding. It surprises me that they didn't start sooner. If this is the beginning of the end, I am more or less ready for it. However, these adverse comments won't take away my appetite. All I ask is that they don't take away the air I fly through. I'll take care of the rest."

Gene Howe had criticized Lindbergh for not landing on a field crowded with eager spectators. Despite threatening and sneering telegrams the obscure editor wrote another ironic column: "I'll grant that he has the courage, but I also insist that he is more or less simpleminded, or he would not have permitted his head to grow to such large proportions. It may be treason for me to say so, but the truth is that Lindbergh has had more extraordinary luck than anyone in modern history."