midnight
The record put up by Blakeney in his New York-Chicago flight was 102 miles per hour for six consecutive hours . If the flying men who are now asserted to have touched at San Francisco are the same as were reported by the Constantinople correspondent of the London _ Times _ on Friday last , a simple calculation will show that they must have flown for many days at a time at twice Blakeney 's speed , with the briefest intervals for food and rest . It is not yet claimed that the alleged Smith and his anonymous companion have discovered a means of dispensing with sleep , or that they are content , like the fabulous chameleon , to live on air . Our children may live to witness such developments in the science of aviation as may render possible an aerial journey of this length and celerity ; but so sudden an augmentation of the speed and endurance of the aeroplane , to say nothing of the more delicate mechanism of the human frame , demands a more authentic confirmation of the midnight impressions of the San Francisco journalists than has yet come to hand . In short , we do not believe a word of it , and our speculation at the moment is , what brand of soap or tinned meat , what new machine oil , or panacea for human ills , these ingeniously arranged manifestations are intended to boom . `` What do you think of that , Davis ? '' asked Mr. McMurtrie at the end of six minutes ' rapid dictation .