Cruiser To Pass County Tomorrow

CHICAGO, Oct 25--(UP)--The giant Antarctic snow cruiser designed to carry members of Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd's new Antarctic expedition over polar wastes in comfort was bedded down today in an automobile parking lot. According to last-minute authorized reports, the snow cruiser which will be used by Admiral Richard E. Byrd in his exploration of the Antarctic, will pass through Indiana early Thursday morning. A squadron of state police will meet the cruiser at the Indiana- Illinois state line on State Road 6 at 6:30 a. m. and will give it police escort through the state. Traveling under its own power it will begin a cross country trek tomorrow to Boston, embarkation point of the expedition, with a stopover for a "shakedown" on the Indiana sand dunes. According to best information available locally, the cruiser will begin its trip at 2 a. m. tomorrow morning. It was impossible to determine when it would pass through the county, however. Scheduled to travel down Road 6 this morning, the giant was delayed, it was reported here, by minor mechanical difficulties. The cruiser, fifty-five feet long, designed by the research foundation of the Armour Institute, was driven from the factory to the parking lot last night. Byrd has said that November 1 is the deadline for departure of the explorers, due to approaching winter in the Antarctic. The motor driven craft is fifteen feet wide and fifteen feet high, and a special route had to be charted for its journey to Boston. Even so, in many places it will have clearance of only a few inches. It is designed to travel across snow and ice fields and span a fifteen-foot crevasse without danger. It can cruise 5,000 miles with one year's supplies for four men and will carry a five- passenger plane on top. It is equipped with machine shop, generating plant, radio and meteorological recording equipment. It had been scheduled to leave for the sand dunes today but departure was postponed for a last-minute checkup.