Omaha daily bee., 1912-06-03
AVIATOR PARMALEE KILLED
safest" American Aviator Refuses
to Heed Warnings.
FUNERAL OF WRIGHT IS HELD
All Industry stops In Dayton During
Time the Church Services Are
Under way---Ceremony
is Private.

NORTH YAKIMA, Wash, June q
With a smile and a wave Of his hand to
the thousands who watched him, Philip
o. Parmalee, until recently one OF the
Wright aviators, took the air in the teeth
of a wind here yesterday. Three
minutes later, hts broken and life
less body was dragged from beneath the
wreckage Of his biplane in an apple
orchard in the lower end Of the Mckee
valley, two miles from his starting point.
The exact cause of the disaster that
plunged him to his death probably never
will be known.
/. AS he rose from before the grand
stand at the fair grounds. Parmalee
swung to the west over the Yakima
river. He rose to height Of about 400
feet and his speed increased to almost
a mile a minute, although 1t was noticed
that his plane dipped and rolled and
seemed to be controlled with difficulty.
When he had gone about two miles
from the fair grounds he swung In a
wide circle to the eastward for the re-
turn journey.
AS he squared away before the wind,
the great plane checked In its course,
fluttered a second like a wounded bird
and plunged below tire live Of trees.
1t is thought by Parmalee's mechani-
clans that a sudden gust from one of
the draws, or small canyons. that notch
the sides of the Mckee valley, struck the
machine and rendered the elevating
planes unmanageable.
The body of the unfortunate aviator
was dragged from beneath the wreckage
of the machine by farmers who were
working in the orchard, but his skull
was fractured and he must have died in
stantly. ....sz. --z -
Among the first to reach the scene
Of the disaster from the fair grounds was
Miss C. e. Turpin. a sister Of J. Clifford
Turpin. his brother aviator. Almost hys-
terioal from grief. she gathered his
broken body in her arms insisting franti-
cally that he was not dead. Even after
the body had been examined by physl-
clans. she insisted that spark Of life
remained, and demanded that efforts be
made to resuscitate him.
You remember how 1t was with
Hamilton" sch repeated over and over
again. She refused to leave the body
until 1t was necessary to turn 1t over
to the undertakers. 20
Before he prepared for his last flight,
Parmalee was urged TO postpone the exhi-
bition, at least until the wind queted
but he laughted at the persistent and
fatal misfortune that previously had
dogged the Wrights and their aviators.
Mrs. Turpin, mother of Parmaees fel.
low aviator, who was injured In an acci.
dent at Seattle Thursday in which two
spectators were killed. had accompanied
Parmalee to North Yakima and notified
his father at Los Angeles. J. Clifford
Turpin is expected to arrive from Seattle
tonight to take charge of the body,
Parmalee was regarded by experts as
the safest of American aviators, as vel
as the most successful financially of those
employed by the Wrights. He was said
to have earned $4,000 for the Wright
brothers during the year 1911, and he quit
their employ only a few weeks ago.
In Chicago last August Parmalee estab
lished worlds altitude record, flying tc
height Of 106o0 feet. but the record was
broken on the succeeding day by Lincoln
Beachey.
Body of Wright Buried.
DAYTON. o.. JuEs 2.-Wilbur Wright
h,tyI al 90 H. n,
CONTINUED on Second Page.)