Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-10-30
Fate of Lieuts. Connolly and
Waterhouse Missing Since
August Fl Is Finally Re-
vealed
AIRMEN SUFFERED
Lost in Lower California They Went
Nineteen Days without Food
Drank Water in RadintOr-Messn-
ges Scratched on Plane


cially announced here tonight that
Lieutenants Cecil H. Connolly of San
| Diego and Frederick B. Warehouse OF
Weiser. Idaho army aviators. missing
since August q. were slain In Lower
California by two Mexican fishermen.
The announcement was made upon he
arrival here of the destroyer Aaron Ward
bringing the bodies of the two aviators
from Bahia Los Angeles on the Gulf or
Lower Ca ifornia to which point they
had flown after losing their way in a
border patrol flight from Yuma, Ariz., TO
San Diego.
The destroyer also brought a part Of
story of the suffering endured by the
young aviators, in the form of notes
scrawed on the wings and fusilage OF
the de Haviland airplane in which Con
molly and Warehouse made their .ast
fight Some Of these messages. evidently
written while the aviators had almost
lost hope of being found, were of such
a tragic nature that Major Bratton asked
the newspaper reporters to refrain from
using them out OF consideration for the
officers families.
Major Bratton said that the two avia-
tors had gone nineteen days without food.
or at east without much to sustain them
air path remained with them until the
very last. Major Theodore Macau,ey in
one Of his flights to find them. flew with
In sixty miles Of the spot where they
stood guarding their plane. Later, on the
afternoon of September they were
landed from a canoe on the shores OF
Bahia Los Angeles by the same fisher
ren who are accused of having killed
them five days later and at that tine
were IL mics from Los FLORES silver
mine where they might have received
/ protection and food
! One Of their messages, scratched on the
a'rnlane fusilage with O knife or nail.
sad the airmen remained in the air four
hours and five minutes. that they ran into
rainsto~m and lost their sense Of d'rec-
ton. When thew SIGHTED the Gulf of
California they thought they were fvng
up the coast instead of southwark along
the ea9. coast of the Gulf of California.
Another message. traced on the wings
and fusilage. tod how the airmen at
tempted vainly for two days to catch fish
to appease their hunger. They then
started walking northwa~d toward the
border but returned to their airplane in
&c hours when their supply Of water be-
came exhausted. The airmen drank the
This proved sufficient to allay their
thirst up to the time they were taken
nv fishermen to Bahia, I os Angeles, from
Guade'upe Bav. where the plane landed.
The party which left San Diego October
l6 included besides Major Bratton. who
Is attached to the 25th Infantry at
Nogales. Ariz. two other army officers
and several officials and soldiers of the
northern district OF Lower California and
Joe Allen Richards. mining engineer, who
first reported finding the bodies.
Major Bratton in an account OF the ex-
petition said:
THE Aaron Ward arrived at Bahia,
Los Angeles. at 3:15 p m. October 10.
We Immediately went ashore with F.ch-
ards acting as guide and In a few mo-
ments had discovered the grave. The
bodies had been disturbed the skulls
being found under some brush about ten
feet distant from the bodies.
THE bodies were then disinterred and
the formal inquest started.
There was absolutely no question that
the bodies were those of Connolly and
| Water house"
| The officer then told Of the partys going
up the gulf to Guadalupe bay. 20 miles
to the northward. whore the pane piloted
by Connolly and Waterhouse was discov-
cred on the beach.
THE two armen had made a perfect
landing" he continued. but Mexicans
subsequently removed the motor from the
fus.iage, stole all of the ammunition for
the two machine guns, and carried away
other equipment The motor evidently
was too heavy to carry away and 1t was
found nearbv. The wheels, engine. ma
chine guns, compass and other equipment
worth salvaging were taken aboard the
Ward.
I'VE took notes Of all the messages
scratched OH the fusilage and wings. the
first one Of which was made five days
after the men had landed. In this the
men told how they had lost their way
how they had tried unsuccessfu.ly to sig
nal a passing boat with their lack of sue
cess at catching fish and the growing
hunger which rapidly was making them
weaker. On the last week Of their vigil
both men scratched farewell message
to their mothers. At that time the men
must have been near starvation.
September 6. the aviators were picked
, up by two fishermen from tho Mexican
sloop Esperanza, who rowed them in n
canoe to Bahia, Los Angeles. 1t Is
| doubtful II Connolly and Warehouse
were given anything nourishing by the
. hshermen. Just what the two aVlators
did between the time they landed at
Bahia. Los Angeles. September 6. until
they were murdered the night Of Sep
TENDER II. Is not known definitely. 1t Is
a pathetic fact, however, that Water
house and Connolly could have secured
food and shelter at the Los Forces mine,
u miles to the southwark, II they had
had the strength to traverse the rough
mountainous trail that led to this refuge.
Through Investigations conducted
jointly by ourselves and the Mexican
court officials we found that Waterhouse
and Connolly had been murdered by two
fishermen from the Esperanza. Water
house was stabbed to death evidently
while asleep. Connolly was killed by a
terrific blow from some instrument which
fractured his skull. He also was stabbed.
The evidence shows the motive evidently
was robbery The MeXicans. however,
secured only few dollars.
After the murder the Mexicans COW
: cred the bodies lightly with sand. A few
} hours later, the morning OF September
IL. to be exact, the bodies were discov-
cred by Capt. Jack Ross OF the American
schooner Trojan. Ross discovery was
directly due to the fact that one orm
of each of the airmen was sticking up
n q -