, 1919-10-16

attending to the young mans injuries.
brought him To Saratoga. The body
of Lieut.. Wales was brought here the
next day and prepared for shipment
to Fort Russell, and from there the
remains we've shipped to Sacramento.
Calf the young mans home, Lieut..
Goldsbnruugh accompanying the body.
\ crew of mechanics with II govern
ment truck arrived yesterday from
Fort Russell and the work of dis
mantlm" the machine for shipment to
San Francisco is now in progress. This
work is in charge of Col. NJ. O. Bige-
low of Fort Russell. who has been in
Saratoga for several days awaiting
the arrival of the mechanics. Colonel
Bigelow took charge of the many val
liable instruments which are Il part of
the aeroplane equipment. and which
had been taken in charge by Il. l..
Gould of Saratoga and II. c. Paulsun
of Pass Greek Basin. He left yeSter-
day afternoon for the scene of the ac-
cident IL will superintend the sal
wage of the machine. Colonel Bigelow
was selected for this work because of
his acquaintance not only with many
people of this section, but also on ac-
count of his familiarity with the roads
and srails of h region in which the
macl me was wrecked. He states that
unless Il heavy fall of snow should in
t%erfere, no great difficulty will be ex-
perielced i'll bringing the machine out
on sl;ids to where it can he handle
with trucks. 1t now lies about a mile
and a half up the mountain from the
main road leading from Saratoga into
Pass Greek Basin.
According to Colonel Bigelow. the
accident was entirely blameable to the
violent snow storm which was raging
N the vicinity of Elk Mountain at the
time Lieut.. Wales, he says, was con-
sidered one of the best stunt" fiiers
on the Pacific coast and was in every
way an expert in the handling of
aeroplanes. and Lieut.. Guldsborough.
the m~echanician. is an experienced
aviator. who had dom much flying in
mountainous country.
Following is the statement given out
by Lieut.. GoldsbOrough, and published
in the Cheyenne Tribune:
I'VE were flying in an air line route
5tom Rnwlins to Cheyenne. We were
wing high. and entered some clouds.
lieut.. Wales brought the machine
down. so that we We're proceeding be
low the clouds. There was II terrific
snowstorm and no visibility. 50 we
slowed up and were flying low.
che ground was rising, and we
RS Nnsioyvls to mnintaiH-a H--even
height. We were south of the peak
called Elk mountain. We struck
Oberg Pass and were doing well when
all of a sudden the side of the hill con-
fronted us. Lieut.. Wales turned the
machine sharply to avoid hitting this.
il went into ii tail spin, ana dropped
into the ravine.
Il was Knocked out, but came to in
IL few minutes, and got Wales out.
He was badly cut and bleeding pro-
fusely. l got the bleeding stopped
with the means available, then wrap
ped him in all the clothes we had,
built a fire alongside of him. and went
to the Paulson ranch for help.
when l got there they went up ON
the mountain at once. but Lieutenant
Wales was dead-he was probably
dead when l left him. His skull was
crushed II there was Il great ragged
hole in his forehead.
There was no feeling to hitting the
mountain. 1t happened so quickly
there was no time to feel anything. If
it hadn't been for that ravine. all
would nave been well. Lieut.. Wales
was not killed on Elk mountain, but