Evening star., 1922-02-22
Officials to Probe
RumOr Envelope
Was Rotten.
LEFT RUDDER GAVE
WAY, OFFICERS SAY
Over 20 Bodies Found
Piled Among Mass Of
Tangled Metal.
Ry the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press
NORFOLK, Va, February 22.-Com-
pletely wrecked by fire and explo-
sion. the Roma. the worlds largest
semi-rigid airShip and the PRIDE o!
the American air service, had ylelded
up today the last of the dead of the
disaster which overlook her yester-
day while maneuvering over Hamp-
ton roads and sent her hurthnS
downward to crash into the network
of high-power electric wires that
wrought her destruction.
Recovery of the last body fixed the
toll of the disaster-the greatest IN
the history of American aeronaut1cs-
at thirty-four dead, eight injured ana
three practically unhurt. OF the dead
thirty had been identified. although
many of the bodies of those caught
in the interior of the ship when she
crashed were burned, blackened and
charred almost hey ond recognition
These dead included some of the air
services most gallant officers ana
men, the list containing the names OF
Mai. John Thornell, commander OF
the ship at her christening in Wash
ington last December, and Capt. Dale
Mabry. her commander during yester-
days ill-fated flight.
Official Inquiry Soon.
Air service men from Langley Field.
the home station of the craft, began
shortly after dawn today the clearing
up of the wreckage of the warped and
bljstered skeleton and at the same
time preparations began for the Of
fetal inquiry. Maj. Gen. Mason NJ
Patrick, chief of the air service, who
came here by airplane yesterday as
flashed to Washington. made a per-
sonal inspection of the wreck during
the night and ordered an immediate
investigation.
Officers at Langley Field still were
at loss to account for the mishap
that caused the ships rudder to tilt
and thereby rendered the 410-foot
craft unmanageabIe. Possibility de-
veloped, however, that the inquiry
would take notice of reports that the
bag of the Roma, constructed in Italy,
was rotten, although officials at the
field drclined to discuss such reports.
In connection with the forthcoming
inquiry these developments, some Of
ficers said, had BEEN established def
initely:
First. That the left rudder of the
Roma gave way when she was less
than half a mile from where she went
down near the Army base fire station.
Second. That there was no nre on
the ship until after the tilt began as
a result of the right-hand side or
the rudder going into an almost ver-
teal position.
Third. That the craft became un-
manageable as she swooped over the
base reservation, narrowly missing a
150-foot smokeStack or the central
heating plant.
Fourth That the immediate cause
of the explosion with such force as
to wreck the entire craft and set her
on fire was contact with a net or
o.20O-voit high-power electric wires,
less than 100 feet from where the
Roma crashed into a pile of railroad
car parts.
Fifth-That the Liberty motors,
which were being tested, We're not re-
sponsible for the disaster, unless some,
thing more tangible shpuld be learned
than appeared today.
The point which the Army board of
investigation, which will be organized
today, will decide is what caused the
rudder supports to give way.
Two Pilots Escape.
Strict orders have been issued against
the survivors discussing the cause of
the disaster and frankly officers from
Langley Field are utterly at a loss to
understand what caused the rudder to
tilt, making the huge craft unman-
ageable.
There were two pilots in charge of
the ships steering gear. They were
Capt. Walter J. Reed and Lieut.. b. G.
Burt. both of whom had been at the
wheels of the Roma on previous trips.
Both Reed and Burt escaped with
their lives, Burt being unscathed- and
Reed now being on the road to recov-
cry at the Public Health Service Hos
pital.
Burt discovered soon after the rud
der support gave way that he could
neither elevate or right the ship. He
and Reed used their levers in every
way. and yelled to the mechanicians
to cut the motors off. 1t was appar-
emily their intention to land the Ship
and every emergency apparatus was
brought into play.
But when the Roma hit the electric
wires and a second later crashed into
the pile of car material, the explo-
sion came. sending sheets Of binding
flame 500 or 900 feet in the air.
The Roma was going at reduced
direction over the Army base reserva
tion. When first seen by eyewit-
nesses on the ground. she was making
only thirty or forty miles an hour
as near as they can tell
1t all happened SO quickyly, and the
survivors are SO badly shocked that
those who can talk are unable to esti-
mate the speed, according to Army
officers.
How eleven men managed to escape
from the mass of flames and gas
fumes with their lives. three of them
practically unhurt, is considered an
act of Providence.
Practically all of the forty-five men
on the Roma were amidships of the
craft. va
Twenty Found Under Cabin.
When the cabin of the ship-that
part in which the men were riding
under the great bag. was wrenched
loose from it's support, it was hurled
into the ground, and more than twen-
ty bodies were found piled among the
girders and supports. all in tangled
mass.
AS the flames enveloped the ship
the cries of the wounded and dying
could be heard for a hundred yards,
The eleven men who jumped out or
were dragged to safety by rescnerS
were scarcely safe before the cries
ceased. because death had ended their
suffering. SO intense was the heat.
Capt. George D. Watts of Missis-
sippi, numbered among the dead. mar
rowly escaped similar fate last
spring when a captive balloon he was
plotting at Ross Field. in California,
tain leaped to safety from a height
of 1000 feet, it was recalled today Thy
air service officers aeSLangley Field.
The balloon was careening perilously
at a height of $4,000 feet, when Capt.
Watts opened a valve, which caused
the great bag to plunge like a plum
met to earth. When about 1000 feet
from the ground the Army officer real
ized, he told brother officers, /. at safe
landing would be impossible and he
leapcd off. in. a parachute. making q
safe landing.