Evening star., 1923-07-08
Navy's Evidence Shows Bas.
ket Torn From Craft Dur.
ing Storm Above Waters.
BROKEN is TRAGIC NOTE,
LAST ENTRY IN REPORT
Heroic But Futile Effort in Face of
Death Told in Log Found
Near Craft.
Ey the Associated Press.

Ty the Associated Press.
CLEVELAND. Ohio. July ALI
hope that Lieut.. L. J. Roth and his
aide, Lieut.. T. B. Null, pilots of the
missing Navy balloon Asses, which
jeff indianapolis on July 4, in the
fational elimination air race, were
living, was abandoned here tonight.
The crew of the tug Frank HI.
Stanley found the ill-fated aviators'
complete uniforms, leather coats. log.
records and charts entagled in the
drifting half-infiated balloon bag
about twenty-five miles south south
west of Port Stanley, Ontario, about
noon today.
On all sides the crew of the tug
found mute evidences of heroic
struggle in midair. Evidently over
taken by terrific winds and an cleo
trical storm, Roth and Null fought
desperately to ship their ballast and
rise above the gale. Somehow, the
basket was ripped from the buffeted
bag which was found scared and
waterlogged by the crew of the
Stanley.
EnGulfed by Storm.
The log shows that the airmen had
been sailing at an average height of
500 or 900 feet before the storm en-
quilted them. Then comes the sig
nificant item: Threw forty pounds
of ballast overheard. Rose from 1900
to $500 feet" Later on just one
word appears: Broken"
Entangled in the ropes attached to
the basket were found the complete
outfits of the aviators-leather coats
and all. which they must have DOTTED
before they. leaped from the doomed
balloon. it is believed. A letter ad-
dressed to Roth and some pencilings
newspaper clippings also were
found. lam heading for - Can
ada was the blurred scrawl of an
indelible pencil found on one news-
paper.
The tug came upon the wrecked
balloon about noon today after Capt
John j. Cassin Of the steamship
Colonial had notified authorities at
Port Stanley of its presence in the
lake.
Late this afternoon Admiral w. A.
Moffett, chief of naval aviation.
Washington, requested the Aeroma-
rine Airways, Inc, operating a fleet
of flying boats between Cleveland
and Detroit, to help In the search foc
the missing balloon and naval Off
GERS.
Plane Starts Search.
S. a. Bruno, vice president Of the
company, Immediately tuned up the
hydroplane Nina and started for
Port Stanley. Ont, at 4:.0 pm, with
three newspaper men and Pilot
Shiller at the wheel. They sighted
the Canadian shore at 500 pm. They
followed the short ten miles out, and
at 5:55 landed alongside the tug
Stanley, twenty-five miles southwes:
of Port Stanley. The Stanley had the
L. S. naval balloon A-669s in tow,
over the stern. Bruno and the crew
of the flying boat helped pull the bal
loon on board the Stanley. The tug
already had the uniforms of Roth
and Null on board. The Nina then
cruised around in the vicinity for
nearly an hour, searching for trace
of the missing officers, but without
Cleveland, arriving here shortly be-
fore dark, bringing an envelope of
the National Aeronautic Association
of the United States, containing the
official log of the naval balloon trip,
badly water soaked and almost un-
decipherable, personal papers ad
dressed to Lieut.. Roth, pair of
gauntletS, one leather coat and an
American flag.
Mr.. Bruno said the ropes which
held the wicker basket to the ball
basket was found
Left Uniforms.
Both men apparently had stripped
to their underclothing," Mr.. Bruno
said. "It looked as though they had
discarded their clothing and the
basket in desperate effort to
tighten the balloon sufficiently to get
blown ashore. They probably cut
away the basket, discarded their
clothing and threw away all the
weight they could when the basket
first hit the water, clinging to the
mesh about the tower part of the
bag in the hope it would carry. them
TO safety
Glenn l.. Martin, airplane manu-
facturer, expressed a similar view. 80.
A slight chance remains that the
airmen may be alive, it was said by
airmen here tonight. Life preserT-
ers were said to be in the balloon
when it left on the trip, and it is
conceded the two lieutenants might
have been picked up in Lake Erie by
some freighter which had no wire
less apparatus and could not inform
shore stations Of the rescue. Local
airplane pilots said the two naval
officers might have worn life pre-
servers or a rubber suit containing
air next to their underclothing.
The last sight of the naval balloon
before the accident was by H. E.
Honeywell, pilot of a balloon in the
race, who came to earth east of
Buffalo. He said he sighted Lieut..
Roth's ship over Lake Erie Friday
In a pocket of one of the lieuten-
ants uniforms was found a news.
CONTINUED ON PaEa- 3. Column s. y