The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-31
JIi II HlGEDY HOPE .G5lE. INQUIRY IN
uRdeqe@ped Photographic kegatiVss 0i Commanders
 Way 7IsII Something
Leasea stlre to The Ase-Heratdp

LenxeA SNi-e to The Ase-HeraIdb
 aARfS, D& 30 bandoning the
 aaE shred 1f nope the missing sAssip fDiymude llle French gov T5A eat ia ee8inainE , 3 official in- Nc gasipn thst must formally end tn 3trg of one of ne most sen satqHt aad taffling ysteries of aer Ha7istiia0
 The niinsiN marin issued com HE que 5idas aun 'cing that. as the smude is eertai 'r lost vice Admi fatar eomuaudiuS the southerl.- a5ar.tjme frontier, has des- igngted fTc o.ticers in inquire into causes unc disaster.
 Yet The officers, beginning their work, face an almost blank page. There is the evidence of the dead body of a gallant officer; there are undeveloped photographic negatives found in the officers pocket, that may hold strange clues.
 There is the testimony of peasants who, on a lonely coast saw strange glare in q stormy night sky, and there arc the hands of a dead mans watch. stopped at fhe hour the glare i apfsearsd. There are "a -few strauds of wire, pulled up from the sea. Per- haps this wire was the radio ante anae from which flashed frantic $. 0. s. calls heard by storm bound Mediterranean liners
 Only One Conclusion.
 Circumstantial evidence points straight to one conclusion. Unman- ageable in a hurricane, the great ship drove northward over a night sea. Her huge sides were eompfesse |. crushed beneath walls of bowling wind. The Sicilian coast was ahead {; perhaps the red glare over Mt. Etna marked a land fall in the sky. Writh- ing in her mighty length, she buck led and split apart as did the Amer ican ZR-2 over Hull, England. Her men fell, to the waves. Flames crept up as the sundercd sections drifted apart. Hydrogen gases isnited and two fire balloons lit the sky, then crashed sizzling to the ocean.
 Thus circumstantial evidence states it's case.
 Along the coasts by Sciacca. Sicily, where the dead body of DupleNis de Grencda, commander of the dirigible, drifted in from sea, and where niSht watchers saw the strange light In the sky, Frerch and Italian warships are searching for further evidence that the "DiXmude' lies below the Mediterranean waves.
 O o O
 Solution Awaits Evidence.
 Until such evidence can be found, the mystery remains unsolVed. One man NdS tnl4t prtAA .A Aeseeii tic creation of human ingenuity. A massive fabric of alumium and steel, has vanished as complete Iy as if the storm which swept it into oblivion had hurled it out among the stars. Yet southward where beyond the palms of Alglers the sand dunes roll on into the Sahara. the Arab sentries of French outposts still scan the cloudless sky,
 Northward, were winter winds sweep the stone cottages of Brittany, mothers of the sea-faring coasts whfch gave the greatest number of the Dixmude's marine crew still pray that, somewhere on desert sands their sons are struggling back to civilization.
 Hopes For Crew Mount.
 Hopes for the DiXmude's crew had mounted with reports from Africa that a sailing vessel had sighted three men on raft, believed to be "DiXmude'' survivors. The min- | istry of marine, however, accepts the report with the greatest reserVa- tions official Paris believes that tho Dixmude's men are dead. Twelve days have passed since the great airship sailed from Toulon. Ter days have passed since word last came from the craft.
 While two nations paid honor tc to her dead husband. a son was bori sunday to Mme. DuleXis de Grenedan wife of the commander of the Dix nude"
 Knowing nothing of the tragedy that centered world attention on tho body of her husband, Mime. de Gren- 1 edan has awaited the coming of hel | fourt.. child at her home in Tonlon the city whence the airship sailed t' destruction Her father-in-law ha' warned away all visitors, guarding her from knowledge of the disaster
 Sunday her husbands body lay n | state in the barracks of the sixtl i Italian infantry at Sciacca, Sicily Later, with French and Italian mili tary honors, the flower heaped cof | fin was brought aboard the French | cruiser Mulhouse, beginning the re turn that ends at the door of thu | Tculon home.