New Britain herald., 1928-08-16
ONE DEAD 4 SAVED AS PLANE CRASHES
Passenger Craft Forced Down in
 Gulf of Mexico
HITS WATER NEAR SHIP
Survivors Picked Up But Body of Victim Is Not Recoyered-Blown
 More Than 100 Miles Of Course
 by High Winds.

St Petersburg. Fla, Aug 16 lP- The four survivors of a Pan -Ameri- can Airways passenger plane in which one pa ssenger was killed when it was forced down in the Gulf of Mexico off here last night were landed here early today by a coast guard patrol boat which took them off the tanker Ligonier. Two, who were said to be members of the crafts crew of three. were taken to hospital.
 The dead man was Charles N. Ageton of Flushing. N. Y.
 Details of how he met death, the the hospital and their names were not revealed by officials of the coast guard base here.
 Sank l2O Miles at Sea
 It was learned that the airplane, which was said to have crashed on the water some 120 miles west southwest Of here. sank soon after its occupants had been taken off by the Ligonier. near which 1t struck the water.
 The plane was en route from Ha- vana to Key West and was some distance off its course.
 The men were taken aboard the tanker. bound from Tampa to Port Arthur, Texas. and the coast guard patrol boat No. l95, which was summoned by distress messages from the plane, reached the Ligonier last night.
 They were taken aboard the cut ter from the tanker Ligonier, near which the plane alighted and which picked them up just as their craft sank. Ensign NJ. Braswell of the local coast guards base. said Age tons body was not recovered.
 William Mallon. the other passen- ger, and H. C. Leuteritz, radio operator of the plane, were taken to a hospital for first aid treatment. the former having suffered a scalp wound and the latter boAv bruises The condition of neither was consl1. cred serious Robert Fatt. pilot. and Anfonso. the mehcanic. were not hurt
 Blown Of Course
 The survlvors said that Aeeton was killed when the plane struck The water ], after it had been blown more than hundred miles of it's course and It's fuel was almost exhausted. His body was believed to have been car rled away by the high seas.
 With their bearings lost and fuel running low, the crew of the large plane sighted the Ligonier shortly liter p. m last night and decided Q descend alongside her. In the 1eseent the craft struck the water With 3 terrific crash and immediate y began to ship water Ageton was aid 10 have been killed by the im- oaot but the other occupants were lble to climb out of the plane and enain afloat until the tanker could | ,ick them up
 Fail to Find Body
 After failing to find Ageton's body he Llgonier abandoned the sinking 'lane and brought the air voyaeers o Tampa bar, off here, where the oast guard cutter met it.
 At the spot it came down. the Jane, the tri-motored Fokker Gen ral Machado," was some 12o miles outh southwest of here and about GO miles west northwest of Key Vest. its destination. It left Havana arly yesterday afternoon.
 Mallon, whose home is in Atlantic 'ity, said the plane encountered trong head winds half an hour after saving Havana. Visibility also was GOT. he said, and when the plane ailed to sight land by the time 1t 'as scheduled to land in Key West. he pilot continued on in the hope f reaching some landing spot hree hours later. he related, the asoline supply was running low and hen the Ligonier. which was bound or Port Arthur. Texas. from Tampa -as sighted, holes were cut in the op of the cabin. life belts distribut- and descent made.
 Mallon said the cabin immediately as submerged by the water and he as dragged out by the radio man. geton never was seen and no trace his body was found despite long .arch inside and outside the plane
 New York. Aug. 16 R-Charles orman Ageton, killed in the forced