Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-18
TUGS HUNT BODIES
OF CRASH VICTIMS
Three Women Still Missing
After Plunge of Plane
Into Channel.
Rx the Associated Press.

FOLKESTONE, England. June 10
Boats and tugs searched wide area
of the English Channel today for the
bodies of three women still missing in
IN crash Of the giant air liner City Of
Ottawa off DungeneSS yesterday with
the loss of seven lives, including at
least one American.
Adolph E. Meister. IS, vice president
of the Garfield Manufacturing Co. Of
New Jersey. was the known American
victim, while Miss Roberts Of Lon
dom whose body still Is missing, was
believed TO be OF American parents.
American Refuses Information.
OF the six persons rescued, including
two women, H. w. latham, an Amer
lean, rested we'll during the night and
was so far recovered from the shock
of yesterdays tragedy that he probably
will proceed to London tonight. Tat
ham refused to give his American ad-
dress, fearing to alarm his relatives, but
it is believed that he was formerly a
resident Of Minneapolis and that his
parents now reside III Sacramento,
Calf.
After a consultation between police
officers and the coroner, it was decided
to hold one inquest on all the victims
at Lydd Town Hall. The four bodies
! recovered have now been taken to Lydd,
| near Dungeness, and the inquest likely
will be held tomorrow The bodies re-
covered are those of Mr.. Meister. Leon
T. Malcolm. vice president of the NAL
colin & Southern Furniture Co. of Ham
ilton, Ontario: Alfred Smith of Mel
bourne, Australia, and a Mrs. Ickerson,
whose address has not been determined.
Sea Calm. Aiding Hunt.
The sea was calm today and faciH-
tated search for the bodies of the three
missing passengers, boats covering
wide area between DungenesS and
FolkeStone, where it was thought the
bodies perhaps might be floating.
| Those still missing were Nine. Be-
| singer of London, Miss Roberts of Lon
dom and Mrs. Koracki, believed to be
the stage name of a Mrs. Gerzon of
| Amsterdam.
All baggage had been removed from
the plane today and the rising tide
! slowly covered the wreckage, which was
mere mass of metal, one of the en-
| CINE wheels and the undercarriage alone
| being visible.
Another search was made of the
| planes cabin today for the three miss
! ing women, but without result
| Those rescued and suffering from
shock were Mr.. and Mrs. Fleming. rela-
| tiveS of Mrs. 1ckerSon; Miss NJ. Smith,
! daughter of Alfred Smith; Mrs Tat
| ham, Capt. r. j. Brailli. pilot, and
! M. Barnett, flight engineer.
Plane on Thousandth Trip.
1t was revealed today that the City
| of Ottawa had been in service since
! March, 1926, and had flown 10000
miles The trip, if it had been COM
pleted, would have been her thousandth
| Channel crossing.
One theory advanced in connection
| with the accident was that the door
| of the air liner salon may have been
| opened after the plane fell in the water
| and water pouring through it drowned
! those at the back. Some passengers
| scrambled through emergency exits to
safety.
There were Is aboard the ship, in
GLIDING the pilot and mechanic. They
| had left Croydon for Paris. A short
| way from shore the plane was seen to
waver and turn back and then it struck
| the surface of the water. The pilot
had exerted every resource to bring
| his plane as near as possible to a Bel
| gian trawler, the crew of which was
| able to rescue four passengers, the pilot
| and mechanic.
One of the most tragic figures was
Pilot ]. Brailli, who remained on board
| the trawler. The pilot was unable
| to tear himself away from his plane
were at the breaking point and he re-
| fused to make any statement.
Trawler Man Describes Crash
Charles Albrecht, member of the
crew of the trawler, described the dis
aster as he had witnessed it.
I'VE were steaming along when we
| saw the airplane coming toward us.
| Suddenly she started to come dow1s.
! She was quite near when the plane
| dived toward the sea. 1t seemed to
us as if the pilot tried to right her at
| the last moment but could not.
She dived with a great crash into
| the water only little distance from
us. The plane went right into the
water and then the tail and wings re-
| appeared above.
"As quickly as we could, We got TO
! her and found about five persons had
scrambled onto the wings Two OF
them were women, another was the
| pilot and all were hurt We took them
on to our boat and then started to do
what we could to rescue people inside.
Salon Full of Water.
"The salon was full of water. We
| hacked and made every effort to get IN
there. 1t was very difficult. Then we
| dashed the wrecked machine to our
! starboard side. A packet came along
side and took off the injured. Still we
| the plane She was terribly damaged
and we could not imagine that any one
| inside could be alive.
| She had come down like shooting
| star as you'd call it."