Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1929-09-09
LINER STREWN
IN BITS over
MOUNTAINSIDE
Pitiful Sight Is Re-
vealed AS Res cue
Party Removes Bod
les From Wreckage
BY ROBERT w. REDWINE,
Associated Press Staff Cores
p0ndent
Eye witness at Il. A. Il. Plane
WrQrkawal

pondent
Eye witness at Il. A. II. Plane
Wreckage)
GRANT, ". NJ, Sept. 9.-lPl-
Funeral preparations today marked
the final chapters in a story of eight
lives Snuffed out in the crash OF q
giant air liner against a mountain
side as a pilot n%tled blindly for
a maven OF safety against a raging
storm.
With five passengers. one a wo-
man. and a crew Of three dead,
cause Of the crash Of the City OF
san Francisco, Transcontinental Air
Transport, Inc, plane on Mount
Taylor. 20 miles from here, may
never be known. A searching par
~ OF fifty men, including an Asso-
ciated Press correspondent, was led
by Sheriff Bob Roberts up preci-
pitous sides Of Mount Taylor, which
Lhrusts its jagged peak nearly $4,000
feet into sky once the lane OF the
Mistress Of the air"
In a little canyon, heavily wood
ed with giant pine trees, the party
OF fifty-ea<idenly came upon the
scene where charred wreckaee
marked the final resting place of
the huge ship. Over q space Of $50
yards the plane was strewn in bits.
tne largest piece a wing section
about ten feet long. Three motors
that roared their challenge TO the
elements when the City Of San
francisco left Albuquerque. ". M.
last Tuesday at 1922 a. m. were
shattered and strung along a path
cut by the plane.
Pitiful Sight
What was once the luxurious cabin
OF the plane was a mass OF melted
and twisted metal. and within were
the pitifully broken bodies of the
passengers and crew-burned be-
vond recognition.
On one arm Of a pilot, a wrist
watch loomed as a single telling
remnant OF the wreckage. Its
hands were stopped at ll:OI. Sher-
III Roberts examined a watch of
one OF the passengers. 1t showed
ll:O4. 1t was grim. but certain.
proof the plane was winging its
way westward on time on its cor
rect course TO the next stop, when
tragedy iptervened.
1ne huge sky liner skinned close
70 the tree tops, and her under car
rage slashed off the top Of one
nuge pine. A few feet further on
me lett wing motor chiseled off q
iifty foot section Of q pine as II
the tree had been a reed. From
tnen on for a distance or more than
100 yards, the ship carved a yerit-
able runway in the heavily wooded
canyon. As she carried her fatal
course through the pines. she caught
IRE ana left in her wake a perfect
~ marked trail OF charred trees.
Bodies ON Strctchers
she came to earth. and as the
forward motor crashed into the
lava-studded bed Of the canyon. the
force was 50 terrific that the nine
cylinders of the big motor were
literally torn from their supports
and hurled back into the fuselage.
Only the scattered bits Of metal
and the one large piece remained of
the wings-and on that piece was
identification. number 9649. the
planes mark. The searchers lift
ed the twisted and e-blackened
cabin roof, from all that remained
OF the party Of eight. Quick in
takes of breath ran around the
circle OF searchers as this operation
was completed.
A coroner's jury was drawn with
Justice Of the Peace j. #. Mcbride
acting as coroner. District Attorney
Fred Nichols representing the state.
The jury examined the wreckage
and the bodies and reported-The
victims came to their death. "as
(Continued on page 81