Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1929-09-09
PLANESTREWN
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
pondent
Eye witness at +. A. 7. Plane
Wreckagel


Funeral preparations today marked
the final chapters IN story Of eight
lives snuffed out in the crash OF a
giant air liner against a mountain
sides as a pilot battled blindly Tor
a haven OF safety against raging
storm.
With five passengers. one a wo-
man, and q 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
ty Of fifty men. insluding en- Asso-
ciated Press correspondent. was led
by Sheriff Bob Roberts up preci-
pltouS sides of Mount Taylor, which
tllrusts its jagged peak nearly $4,000
feet into q sky once the lane OF the
Mistress Of the air"
InI a little canyon, heavily wood
ed with giart pine trees, the party
Of fifty suddenly came upon the
scene where charred wreckage
marked the final resting place OF
the huge ship. over q space Of $50
yards the plane was strewn in bits,
the largest piece a wing section
about ten feet long. TThree motors
that roared their challenge to the
elements when the City OF San
Francisco left Albuquerque. N. NJ.
last Tuesday at 1922 a. m, were
shattered and strung along a path
cut by the plane.
Pitifui 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-
yond recognition.
On one arm of a pilot, a wrist
watch loomed as a single telling
remnant Of the wreckage. Its
hands were stopped at il:0l. Sher-
If Roberts examined a watch OF
one OF the passengers. tt showed
ll:04. IL 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 irtervened.
The huge sky liner skinned close
TO the tree tops. and her under car
rage slaShed off the top of one
huge pine. "A few feet further on
the left wing motor chiseled off a
fifty foot section OF a pine as II
the tree had been a reed. From
then on for distance OF more than
100 yards. the ship carved a verit-
able runway in the heavily wooded
canyon. AS she carried her fatal
course through the pines. she caught
fire and left in her wake a perfect
~ marked trail OF charred trees.
Bodies on Stretchers
She came to earth. and as the
forward motor crashed into the
lava-studed bed of the canyon. the
force was so terrific that the nine
cylinders Of the big motor were
literally torn from their supports
and hurled back into the fuselage.
OOnly 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 fire. -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
the result Of an airplane accident
No opini1ion was given as to the
cause OF the crash.
ThTen the slow. treacherous trek
down the mountainside began. with
deep CANYONS end thick underhrush
the trip difficult. Eight
bodies on stretchers were borne sew
en- miles by the party: then they
we're taken by ambulance TO Grant:
Three Identified
Three bodies identified as those
Of Mrs. Corina Raymond OF Glen
dale. Calf. ". NJ. Harris Liver
more Of Boston. we're made ready
for removal TO Albuquerque. Nc
Saffey's body was identified bv d
bit Of melted silver-the remnant OF
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