Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-06
FIVE KILLED WHEN
A|RL|NER CRASHES
Four of Victims, Two of
Them Pilots, Were Resi-
dents of Capital.
Continued From First Page.)

was Mrs. Francis Ehle. wife of one of
the victims, who was waiting at the ar
port to take her husband home to dinner
with their two children. She bec1me
hysterical and required medical atten-
ton.
The fast low-w1nged monoplane was
running on one of the fastest passen-
ger schedules in the United States. Its
scheduled time between Washington and
New York was 60 minutes and on Sep
TENDER 81 Cox made the trip from
washington to New York carrying six
passengers and baggage in 81 minutes
3 Is seconds, smashing two records OF
Capt. Frank M. Hawks. This flight still
stands as the official speed record be-
tween the two cities.
The first word of the crash was re-
cefved here last night a few minutes
after the accident by oficials of the
Ludington Line at Washington Hoover
Airport over the lines teletype service.
The news was broken to Mrs. Evelyn
Cox, wife of the Ill fated pilot, who was
waiting at the airport for her husband.
Grew Leaves for Scene.
Within a few minutes after the news
was received Collins, one of the Nations
senior pilots in length of service and
flying time, loaded five Ludington me-
chanics into a single motored tranport
plane and took off for Camden.
The crash was the first in the his
tory of the Ludington Line to involve
passengers. In tn, IA months since
the line opened hourly service between
the National Capital and New York
its planes have established a world
record for safety. Flying 1.841.08
miles on hourly schedules, the planes
had carried IS, 156 passengers and COM
pleted more than 10000 flights with
out injury to a single passenger
Floyd Cox, whose first accident in
eight years of flying was the one in
which he lost his life, took great pride
in his safety record. When he joined
the line before his Inauguration he
wrote: II have had a little over 1900
hours in the air Most of that time
was spent more than a mile above sea
level. 1 am truly proud of my record
of never having an accident with a
plane"
Cox was known as one Of the best
transport pilots in the East. He was
selected for the first transport flight
over the Washington York line
when, on the day before its formal in
auguration on September /, $780, he
carried 10 West Point cadets over the
line.
He was selected because Of his splen-
and has flown 1t since the 68-minute
schedule was inaugurated.
Learned to Fly In 1923.
Cox learned to fly in 1928 while en-
ployed in the composing room of the
Sioux City Uowa) Journal. He also
worked for a financial paper in florida
and in 1925 joined the staff of the Dem
yer Pest. In 1927 he transformed" the
West in his own plane
In addition to flying, he worked in
the composing rooms of two Florida
papers and two New York papers be-
fore coming to Washington to work
for the Washington Daily News. His
wife also is a linotype operator, en-
ployed at the Government Printing
Office, and both are members of CO.
lumbia Typographical Union. Though
Cox had at first taken up flying merely
as a sport, he finally decided to take
1t up as a career and for many months
few passengers on sightseeing flights
from Washington Airport as pilot for
Universal Flyers. He went over from
this service to the Ludington Line and
was one of its senior pilots.
Vernon Lucas had completed a run
to New York earlier in the day and
was returning to Washington as a pas
senger in COx's ship in preparation for
his regular run today. Like Cox. Lucas
had been with the Ludington Line since
it was inaugurated and was no<ed
pilot. He had 5000 hours flying time
to his credit and had been flying since
he Joined the Army Air Service in 1917
while student at Minnesota State
College
After learning to fly at an Army
school, Lucas took up radio and proved
so efficient he was assigned by the Army
as a radio Instructor and went through
the war in that capacity.
Lands Plane in Blizzard.
After the war Lucas spent several
years in the West and Northwest barn
storming and later became a pilot on
one of the transcontinental air lines
One Of his experiences while on that
line was to land his plane with fun
load Of passengers in a blizzard IN New
| Mexico He landed by the light of
parachute flare, which he released to
pierce the binding storm and, though
his plane went through a concealed
fence. none of his passengers was seri-
ouSly injured.
Last Sunday Lucas made an emer-
gency flight from Washington to Phila-
delphia in an effort to save the life OF
a 3-year-old child who was choking to
death on a bean, which had lodged In
her bronchial tubes. Though ne had
only tri-motored transport at his DIS
posal, Lucas flew the child and her
father. j. B. Cohen of Orlando, Fla,
from Washington to Camden in 81 min
utes. A successful operation was per-
formed, but pneumonia developed and
resulted fatally.
| Lucas Is married and Is survived by
his widow and four children, who are
with his mother at Oakcrest, Va.
Smith Served i'm France.
Elmer Smith served as q captain In
the Army Air Service during the World
War and saw active duty at the front
in France. He was born In Tennessee,
but was taken by his parents to live in
Boston and was educated in Boston
Later he came to Washington as a stu
dent at Georgetown University and dis
tinguiShed himself there as foot ball
player and member of the track squad
He left Georgetown to enlist In 1917
and was commissioned while serving in
France. He was wounded in action and
confined to military hospital for sew
! eral months.
! Mr.. Smith was we'll known as an Ad-
vertlsing executive. He began his news
| paper career on the Boston Herald and
later became identified with the Zane
Advertising Co. While with that or
ganiZs ton he worked for newspapers In
80 different cities. For several years he
was financial advertising manager on
the New York Times.
Mr.. Smith came to Washington In
1929 to serve for year as advertising
director of the Washington Herald and
then returned - New York for time
He came back to the Herald last
February ard had been here as adj
Nerti5ny manager since that time. He
VS. not married.
Taylor Widely Known.