The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1934-01-12
Chapter Four
.ssouT LANeToR

Hh world remembered with q
sense Of shock and grief the
vanishing Of the eyer Lanston. A
contemporary ana friend Of the al.
most equally famous Grahame,
LanEtOn had disappeared At some
point on his course daring thatalght
mat was to have taken him from
Valparaiso on Z wide ere sIong the
Andes and up through Central Amer.
Tea Go New Yorl.
That mystery was quite recent In
the public mind Il grle4ed SINCERELY
for the loss Of ita beloved Idol in
fhewnke OF the carIhbeea hnrrleane.
The Gulf ana cafibbean coasts
were combed from New Orleans to.
the mouth o. the Amazon Burina
the first frenzied search 1t was exI
pected find Eangton encamped on
some forgotten beach ike 3 rnpdernI
Crus0e. Later. after weeks Of. sYss
tematie and painktatiHs ben heo nib.
ing-in the literal sense Of the word
with no trace Of alFplane wreck.
age found. the searchers were forced
70 snbacribe to the popular theory
that Langton and his land plane had
gone down ct sea.
Il had been demanded that Frank
Grahame be recalled from the Grin
oco headwaters country to assist IN
the search. but this was nanlfestly
impossible as Grahame's portable
radio set was no longer communis
eating with civilization.
When finally 0rahame emerged
from the Jungle with the remnants
Of the Cadwallader partN it was
natural that he be asked for HIS
theory as to Langton's disapbears
ance. His theory. however, was cot
accepted with much credepce.
II was a little incredible. The odds.
certainly were against his being
right For one thing. while there.
we're thousands OF miles OF coast.
any part Of which might have been
the scene OF Langtonss craslss
Ordinances misty theory iocalizsd q
a. having happened along only q
certain few hundred Miles OF IT,
TIE east coast of Yueataus more
over. he believed that I.anglon bad
sens dawn not on the coast or the
sea nearby. bat IN the country west
Of that particular strip Of coast line.
You see" he told the boardof in.
Vestigation. 'Iangton had made
shorter hops over that route" He
put his dnger on q large map on the
table. "Lanston would have swung
~ the east coast OF Nicaragua an0
Honduras. crossed the Gull of Hou.
duras and then flown straight over
Yueatan toward tue Mexican Cult.
IFS probable that the storm caught
him near Yacatan.
But" the board objected.
~Gfanting that such might hare been
the case be would have been flying
into Z wind from the north. which
aEt6rdlng to ths laws OF hurricanes
would bear more toward the east
e. the storm proeresaed. That,
0fahame, would cause him b drift
out into the Caribbean"
True replied 0rahame. athatls.
five we're talking about alnost any.
body except Laneton. Laugtpn vas
. good hyer. and knew bic storms
seems to me be could have pulled
SIT Of most any blow q. Another
lent while thai wind would hare
lasd coward the east. e Jon say,
nsvertRslesa the hurricane itself
H6nld travel on 4 usstwafa sweep.
kbahktte's ! s1c,iud anasdl wac
cIsse to two hundred. Just what L
actually was or what bis eoaFEe was
with the various elements Of wind
currents bufIetlng him. lssImpraetk
cal to ngire with any accnracH Il
vas an oH-season hurricane too.
which RAY not have acted Ike q
usual one.
-call Il q hunch. gentlemen. but ]
believe Laagton crashed on land
within reasonable distance Of the
easl coast Of Yueatan.a
crahame's theory received its
share Of publicity but Y was not
generally accepted.
His questloners left the subject At
that point and asked him about bis
own deeds For 0rahozae was some
thing Of hero himnelA
There we're few who had not
beard Of crahame. = A. CrAhnma
ne newspapers had made much q
hls Initials when be had returned
from Venezuela some months after