Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1934-06-12
|NAVALDOCUMENTS
CARRIED BY PLANE.
Valuable Papers SaNaged
From Wreckage Where
Seven Were Killed.
CONTINUED From First Page.)

by the hazards of underbrush and
swamp-spots that marked the down.
trail from the blackened wreckage
of the plane far up the slope.
They came at last to waiting
hearses, and the bodies were brought
here at 2 o'clock this morning.
Souvenir Hunters Come.
Droves of souvenir hunters and
curiosity seekers had trudged up the
side of the mountain yesterday and
last night, undaunted by the hard
ships of the climb. Many dropped by
the wayside before reaching the place,
zoe feet from the top, where the plane
crashed.
Several motorists, forcing their
automobiles up the narrow mountain
roads as far as they could go, were
obliged to abandon their cars. They
could neither turn around nor back
out, due to the narrowness of the
road and the pressure of traffic from
behind.
There was nothing to prove the
cause Of the tragedy Pilot Holbrook,
considered one of the ace airmen of
the country, would have cleared the
slope-which flyers call last chance
mountain"-if he had little more
than 200 feet greater altitude.
The plane clipped clearly the tops
of two giant naples before plunging
into the mountain. The wreckage
was strewn over a wide area. indicate
ing there had been a terrific ex-
plosion, probably of the fuel tanks.
Pieces of fabric from the wings dam
gled from many trees.
One mail sack was thrown clear and
was not reached by the flames, which
consumed nearly everything except the
frame of the craft. Despite the force
of the impact-the plane is presumed
to have been travelling at cruising
speed of 100 miles an hour, or more
the outline of the plane remained
virtually intact, In contrast with the
twisted wreckageS that have resulted
in other similar tragedies of the air
ways.
Liquid Believed Explosive.
Police found three small bottles Of
a liquid believed to be an explosive
Two were in the travelling bag Of
Bader and the third was in the wreck
age.
Coroner Burke said the liquid
would be sent to Bader's employer for
analysis. Literature about high ex-
plosives was in Bader's baggage. lead
ing to belief the bottles contained
explosives
The coroner said he attached little
significance to the finding. There was
no indication, he said, of any ex-
plosion on the plane before it crashed.
Miss Esther Karse, one of the few
residents in the vicinity. told police
she heard a plane about pm, east
ern standard time, Saturday, and q
crash a minute or two later. She
heard no explosion, she said. The
ships clock had stopped at 5:04 pm.
Aviators said the plane apparently
was caught in fog or an updraft in
skimming over the Catskills.
Four Hearses Sent.
Three hours after the wrecked plane
was discovered yesterday, ending a
two-day hunt by planes and volunteer
woodSmen, four hearses were started
toward the mountains. Already, how
ever, the narrow road was damned
with automobiles, the cars extending
in q four-mile stream, and almost
touching each other.
The hearSes were obliged to take
another route, some 20 miles longer,
and even then the nearest they could
get to the wreck was 10 miles. The
rest Of the journey was made on foot.
1t was II hours later that the
stretcher bearers returned.
A possible explanation Of the ac-
cident was given by Theodore A.
Schmidt, Eastern operations manager
for American Air Lines. He suggested
that Pilot Holbrook, running into a
squan area on the route between
Newark and Albany, sought to detour
by flying west, "basing his Judgment
on his II years of flying experience"
Apparently the weather into which
ne new became worse instead OF Bet
ter" Schmidt said. "The accident
was the result"
Had Radiophoned 20. K"
The clock on the instrument board
of the plane was stopped at 5:04
o'clock, fixing the time of the acct
dent. Half an hour earlier Holbrook
had radiophoned Everything o. k
The tragedy brought widowhood to
five and wrote a sudden end to the
romance of the stewardess. She was
to have been married within a month
friends said, to H. w. Lonsdale OF
New York.
Pinsley, Is. also was engaged. His
fiancee was Miss Leah Ray Of Detroit,
an entertainer.
Those widowed by the crash were
Mrs. Clyde Holbrook of Chicago
mother of a small child; Mrs. John
Barron of Memphis, Tenn, mother
of two children; Mrs. William A. Cass
of Buffalo, mother of two children
Mrs. William Bader Of Buffalo, mother
of a 10-month-old son, and Mrs.
Hard C. Coppins of Buffalo, mother
of three children.
The possibility that the chemicals
found in the wreckage had contributed
in any way to the accident was
termed absolutely unthinkable" by
T. H. Bennett of Maplewood, N. j.,
who is connected with the firm which
employed Bader.
None Of the bottles contained am
monium picric acid. Bennett declared
Crystals of that chemical are lemon
yellow in color, he pointed out; the
crystals found in the unbroken walls
were of different hue.
Bennett did not know what the
crystals we're, but, he asserted, they
could have had nothing to do with
the crash since the bottles containing
them were intact, and the amount of
the substance was insufficient to cause
any damage if it had exploded.
Bennett officially identified Bader's
body. He did 1t by inspecting latter
of clothing the victim wore He will
remain here for the inquest tomorrow,
ASHES MAY BE SCATTERED.
IT, Ha taI