The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-04-08

(COnLnueQ functioning properly, company of- ficials intimated. The radio beam was functioning perfectly, depart ment of commerce officials said. Four inspectors of the departments division of aeronautics set out today to inspect the wreckage in one of three investigations. VIVA execu- tives, four of whom reached Union- town yesterday afternoon few hours after the plane crashed into 8 mountain at Fairchance, near here, undertook their own investi- gation. The third was undertaken by the special air safety committee of the Senate.
 Wife Of Mayer Near Death
 Mrs. Ellenstein was near death. She received a blood transfusion at Mount Summit hospital. She had suffered e pound fractures of both legs, anG cep facial cuts from which she lost a large quantity of blood. Her husband, who came here by plane, was at her bedside.
 Challinor's condition was less alarming, though both his arms and one leg had been fractured. Phy- sicians expected him to recover.
 Miss Granger apparently suffered no injuries in the crash beyond shock, though she was badly scratched and bruised and her an- kles were sprained in her mad dash over six miles of rough mountain terrain to the nearest telephone, where she summoned aid.
 Story Made Available
 Miss Granger's story was made available through statements issued by VIVA offices in New York and Chicago. J. B. Walker, VIVA vice. president in charge of operations, senior of the company executives .lere, made public a third version. Miss Granger herself was in a hos pital room where she was reported as still suffering from shock. No one was permitted to talk to her. Even her brother had difficulty in gaining admittance.
 From the Company's resume of her story, it appeared that Pilot Ot- to Ferguson, flying blind in thick fog, was unaware of his danger un- til split second before the giant, tWin-motored Douglas monoplane crashed into the mountain top | shortly after 10 a. m. yesterday. A little while previously Miss Granger had gone to the pilots cabin and asked Ferguson how soon he would land in Pittsburgh. Ferguson re- piled, "in few minutes" Miss Granger told her passengers to ad- just their straps (air passengers are required to strap themselves to their seats when plane is about to land,) and went to the tail of the plane and sat down in her own seat. A minute or so later the plane crashed She was thrown clear and recovered consciousness looking at the sky"
 Pilot Was Mistaken
 Knitting known fragments to- gether, this made it appear that Pilot Ferguson actually believed he Gas coming into the Pittsburgh air port, some 40 miles north of the scene of the crash. At approXim- ately the same time that he told Miss Granger he was going to land ''in few minutes" he said into his radio telephone:-
 Flying blind at 5000 feet. Let ting down to land at Pittsburgh"
 This message, picked up at IVA ground stations at Newark and Pittsburgh, was the last word from the plane. More than three hours later, Miss Granger's frantic voice, coming over rural telephone lines into Pittsburgh IVA headquarters, announced the tragedy A slight girl, just over five feet tall and weighing l0l pounds, she had dem 0nStrated blind courage.
 Radio Beam Wrong
 Miss Granger's story tended to bear out the company's charge that the radio beam had not been func- tioning properly, deceiying the pilot into the belief that he was near the Pittsburgh airport.
 The tiny girl, still weeping and badly shaken today, displayed the stun Of which legends are made. IVA officials praised her emotion ally, saying the company had picked her from 200 applicants as of the character and courage befltting a plane steWardess.
 Relatives claimed the bodies to- day Most tragic of those who came here on sad errands was Mrs. Stan- ley J. Boyersdorfer, wife of a de- partment store executive of Steu- benyille, O.. First reports said her husband had been injured. She came with her family physician and his business partner to discover that Boyersdorfer had been confused with Challinor, and that 1t was Challinor who had escaped.
 Four Victims, Students
 Four of the victims were students of the Valley Forge Military Acade- my, of Wayne, Pa, awarded air. plane trips for scholastic excellence. They were Robert G. Evans, 18. Lancaster, Pa, Crawford T. Kelly, IS, McKeesport. Pa, Donald V. Au- pt1st IT Grnva Cifv po aud