Evening star., 1938-07-01
M'CORM|CK BODY
BEING RECOVERED
Remains of Missing Youth
Located on KnifeIike
Edge of Cliff.
6y the Associated Press.

6s inc ASSOCldleC SIebS.
ALBUQUERQUE, N. Mex, July H.
Indians climbed jagged, knife-like
Sandia Peak today to return the body
Of Medill Mccormick. 1-year-old
scion Of a politico-pubnshing family.
to the heart-broken mother who
learned Of his fate just after she had
renewed hope he was alive.
The Indians, who had searched the
steep, mile-high Sandia Peak eight
days for Mccormick, came upon his
body yesterday on = lonely cliff deep
In the heart Of the mountains.
Mrs. Ruth Hanna Mccormick
Simnns, MedilIs mother, went to bed
In her palatial ranch home immedi-
ately upon receiving the news. She
was on the verge Of nervous collapse.
Until two days ago she kept an
almost sleepless vigil at . base camp
for the searchers at the foot Of sandia
Peak, anxiously awaiting word Of her
sons fate and conferrins frequently
with mountain climbers on possible
clues.
Only yesterday, when most Of the
searchers had quit the Sandals after
intensive surveys had failed to dis
close any trace Of Mccormick or his
body, hope that he lived had been
renewed.
''The point Of the search Is for
Johnny alive" said Mrs. Cortland
Barnes, jr., his sister, speaking for
his family.
Just few hours later, Frank c. w.
Pooler. United States regional forester,
announced the finding of the body.
Medill's broken body lay guarded
on an almost inaccessible ledge.
Parties Of sturdy Indians and United
States Forest Service workers began
at daybreak the long, hazardous jour-
ney to bring 1t back to the Albu-
querque home he left June ~ on an
Inflated climbing expedition.
The body was found crumpled on
the side Of . towering granite cliff,
on the northeast face Of Sandia Peak.
Veteran mountaineers said it would
be late today before the shattered
form could be brought out. So re-
mote was the spot on which it lay
that word Of the fine did not reach
Albuquerque until after nightfall.
The body was discovered almost
precisely on the opposite side of the
knifelike peak from the ledge on
which the lifeless form Of Richard
Whitmer, the young mans 20-year-
old climbing companion, was found
last Friday.
It had come to rest on a narrow
shelf, about $50 feet from the top
and 400 from the bottom Of the
peaks sheer rock face.
Experienced woodsmen OF the Forest
Service expressed belief lightning
fash might have tumbled both youths
to their deaths from the knife-edged
crest Of the mountain.
They said 1t was possible that such
a flash, running along the rim, only
z to feet wide in places. could have
sent Mccormick plunging down the
east face, while Whitmer, a Princeton
student from Albuquerque, fell to the
west
Discovery of the second body ended
bitter, eight-day vigil for Mrs.
Simms.
Even after Whitmers body was
found she chung grimly to hope her
son might be alive. Daily she went
at dawn to the Juan Tabo base camp
Of searchers and personally directed
the hunt.
DISAPPEARED Nine Days Ago.
Mccormick and Whitmer disap-
peared into the Sandals nine days
ago on daring attempt to climb the
Shield" considered one Of the most
difncult mountain peaks In the Rockies.
When the boys did not return that
night, Albert Simms. Medills STEP
father, asked ofiicials to start . search.
He said the family was not alarmed,
but feared the boys might have been
trapped on the peak by severe rain
storm.
Gov. Clyde Tingley called out the
National Guard to lead . search.
More than $50 veteran mountain
climbers, G. G. G. workers and Indians
Joined the Guardsmen in the search.