Evening star., 1938-06-13
G0[DPR0SPECTOR
F|NDSL0STPLANE
Acts on 'Hunch' to Locate
T. W. A. Ship Missing
With Nine Aboard,
~ the Associated Press.

YOSEMITE, Calf, June ia
young gold prospector who followed
"hunch'' led the way today to
wreckage of storm-crashed T. w
y A. airliner which vanished with nine
persons aboard the night Of March /.
' The shattered plane and the bodies
Of its occupants lay near the top of
9,000-foot Buena Vista Peak. l8 air
miles south and east of Yosemite
). Valley ranger headquarters. The re-
gion, one Of the widest in the Sierra
Nevada, is 80 miles east of Fresno.
H. o. Collier, "a, a mining prospec-
tor from Fresno, told Chief Ranger
Forest Townsley he found the ship
Sunday morning. Eight bodies were
scattered nearby, said Mr.. Collier.
a Brought In Evidence.
As evidence he had found the plane.
: Mr.. Collier produced an aviator's cap
with the T. w. A. insignia and a
brief case stamped with the name of
H. M. Salisbury of Kansas City, T..
Nv. A. co-pilot and passenger on
the ship.
- Forest Rangers, led by MIR. Collier,
left Wawona for the crash scene early
to-day. officials of T. w. A. accom-
panied q pack train that followed the
ranger party. The rangers must
g, trudge through snow up to feet deep
Tor the is miles and members of the
party said they probably could not
return here with the bodies before
tomorrow.
The airliner vanished in one of the
worst California storms in several
decades. Pilot John Graves had aban-
doned efforts to fly eastward over the
Sierra to Albuquerque, N. Mex. He
also had been baked in an attempt
to fly southwark to Burbank, Calif.,
and finally had turned northward
hoping to return to San Francisco.
A radio message was received when
the ship was near Fresno. Shortly
afterward the plane disappeared. For
weeks planes and searching parties
sought it vainly.
Ninth Body Not Sighted.
Mr.. Collier said the bodies were
not covered by snow and that they
were badly decomposed. Although the
ninth body was not Immediately in
Sight, Mr.. Collier said he thought it
was somewhere in the vicinity.
The wreckage was not covered by
snow. Mr. Collier said the reason it
had not been found sooner was be-
cause the once cleaning airliner had
broken into so many pieces.
Mr. Cn11iar hrn,,nht %IA I,~;>
and the cap into Yosemite ranger
headquarters last night.
Il had a hunch the ship was up
there somewhere" he said.
Il read newspapers that told Of
the hunt for the ship and I studied a
lot OF maps. Last Tuesday I left
Fresno to do some prospecting up
around Bass Lake, but there was a lot
OF snow and couldn't get much done.
Then started out to hunt for the
plane.
I found it about 200 feet from the
top Of Buena Vista Peak on the south
side. Apparently the plane did not
burn, but it was badly broken up and
bodies were scattered about the slope"
Mr.. Collier said misfortune overlook
him before he reached the area where
the plane crashed. When he was IL
miles above Yosemite Valley Friday he
lost his shoes in a creek and had to
walk barefoot back to the valley to
buy another pair.
May Get $1,000 Reward.
A $1,000 reward was posted by the
company last March for discovery of
the craft. T. w. A. officials in San
Francisco said they presumed the
offer still stood and that Mr.. Collier
could claim the money.
Two Of the planes passengers, j.
Tracy Dirlam and his sister, Mary
Lou, both Stanford University stu
dents, were flying East to be with
their father, who was critically ill at
the Dirlam home in Mansfield, Ohio.
The father died the same week with
out knowing his children were missing.
Other passengers aboard were:
Victor Krause, Lincoln, Nebr.
L. B. Waits, San Francisco oil sales
man.
Mrs. L. B. Waits.
Harvey M. Salisbury, "a, T. w. A.
co-pilot, travelling as a passenger.
a.. Grew members:
Pilot John Graves, 35.
Co-pilot c. w. Wallace, 20, Tucson,
Ariz.
Martha M. Wilson, Philadelphia,
stewardess.