The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-05-25
Ten Persons Die M Mystery Plane Crash
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countryside. Then the plane, which had been flying low, fell to the earth and burst into flame. Had Seen Accident
 Jack Berry, manager of the Cleve- land airport, announced that his towerman had actually seen the crash and that the plane had not shown flames until after 1t hit the ground. Berry believed that the ten were killed by the impact and had not been burned to death. The victims were: Brostuen, Alexander, N. D., Doty, L. Arthur, New Eng land sales manager for the Texaco Co.,; Lewis, R. C., Ansonia, Conn; Lickel, c. F., New York city: Mof- fit, J. R., Chicago; Morrell, R. P, New York; Veblen, E. H., employe of the Douglas Aircraft Corp, Santa Monica, Ca; Brandon, James L., La Grange, H., pilot; Merri- gield, Austin (Bud), Los Angeles, co-pilot; Macek, Mildred, Milwau- kec, hostess.
 Will Seek Cause
 w. A. Patterson, president of the United Air Lines, said today that mo effort will be spared to collect every pertinent detail as the basis for a complete analysis of this"
 Patterson came here from Chi cago with a group of operations and engineering officials of the company to investigate the crash.
 Technical officials of our com- pany have begun a thorough study of this accident" Patterson said. "Our work will be conducted in CO., operation with the Bureau of Air Commerce. No statement as to the cause can be made accurately until all available facts have been ob- tained.
 With Patterson were J. A. Her Iihy, director of engineering; Rich ard Dobie, eastern division super intendent; Col. A. D. Futile, medi- cal advisor; Ray Dehority, Fred Page and Joe Martin, engineers, and Walter Addams, eastern divi- sion superintendent of flying.
 Second In Eight Days
 The accident was the second air disaster in the United States in eight days. On May 16, a new Lockheed transport plane crashed on the side of a mountain near Saugus, Cal, killing nine persons three men, four women, and two babies. Destined for service with the Northwest Airlines, it still was in the hands of it's builders.
 The bodies of last nights victims were taken to the Cuyahoga county morgue here. It will never be known whether they died in the crash or wre burned to death, but al. evidence indicated that all had been killed instantly before flames enveloped tn Wreckage.
 The plane fell across a ravinc. It had started clipping trees 150 feet away. It was intact from its rear door back, but forward it was twist cd and broken. One wing was thrown back of the ship, the other forward. One motor was ripped out and thrown forward.
 James Wynn, the airport tower man, did not agree with his superior, Berry. He said he saw the running lights of the plane and had been about Ito talk her in" when he lost sight of the lights and thought something had happened. A few seconds later he saw the flames.
 Motor Began To Sputter
 Carl Reik, of Independence, said he watched the plane flying low, headed for the airport. Suddenly he noticed that one of its motors was sputtcring.
 Then I saw a flare drop as if the pilot was hunting a landing spot" he said. Flames seemed to be shoot ing from the left motor and the other one apparently was not work ing. Then the ship zoomed up with a roar as though the pilot was try ing to gain altitude and also to blot out the flames. I heard another great roar and she went down."
 Paul Craig, 20, Independence, an- other witness Said.-
 T had just come home. My sister had a bunch of girls in for the eve- ming and they were all laughing when we heard a low roar over the house. Our house is right in the path of the airliners. We looked out and saw a big plane having what seemed to be motor troubles turned to the girls and said There's something wrong with It. I'm sure.'
 Trying for Altitude
 Tt looked to me like the pilot was trying to get altitude. One motor was streaking fire. We all got in my car and started toward where it seemed to be coming down. We were the first to get there. It had struck and was a mass of flames. It was so hot we could do nothing. In a few minutes. the fire department from Independence came, but the boys couldn't do anything either. We just had to watch it burn"
 Howard Bsrtell, 6 rural mail car rier, saw the crash and rushed tC the scene hoping to save the mail But 1t and all contents of the giant silver "Main-Liner" were beyond saving. There had been heavy rains in the past week and the surround ing fields were bogs. In them the fire trucks of four Cleveland sub urbs, responding to the alarm. were mired, but 1t would have been i'm possible to extinguish the flames which burned hotly. fed by the fue in the planes tanks.
 In Washington, the Department oi Commerce, announced that its in. spectors would begin an investiga- ton today to ascertain the cause Harold T. Crary, president of United Air Lines, announced in Chi cago that the company would make no statement as to cause until the Dcna rImenL of Commerce finished