Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-11-02

containers, blood-stained pillows
and torn clothing.
Many bodies were so badly mutt
lated that Identification was diff
f1cult, and at least one mans body
was severed near the waist.
Aboard the plane were 49,
month-old Maureen McCusky and
her mother, Mrs. Martha Nc
Cusky, of Boston, who were COM
! ing to Washington to make their
home with Philip Thompson, q
cook at the Statler Hotel.
Sadly Mr.. Thompson showed re-
porters clipping from a Boston
newspaper which told how the
little girl had won a prize at a
beauty show.
Frantic Relatives Arrive.
Among the first frantic relatives
to arrive at the airport yesterday
was Henrique Velutini, president
of a large textile mill at Caracas,
Venezuela. Anxiously he scanned
a'passenger list, only to learn that
his wife, Mrs. Isabel Velutini, had
been among the passengers.
| An airport official said in an
aside to a friend. Shall we tell
him one woman passenger ap-
parently was alive when removed
to the hospital? 1t might give him
hope"
NO" was the reply, IT think
you would be kinder not to-"
The tragedy was the second in
the last three months to involve
an Eastern Airline passenger
transport in fatal collision with a
Fighter.
p Sixteen persons were killed
July 80 when Navy fighter
piloted by resident of the Wash
ington area collided with an air
Liner over Fort Dix, N. j.
Throughout last night, in rain,
mist and darkness cut by the
glare of searchlights from the
shore. police of the harbor pre-
Icinct and volunteers persisted in
the grim task of dragging for
bodies.
Three Searchlights Used.
La charge of the rescue opera
tons was H. A. Dugan, president
of the. Alexandria Rescue Squad.
Three. large searchlights were
brought to the scene from Fl.
Belvoir about 9 o'clock, with a
crew, OF Is. volunteers. - A, s"twalkie-
taikie" loudspeaker system was set
up to relay orders.
CAB officials were on watch all
night, along with small detach-
ments from Fort Myer and Boiling
Air Base.
Half a dozen skiffs, manned
by harbor police. members of the
Arlington Fire Department and
volunteers from the park police,
patiently crossed and recrossed
the surface Of the lagoon.
The area Of search lay between
the Potomac shore and the, yellow
buoy marking the spot where
the forward section of the broken
Iairliner had been located.
The four-engined DC-4. appar-
emily scattered passengers into
the lagoon from the point where
the tail section crashed upside
down into the bank to the place
100 yards offshore, where the for
ward section struck.
Buried In Soft Mud.
Only some 200 yards away an
other buoy marked the spot
where the P-38 plunged into the
water.
Both buoys were around 100
yards off shore, in about rs feet
of water.
District, Virginia and Park po-
lice worked through the night to
keep traffic on the busy boulevard
from congesting about the accident
scene and to guard the area from
souvenir hunters and the idly
curious.
Meanwhile, there was no letup
in the night-long, meticulous task
of identifying the dead-at the
Armory in Alexandria and at three
undertaking parlors there and at
the District Morgue.
FBI agents worked with police
and firemen. They took fingers
prints, measurements and descrip-
lions, collected personal belongings
wherever possible, along with
identifying papers and the like.
Every effort was being made to
be of assistance to relatives and
friends Of the victims who began
to arrive in Washington last night
as word of the tragedy spread.
Airport Traffic Continues.
During rescue work yesterday
and last night, airliners continued
to drone low overhead on the
approach to the Northeast runway.