Evening Star Newspaper, August 17, 1935, Page 3

- BLAST FOLLOWED CRASH OF PLANE Army Sergeant Radios De- tails of How Rogers and Post Met Death. By the Associated Press. A graphic description of how Will Rogers and Wiley Post met their death was wirelessed to the War De- partment today by Staff Sergt. Stan- ley Morgan, in charge of the Army’s radio station at that outpost of civ- flization. The story, obtained from awe- struck Eskimos who saw the accident, follows: “At 10 p.m. last night (Thursday) attracted by group of excited natives on beach. Walking down, discovered one native all out of breath gasping out in pidgin English a strange tale of ‘airplane, she blew up.’ “After repeated questioning learned this native witnessed crash of an air- plane at his sealing camp some 15 miles south of Barrow and had run the entire distance to summon aid. One Man Had “Rag on Eye.” “Native clfimed plane, flying very Jow, suddenly appeared from the south, apparently sighting tents. Plane then circled several times and finally settled down on small river near camp, two men climbed out, one wearing ‘rag on sore eye,’ and other ‘big man with boots.” “The big man then called native to water's edge and asked direction and distance to Point Barrow. Direc- tion given, men then climbed back into plane and taxied off to far side] of river for take-off into wind. “After short run plane slowly lifted from water to height about 50 feet, banking slightly to right, when evi- dently motor stalled, plane slipped off on right wing and nosed down into water, turning completely over. Native claimed dull explosion oc- curred and most of right wing dropped | off and a film of gasoline and oil soon covered the water. “Native, frightened by explosion, turned and ran, but soon controlled fright and returned, calling loudly to men in plane. Receiving no an- swer, native then made decision to come to Barrow for help. “With completion of story we knew plane to be that of Post and Rogers and quickly assembled a crew of ‘14 Eskimos and departed in open whale boat powered with small gas motor. Hampered by recent ice floes and strong adverse current. took nearly three hours to reach destination. “Dense fog with semi-darkness gave upturned plane most ghostly appearance, and our hearts chilled at thought of what we might find there. “As we approached nearer plane we | #oon realized no human could possibly survive the terrific crash. The plane was but a huge mass of twisted and broken wood and metal. Natives Took Out Rogers’ Body. “The natives by this time had man- aged to cut into the cabin and extri- cated the body of Rogers, who had ap- parently been well back in the cabin when the plane struck and more or Jess protected by the baggage carried therein. “We soon learned we would have a difficult job freeing Post from the wreckage as the plane had struck with such terrific speed it had forced the engine well back into the cabin, pin- ning the body of Post securely. “With some little difficulty we man- aged to tear the plane apart and| eventually released the body of Post. Both bodies were then carefully laid | and wrapped with eiderdown sleeping bags found in the wreckage, and then carefully placed in the boat. “It is believed the natives felt the loss of these two great men as keenly as we and as we started our slow | trip back to Barrow one of the Eskimo | boys began to sign a hymn in Eskimo | and soon all the voices whined in this singing and continued until our arrival at Barrow, when we silently | bore the bodies from the beach to the hospital, where they were turned | over to Dr. Greist, who with the | kindly help of Mr. Brower prepared | and dressed the bodies. “It is doubtful if a person in this little village slept that night, all sat | around the hospital with bowed heads | with little or no talking.” WILL ROGERS HAD OWN IDEAS ABOUT EPITAPH I Joke, but I Never Met a Man | I Didn’t Like” Was His Selection. By the Associated Press. BOSTON, August 17.—The death of Will Rogers recalled remarks he made in a speech here in 1930 con- | cerning the epitaph to be placed on his grave. “When I die, my epitaph, or what- ever you call those signs on grave- stones, is going to read: ‘I joke about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I didn't like.’ “I am proud of that,” Rogers added. “I can hardly wait to die so it can be carved. And when you come around to my grave, you'll probably find me sitting there proudly reading it.” ROGERS FUNDED TRIP OF 3 SCOUTS TO D. C. Wrote Check for Jamboree Ex- penses After Refusal to Aid in Benefit. By the Associated Press. Three Denison, Tex., Boy Scouts would have come here to the Bcout Jamboree on Will Rogers’ generosity —if President Roosevelt hadn't called off the jamboree. Mrs. Jo Hanning of Denison asked Rogers to make a talk in Denison as & benefit to pay the way of Denison Scouts. Rogers replied so many towns made such requests he simply couldn’t do it for one without having to do it for all. But later a check from Rogers to cover three Scouts’ expenses arrived in Denison. SPECIAL NOTICES. gan.i TRIPS MOVING LOADS AND PAR' joads to and from Balto. Phila and New orl juent to other eities. “Dependable Service ‘Since 1896. THE DAVIDSON STORAG! CO__Phone Decgtur_2500. 'ARMY SIGNAL CORPS | h No. 1: Joe Crosson, noted Pa- cific-Alaska Airways pilot, who last night flew from Fairbanks to Point Barrow for the bodies of Will Rogers and Wiley Post, killed in airplane crash. He will return them to Fairbanks for transship- ment back home. —A. P. Wirephoto. Nos. 2 and 3: Rogers and his children. The humorist is shown with his sons, Will, jr. (left), and Jimmy, in San Francisco recently when the boys were appearing ir a polo match. His actress daughter, Mary, was photographed as she prepared for her part in a Broad= way production. —Wide World Photos. No. 4: Mrs. Wiley Post (left) | pictured as she watched the start of the ill-fated flight with a friend. —Wide World Photo. No. 5: Dr. Henry W. Greist, Presbyterian medical missionary at Point Barrow, who cared for the bodies at the mission hospital. —A. P. Wirephoto. No. 6: Sergt. Stanley R. Morgan, Signal Corps. U. S. A, who re- covered the bodies. —A. P. Wirephoto. Crash (Continued From First Page.) California, but headed East by plane. The other son, James, already was in the East. At Okahloma City. Harry Frederick- son, oil man friend of Post, disclosed the two were planning to fly over much of the world in a carefree two-month trip. From Alaska they had intended to fly across to Siberia, down the China coast and into Russia. Hunting and fishing making his plans for the trip, which he said was to be culminated by a “tiger hunt” in Siberia, just a short hop across Bering Sea from Nome. Rogers bought a pair of trousers two sizes too big for him at Juneau, ex- plaining he would need the extra girth if he ate all the fish Post was going | to catch. | The flight was expected to be a tame one, virtually without hazards as compared with Post’s aerial trail- blazing that won him fame. | Circled Globe Twice. Twice he had flown around the world—once with the Australian, | Harold Gatty, as navigator—to rec- ords that still stand; at Chicago and at Bartlesville, Okla., he made dan- gerous but unsuccessful attempts to establish new heavier-than-air craft altitude records in search of strato- sphere data; four times in the Win- nie Mae, old high-wing monoplane that circled the globe, Post sought substratosphere information in at- tempted flights across the continent. He gleaned valuable information in these altitude efforts, but it was not known today whether he had left a permanent record of his findings to guide the aviation industry toward greater flying speeds and efficiency. “The records don't mean anything,” Post said more than once. “What I want is information looking to event- ual everyday flight at higher levels.” o RISES TO OCCASION All in Alaska Stay at Keys Long apparently | were uppermost in Post’s mind in| Hours—Morgan, Telling World of Crash, Refuses Relief. By the Associated Press. ANCHORAGE, Alaska, August 17.— United States Army Signal Corps men, serving every important point in Alaska and linking them by radio with the outside world, rose to the occasion when the Rogers-Post airplane tradegy caused an almost unprecedented flow of private and press messages. Like their colleague, Staff Sergt. Stanley R. Morgan, alone in desolate and isolated Point Barrow when word of the disaster came to him, every Signal Corps man and officer in Alaska and at the Seattle terminal of the Alaska Telegraph System stayed at his key or his typewriter for hours. Morgan, back from the grim duty of recovering the bodies at Refuge Bay, 15 miles southwest of Barrow, stayed at his key until late last night without relief and without sleep. He had opened his key at 4:15 o'clock in the morning after assisting Dr. Henry W. Greist and other settlers in caring for the bodies. Offered relief, the veteran sergeant answered by wireless: “I can hold it alone. Do not send relief operator by plane.” 1 WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY debts contracted by any person other than D, R. LONG. 19° myzelf._DAVID G. _ . 1 WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY debts contricted by any one but myself. RAYMOND DONOHUE. U. 8. Navy. 19* is one of the largest CHAMBERS Tiertafers 1 ine Complete funezals as low as $75 x chapels. twelve parlors, seventeen W ana ambulances, twenty-ve Chapin Columbla 0433 817 11th ntic_A700 A DEAL FUNERAL AT $75 Provides ryice as one costing $500. Dor' -5:3' .shunnnu MMIH 0'31 L. Lin- [ rs and assistants. t 26 years' experience. BREWERY DEAL ON Negotiations to restore control of the Abner Drury Brewery, Inc., to the Drury family, founders of the brewing company, are now under way, Abner Drury announced yesterday in con- firming reports The corporation recently filed & bankruptcy petition with the District Supreme Court and is now in receiver- ship. . A D. C., SATURDAY, CONGRESS WILL BUY POST’S WINNIE MAE Bill to Acquire, by Strange Quirk, Comes Up on Day Bringing News of Flyer's Death. | By the Associated Press. By a quirk of fate, Congress decided to buy Wiley Post's world-girdling plane, Winnie Mae, on the day that brought news of the pilot’s death. ‘The meadure came up yesterday during the regular call of the Senate | Calendar and not because of any spe- cial arrangement. also passed the bill, but because of a minor change requiring Senate ap- | proval, final action was not possible. The bill would authorize the pay- ment of up to $25,000 to Post for the ship, which would be placed in the Smithsonian Institution. It was the Winnie Mae that car- ried Post and Harold Gatty to their record flight around the world in 8 days, 15 hours and 51 minutes. Post later made a solo world flight in the plane in 7 days, 18 hours and 49 minutes. Democrat and Republican leaders paid tribute to Post and Will Rogers, who died with him. Senator Thomas, Democrat, Okla- homa, co-author of the bill, noted the coincidence under which it came up in the Senate on the day of Post’s death and added that it was a “fit- ting tribute to a brave explorer and intrepid pilot.” The companion bill in the House was introduced by Representative Lee, Democrat, Oklahoma. e MRS. ROGERS GETS $800,000 INSURANCE Actor Would Have Had to Pay Double Premium if Policies Had Been of Recent Date. By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, August 17.—John J. Kemp, insurance brokers, disclosed today that Will Rogers named as sole beneficiary to-about $800,000 of life insurance his' wife, Mrs. Betty Blake Rogers. In the event of Mrs. Rogers' death, the humorist's three children were to have been beneficiaries. Kemp said that the policies, the last of which were taken out nine years ago, did not contain non-flying clauses and that all money due the widow would be paid on demand. “Had Mr. Rogers taken out insur- ance five years ago, after he had be- come an -inveterate air passenger,” Kemp said, “his premiums would have been almost double what they were.” He said Rogers had been insured for $1,000,000 and that during' the last year approximately $200,000 worth of insurance in endowment form had matured. ’ Later the House | ) Mrs. Rogers Pleaded With Her Husband Not to Make Flight By the Associated Press. BURBANK, Calif., August 17— “Don’t go, Will. Please don’t go!” This was the plea of Mrs. Will Rogers when she and their son will, jr., were at the Union Air Terminal to see him off as he took an airliner to meet Wiley Post in Seattle, terminal attend- ants recalled yesterday. They said she pointed to the dangers of flying over icy wastes in Alaska and Siberia and begged him not to make the trip. FOUR TO BE AIR CADETS Four Anacostia, D. C., youths have been accepted for the Naval Aviation Cadets and will assemble at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Fla., next Tues- day for training. They are William R. Campbell, Sam- uel L. Silber, Samuel S. Mantz and James O. Taylor. If they qualify as naval aviators, the youths will be or- |dered to the fleet for three years' active duty. renewal fees. it's the— ARTHUR G. BISHOP Chairman of the Board MRS. ROGERS AWAITS SON IN NEW YORK | Party Arrives by Auto After Leaving Train to Avoid Crowd at Station. By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, August 17—Mrs. Will Rogers and her daughter Mary ar- rived in New York today after a hur. ried trip from Maine, en route to their California home to lay to rest the body of their husband and father. With Dorothy Stone, daughter of the actor, Fred Stone, intimate of the dead comedian, the Rogers’ motored into the city from Stamford, where they left the train which had brought them from Oakland, Me. Here, in New York or a suburb, they went into seclusion, avoiding the public gxze and—{friends sald—hiding their grief even from persons closest to them. They will await the arrival of the eldest son of the philosopher-humorist, Will, jr., arriving by airplane tonight from the West Coast, before complet- ing plans for the trip to Santa Monica. 4 until Wiley went to sleep with his AUGUST 17, 1935. ALASKA STUNNE BY THE TRAGEDY Two Had Won Hearts of Territory, Says Rex Beach. BY REX BEACH. (Copyright, 1935, by the Associated Press.) FAIRBANKS, Alaska, August 17.— Alaska is stunned by the catastrophe at Point Barrow. It feels the disaster more keenly because it has for the last week | played host to Will Rogers and Wiley | Post and had just become personally acquainted with both men. Yesterday everybody in this country was smiling at Will's jokes. On every pair of lips were the names of the two famous visitors, the two newest | and truest friends Alaska has made in | many years, Today there are no smiles up here. This is the blackest day Alaska has known. Population Stricken Dumb. When the news of the crash in the | chill fog of the Arctic tundra was| made known yesterday the entire population of the territory was stricken dufnb. I have never seen a people so completely stunned. We know no more about the,details | than you know as yet, for the United | States Signal Corps, which affords the only radio communication in the | Nerth, there being no telegraph or | cable, has broadcast to the world all | there is to know. Will and Wiley started for Point Barrow, ran into a fog, were forced to | land and ascertain from natives their whereabouts. When they took off the engine misfired and the ship nosed into a death dive. The acocunt is almost as short, as stark, as shocking | as the tragedy itself. | But Alaskans were at first incredu- | lous. This thing might happen—to other flyers, said they—but not to Wiley an dto Will. Then, as the mes- sages continued to come in, Alaska bowed her head and wept. Crash Blamed on Weather. “Weather did it,” the old-timers say. They shake their heads and assert: “Point Barrow and those Arctic bar- rens aren’t Alaska—they're 1,400 miles North and the climate is tricky. Will and Wiley should have been careful.” | But Wiley was careful. Will told| me in Juncau that he was the most | careful pilot he had ever flown with, almost too careful it seemed to Will. And he was skillful, too. Amelia Ear-| hart had told Will that she considered | Post the finest fiyer alive. What actually went wrong 50 feet| above that shallow tundra river may | never be known. But this much is| absolutely certain in the minds of | every air-minded Alaskan . . . it was| too much for human skill and quick | thinking to cope with. Post Was Proud Of Plane Built Of “Spare Parts” Placed Lockheed Sirius Wings on Lockheed Orion Fuselage. By the Associated Press. LOS ANGELES, August 17.—Al- though it was assembled from “spare parts,” Wiley Post was proud of the low-winged monoplane which car- ried him and Will Rogers to death in the Arctic. “She’ll never be abused like the Winnie Mae was,” Post told mechan- eral weeks ago in Burbank. The ‘Winnie Mae, placed in retirement by the fiyer, was the ship in which Post ous round-the-world flights. Charles Babb, international dealer in used aircraft, disclosed that Post purchased the fuselage and wings of the new plane from him. “Post said he wanted a wing with about and it seemed logical when he explained that he was going to ics when the ship was completed sev- | flew to aviation fame on two hazard- | a large lifting surface,” Babb said.| “I assumed he knew what he was POST'S FUNERAL T0 BE AT HOME Friends to Gather in Shady Grove on Farm—Burial to Be in State Capital. | By the Associated Press. MAYSVILLE, Okla, August 17— | Home folk will gather at a small | grove before the farm home of Wiley | Post’s parents near here to pay final | tribute to the noted fiyer who crashed with Will Rogers in Alaska. “I think the best place is right here at home,” said gray-haired W. F. Post. “We can have the services | out in the yard, where it's shady.” The decision was made after the fiyer's widow arrived to learn his parents’ wiches on the tuneral. She hastened to the humble frame bungalow in the Washita Valley from Popca City where she had been vis- iting, to assure the parents their wishes about funeral plans would go unquestioned. put & Lockheed Sirjus wing on a Lockheed Orion fuselage, saying this combination would give him greater visibility. Post’s resolve to build his own ship instead of buying a new standard plane caused considerable comment among flyers, who believed limited financial resources influenced the noted pilot in going ahead with his plans. Joe Marriott, supervising aero- nautical inspector here for the De- partment of Commerce, said Post's plane was operating under a re- stricted license. Restricted licenses, Marriott ex- plained, are granted for certain types of test flying, industrial flying—such as crop dusting—as distinguished from licenses to carry passengers on commercial lines. Legacy of Wit WILL ROGERS LEAVES WORLD FUND OF HUMOR. By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, August 16.—Will Rogers left the world a rich legacy of spontaneous humor. He expressed the hope a few years ago that his gravestone would bear this epitaph: “I joke about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I didn’t like.” “And when you come around to my grave,” he added, “you'll probably find me sitting there proudly read- ing it.” Some of his record “wise cracks” follow: “The Republicans have a habit of having three bad years and one good one, and the good one always happens election year.” I was in Kechikan last week when that plane roared north through the murk and drizzle above us and over the local radio I heard that Wil Rogers and Wiley Post were in it. | The nex: night I walked in on them at Juneau while they were having din- ner with Joe Crosson, ace pilot of the Pacific-Alaska airways. Joe's the fellow who always went after Wiley up here when he got in trouble. Evasive on Plans. ‘Will explained that both times Wiley | flew around the world he sat down in | Alaska and Joe had to give him a hand. “What are your plans?” I asked | them. Wiley grinned and said nothing. Will confessed: “We haven't any. We're just on a ! vacation. We want to see Dawson and Fairbanks and those farmer colo- | nists (at Matanuska), of course. and | we'd like to see the Mackenzie River, ton. We might even hop across to Siberia and go home that way. “When Wiley was flying around the world those Russians laid out his | course and told him exactly where | to head in at and made him stick | to it. Now they have given him per- | mission to fly anywhere and stop any- | where as long as he wants. We have the maps and it would make a swell trip to o home by way of Iceland | and Greenland. The longest water jump is only 1,000 miles.” Post Goes to Sleep. We gabbed there until midnight, head on his arms. “He never has a word to say,” Will told me. “I do the talking for the team and it works out fine.” This was Will's first trip to Alaska. He loved it and he loved the people. ! Juneau went wild about him, as did the several other towns he and Wiley visited. In Thursday night's local paper was an article quoting him as saying that he proposed to come up here next Winter and hole up with some old timers so as to really get acquainted. | Will, jr., is scheduled to arrive at Newark Airport at 7:18 p.m., standard time. REAL ESTATE LOANS now being made on terms as low as Per Month Perpetual offers a new and attractive mortgage loan . .. a reduction of 25% on monthly repayments. Actually lower than paying rent. No commission or For funds to purchase a home . . . to make desired home improvements or to refinance existing trusts PERPETUAL BUILDING ASSOCIATION 11th and E Sts. N. W. The Largest in Washington—Assets over $36,000,000 ‘l'::w 1881 MARVIN A. CUSTIS EDWARD C. BALTZ, Secretsry Established 1897 | “bolled shirts.” “Argentina exports wheat, meat and | gigolos, and the United States puts Humorist Leaves & tariff on the wrong two.” Describing the London Naval Con- ference of 1930 “We stood through 1 speech, through 8 slept through 12, and in three solid hours of compliments not a rowboat was sunk.” He was strongly opposed to formal attire and at a dinner in Port of Spain, Trinidad, he expressed his opinion of Shortly afterward. the Chinese Minister to Cuba, who had disappeared during the discourse, re- turned wearing a silk suit. Commenting on Andrew Mellon's appointment as Ambassador to the Court of St. James: “Why, a man with as much money as Andy could be popular anywhere.” “If the If there Discussing world opinion: weather isn’t right, we did it. are too many debts, it is our fault.| If the Prince of Wales doesn't marry, we are to blame.” Senator Pat Harrison of Mississippi relates that he warned Rogers of the dangers of flying. “He merely told me,” the Senator said, “that I would be killed some time trying to hit a golf ball.” When someone asked him what he did on a trip to several cities he re- plied: “Just blathered.” “What's blathering?” asked. “You don’t know what blathering is? Why, that’s what we are doing he | right now.” That brought a grin to every sour- | dough. That was Thursday night. Yesterday morning Joe Crosson flew again to succor his friend Wiley. On every side last night I heard the same words: “It just can't be so. Why it was only yesterday we were all laughing and joking together.” It seems a long time ago. Alaska is waiting for Joe Crosson's ship and the country is in tears. sat ! The ’'round-the-world flyer will be buried in Oklahoma City, however | The elder Post, after conferring with his sobbing wife, murmured “We may not be here always, and we'd like to know his grave never would go untended.” Young Mrs. Post prepared today t speed to Seattle by airplane to meet the body of her husband. She re- turned to Ponca City last night Final funeral plans will take form when she claims the body. Hardly awake even yet to the realit of Post’s death, the but ur assuming people of his little ri home town gathered in small groups and spoke of little else. The Posts were left to sorrow alone on their small farm 3 miles north of here. The aviator's parents are gentle and | unassuming folk. hardly aware the | world, can share their grief with them Neighbors arrived, laden with food, | carrying on the traditions of the | Southwest. Mr. Post worried some- | what about his “milking,” but was told by neighborly friends they had | taken care of the cows for him. An understanding of the regard the world held for Wiley Post came slowly to the father. in spite of his over- whelming love But now his estimate is made. “I never did want to be vain about it,” he enunciated slowly, choos his words with care, “and I never Wiley &o. “But I have come to think that he is one of the greatest men that ever lived.” INCOME OF ROGERS - $600,000 ANNUALLY Estate Esti- mated at $2,500,000 to $6,000,000. By the Associated Press. HOLLYWOOD, Calif., August 17— Will Rogers left an estate unofficially estimated at between $2,500,000 and $6.000,000 From close business and financial associates of the humorist it was learned Rogers’ wealth consisted of extensive real estate holdings here and in Oklahoma, Government bonds, life insurance totaling $1.050,000, and annual income from motion pictures, radio and his syndicate writing at upwards of $600.000. Extremely close-mouthed in discuss- ing his financial activities, just as he was in revealing his innumerable charties, Rogers won the respect of business men as a shrewd investor. The actor’s wife and three children are beneficiarfs of the bulk of the life insurance. Fifty thousand dol- | lars of the amount is payable to the Actors’ Equity Fund A bar against flying by film actars | and indefinite delay in the release of two new pictures starring Rogers were seen. The pictures are completed, but their disposition awaits the decision of Joseph Schenck, chairman of the board of directors, and Sidney R. Kent, president, of the 20th Century-Fox Studios, in New ork. | They are “In Old Kentucky” and “Steamboat 'Round the Bend,” rep- resenting an investment of about | $1,000,000. old WILL YOU LET US EXPLAIN WHY Leader in Yearly Sales Is Today the t t Was Ten and Fifteen Just_as Years Ago. Ralph J. Moore Coal Co. Phone Potomac 0970 TOLMAN'’S THE “TOP” For YOUR Men's M Suits — washed or dry cleaned the Tolman way Cleaning SUMMER SUITS 75 LIKE the way we take a bedraggled, wrinkled W, MACKENZIE , President 5248 wisconsin Ave. ClLeveLanp 7800 THE HOME OF ZORIC DRY CLEANING—“FOR HEALTH'S SAKE, SEND IT ALL TO TOLMAN" suit and restore a soiled, mis- shapen thing into an immacu- late, perfect-fitting garment! 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