LOST FLYERS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 51, 23 November 1928, Page 10

LOST FLYERS

FATE OF HINCHCLIFFE WIDOW CONSULTS MEDIUMS STORY OF A TERRIFIC GALE (United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Australian Press Association.) (Rec. November 22, 5.5 p.m.) London, November 21. There were remarkable scenes at Caxton Hall, Westminster, when Mrs. Hinchcliffe made her first appearance under Spiritualist auspices in the W. T. Stead library, and spoke of her husband’s disappearance. Thousands of women besieged the doors, clamouring for admission. The police were called in to regulate them. Mrs. Hinchcliffe recounted how when in touch with well-known mediums she. became interested because of the truth of intimate details mentioned of her husband’s life. She attended a seance of the London Spiritualistic Alliance, when she heard a clear message from her husband. The message said he flew 700 miles from the Irish coast northwards and north-west. He changed the course at 10 o’clock a little northward until midnight, when he encountered . a terrific gale. One strut of the machine broke and another was smashed, and one spark plug was misfiring. The further they went the worse the storm became, and at midnight they knew it was impossible to reach America. ■ They deliberately changed the course for the Leeward Islands and went southwards till 3 o’clock. Tossed in a terrible whirlwind, they were forced into the sea within sight of the Azores. In a later message Hinchcliffe said that by the Leeward Islands he meant the Azores, in trying to reach which they went 400 to 500 miles out of the course.

Mrs. Hinchcliffe added that she had received a letter from Sir Conan Doyle to the effect that Hinchcliffe had sent him a message thanking him for interesting his wife in spiritualism. She did not mention Miss Mackay, but on closing the lecture said: “I could give further messages relating to other things. lam sorry to say I was asked, this morning to refrain from doing so.” ■ [Captain Hinchcliffe and the Hon. Elsie Mackay were lost while attempting a flight across the Atlantic.]