KILLED IN CRASH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22191, 19 August 1935, Page 9

KILLED IN CRASH

NOTED AMERICANS FLIER AND HUMORIST TRAGEDY IN ALASKA MACHINE STRIKES BANK ESKIMO SPREADS NEWS By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received August 18. 5.5 p.m.) SEATTLE. Aug. 17 The Alaska Telegraph System advises that Mr. Will Rogers, wellknown humorist and actor, and Mr. Wiley Post, round-the-world flier, were killed when their aeroplane crashed 15 miles south of Point Barrow, Alaska, on Thursday. Sergeant Stanley Morgan, United States Army Signal Corps operator at Point Barrow, recovered the bodies after the crash. Both men were dead when found. The bodies were taken to Barrow and cared for by Dr. Henry Greist, medical missionary. It transpires that Messrs. Post and Rogers took off from Fairbanks for Barrow on Thursday in the face of poor flying conditions. They alighted at Harding Lake, 50 miles out of Fairbanks, and stayed there until the fog lifted. Once again the fog settled down and they found a little river on a peninsula. They landed at an Eskimo camp 15 miles south of Barrow, and took off again. When they were 60ft. in the air the motor misfired and the aeroplane heeled over, striking first on the right wing and then nosing into a bank head-on. Both men were instantly killed.

A terrified Eskimo ran jfco Barrow around lakes and across streams, covering the 15 miles in three hours. Sergeant Morgan dashed to the scene and recovered tho bodies. Then ho sent word of the tragedy out to the world. Mr. Post's watch had stopped at 8.20 p.m. Both men's limbs were broken, and they suffered head wounds. The wreckage had to bo pulled apart to free Mr. Post. Both wings of the machine were i broken off and the motor was driven i into the fuselage. | Tho bodies were taken to the Presbyterian Mission's warehouse and will be llown to Fairbanks later by Mr. J. Crosson, who is on his nay from Fairbanks. Mr. Wiley Post and his wife, with Mr. Will Rogers, took oft from Los Angeles for New Mexico on a holiday trip on July 25. Mr. Post stated that he would afterward lly to Russia to hunt big game, but it was rumoured that he intended to survey an aerial route. On August 9, a cablegram stated that Messrs. Post and Rogers had landed at Juneau, Alaska, from Seattle on a holiday trip. The late Mr. Rogers was born at Oolagah, Indian Territory, in November, 1879, of Indian ancestry. Educated at the Willie Hassell School, Neosho, Montana, he was intended for the Army and went to the Kemper Military Academy, Boonville. But in a short time he resigned to becomo an entertainer. His success was such that by 1905 he was engaged for vaudeville parts at Hammerstein's Roof Garden, New York. lij ]914 he joined the Ziegfeld Follies, with whom he was able to display his remarkable'gift for witty comment on events of the day and for linking humour with pathos. Mr. Rogers' popularity rapidly became so great that he was engaged to deliver lectures on various subjects, his witticisms and whimsical ways of expressing opinions delighting huge audiences. The cinema then secured him, and he appeared in a number of successful pictures, including •' Laughing Bill Hyde," " Poor Relations," " The Texas Steer," " Jes' Call Me Jim," "State Fair," " Tip Toes " (A British film), "David Harum," "So This is London," " Handy Andy," otc. Becoming known as tho "Mayor .of Hollywood," he was one of the wittiest speakers in the film community. Mr. Rogers occasionally visited London, where in addition to starring at various theatres, he was received by the Prince of Wales, Mr. Bernard Shaw and other distinguished peoplei. Twice his admirers in the United States urged that he should be a candidate for the Presidency. Ho put his views on many things into a series of books, which he called " Rogerisms." Among them are: " Tho Cowboy Philosopher on the Peace Conference," " What We Laugh At," " Illiterate Digest," " Letters of a Self-Made Diplomat to his President " and " There's Not a Bathing Suit in Russia." He was married in November, 1908, to Miss Betty Blake, and they had two sons and a daughter. The late Mr. Wiley Post made two record flights round the world. He was of almost pure American Indian blood, and was born in Oklahoma. His father was a farmer, but when a youth Post left the farm to join in the oil rush, which had just begun in that State. In an accident he lost an eye. Receiving £2OO as compensation, he bought an old aeroplane and soon became an expert airman. He applied for work on an air mail route. The fact that ho had only one eye led the authorities to submit him to specially severe tests, but he passed them all and was engaged. During his employment he made several records for speed. In 1931 Mr. Post conceived tho idea of a flight round the world, and with the help of a friend named Hall, who had made a fortune in oil, laid his plans. Engaging Mr. Harold Gatty as navigator, he set out from New York on Juno 23, 1931, in the Lockheed Vega monoplane Winnie Mao and crossed tho Atlantic to Chester, England, in the record time of 16 hours 12 minutes. Thence they flew via Berlin, Moscow, Irkutsk and Solomon, Alaska, back to New York. They had covered 16,500 miles in 8 days 16 hours. Of late Mr. Post had made various attempts to accomplish a stratosphere flight across America in the Winnie Mae, but he did not succeed. He appeared reoently in a film play, i' Air Hawks."