DROP FROM PLANE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22504, 23 February 1935, Page 13

DROP FROM PLANE

SUICIDE OF TWO SISTERS MUTILATED BODIES FOUND (United Press Association'.) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) LONDON, February 21. Clasped hand in hand, two women, both about 25 years of age, fell from an aeroplane as it passed over Upminster, and crashed to earth, still embraced, into a cabbage field. A workman saw something hurtling from the plane, and, remembering the Hillman’s lost gold, rushed to the spot and found the mutilated bodies. The machine was a Hillman flying the normal morning service to Paris. About an hour after the fall the pilot noticed a door open and two passengers missing. He signalled to Croydon, and the plane returned to Rumford. The dead women were the only passengers. ’’ The bodies were lying face downwards a few yards from a public footpath running across Springfield Estate. Both were well dressed, and wore fur coats, but their feet were without shoes, while their stockings were a mass of holes, and resembled netting. The bodies made a hole in the ground a foot deep. They probably fell 1500 ft. A hat, a glove, and a wristlet watch bearing the initials J. Du 8., thus confirming the belief that the women were French, were found near by. Pilot Kirton, who. was in charge of the plane, also piloted the Hillman plane'from which the gold dropped.

IDENTITY OF VICTIMS LONDON, February 21. Letters in a handbag identified the victims as Jane and Elizabeth Du Bois, respectively 20 and 23, daughters of the United States Consul in Naples. They bought up all the seats in the plane, saying they wanted to fly to Paris. ■ Spectators declare that the falling bodies appeared like sheets of paper. One girl’s watch was still going when found. -The pilot informed the police that the girls were agitated before departure, but he thought this was due to anticipation of crossing the Channel on a windy day. He did not notice anything wrong until he heard a door banging over the Channel. An examination of the "floor proved that the lock was not broken. Two letters were found under one of the plane’s seats, one addressed to the father and the other to the mother. The girls left Naples on Saturday for a holiday in London. They stayed three days at the Kitz Hotel. The manager said they seemed happy when they arrived, but during the past two days they were rather hysterical and cried a lot. They were very attached to each other. It is believed that the girls were miserable following the crash of K 3695 at Messina, having become very attached to two of her officers. Premeditation of suicide was shown by the booking of the other four seats, using fictitious names and asking the pilot to close the door between him and the saloon. One shoe was found in the plane. FIANCES RECENTLY KILLED LONDON, February 21. Inquiries at Naples indicate that Jane Du Bois, who was a blonde, was engaged to Flying-officer John Forbes* and Elizabeth, who was a brunette, was engaged to Flight-lieutenant Beatty, both of whom were killed in the Messina crash. The gipls saw much of the officers during the latter’s enforced stay at Naples, and said farewell the night before the officers departed. The girls left by liner for London, and a few hours later the airmen crashed. The girls may have learned by wireless of the tragedy while aboard. They apparently decided to seek death in the same manner as befell their sweethearts.

Pilot Kirton wonders how the girls Opened the door of the aeroplane in view of the terrific wind pressure. They must have thrown themselves out six minutes after departure. The plane was ten minutes over the Channel before Pilot Kirton, who looked into the cabin in order to reassure, them after a thunderstorm, found to his amazement that they had disappeared. AN UNLUCKY AVIATOR LONDON, February 22. (Received Feb. 22, at 5.5 p.ra.) The Daily Express says the police opened two letters which the Du Bois girls left in the plane. Each was of two pages, one being addressed to the father and the other to the mother. The first letter included the following: “We heard about the Messina crash in Paris. It is ter-ible about Charlie.” This was a reference to John Charles Forbes. The Daily Express adds: “The girls have always been inseparable. They went to Western Revue on Wednesday and returned in better spirits.” Kirton regards himself as the unluckiest avialor in Britain as he was piloting the Hillman plane when the gold dropped. Yet in neither ease was he blameworthy. He says: “ One of the girls complained of the draught and asked me to close the door between the pilot’s cockpit and the cabin, and to cover up the two windows let into the connecting door. I could not understand why they asked me to cover, up the windows, but I was not suspicious. The girls must have jumped as I climbed through bumps, as if it had happened in calmer air I would probably have felt the loss of weight on the controls.” THE BODIES IDENTIFIED LONDON, February 22. (Received Feb. 23, at 0.30 a.m.) Mr Franklin Gower, the American Consul in London, identified the bodies of the du Bois girls. He said that they were very little mutilated and the features were intact. They were typical bachelor girls, widely travelled, and interested in life. They bad scores of friends in London, Paris, Rome, and elsewhere. They were interested in flying and mixed in American life in London on previous -visits, but it was strange that they met nobody connected with American activities on this visit. At Naples the girls often danced with Beatty and Forbes. When teased about the engagement, they laughed, and said, “ We are too happy to get married.” It is understood that they had arranged to meet the officers in London after their flight. MONEY GIVEN TO UNEMPLOYED LONDON, February 22. (Received Feb. 22, at 9 p.m.) The Daily Mail says one of the last acts of the Du Bois sisters was to go out ‘of London in a taxicab and distribute money to the unemployed outside a labour exchange. An unemployed clerk says: “ The elder girl had a bag of silver, and gave us each two half-

crowns, saying, ‘This is from Lieutenant Forbes.’ None of us understood what she meant.” The sisters kept their presence in London secret from the American Consulate, although they were friendly with officers there. PARENTS GOING TO LONDON NAPLES, February 22. (Received Feb. 22, at 9 p.m.) The parents of the Du Bois sisters are going to London to-day. It is believed that the girls determined to die on English soil owing to admiration for Beatty and Forbes.