DEATH PLUNGE FROM AIR

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 385, 17 March 1937, Page 2

DEATH PLUNGE FROM AIR

Riddle of Note Half Written.

Mystery man In life, Mr Max Wenner, the 49-ycar-old Shropshire squire who plunged 3000 ft from a Cologne-Croydon air liner, remains an enigma even in death. A letter found on his body, addressed to a girl and left dramatically incomplete, only adds to the riddle of his fate. Passengers in the air liner saw Max Wenner writing with feverish haste for about 20 minutes. Then he stuffed the letter into his pocket,. rose from his s: a.t, and disappeared into the real- compartment. He was not seen again until a pear sant found his body in a wood near Genck, Belgium.

Police who were called to the scene seized upon the letter, which, it was thought, would explain why the wealthy landowner should have plunged to deatl. But all the- note did was to reveal the identity of the German girl whom Mr Wenner “was to have married. Addressed to Fraulein Olga Buchsenchutz. of Kupscrdreh, Essen, Ruhr, Germany, it contained only this message in German: “Darling, thanks to you I have arrived in time at the aerodrome. Now I am writing to . .

There the note broke off. What Mr Wenner hacl to say will never now be known. But if it -Were, not a message of vital importance, why should he have taken so long to compose it that he seemed, in the words' of -fellow-passengers, to be “writing steadily for 26 minutes, page after page ” A curious feature is that the note was in an envelope with a British stamp. Thu.’ suggests to the authori ties that Mr Wenner intended to post the letter in England after landing. Was Max Wenner's death due to accident, suicide, or foul play? “Must Have Bsen Foul Play.” His German fiancee insists that he did not commit suicide, declarin'; that he had no reason to do so. “hjierr must have been foul play,” sue said. I On the ether hand, the King's i Prosecutor ut Ton.jres, near Genck, i ho is investigating the affair, said: | “Our theory at present is that he' went to the lavatory in the aeroplane and mistook the door. Everything

points to an accident.” Opposed to these views is the fact that the door is fitted with a safety catch, and :'is extremely difficult to open accidentally. .Apart from a few scratches on the face, caused by its passage through trees, the body seemed uninjured when found. A post-mortem at Genck mortv-ary revealed, however, that Mr Weener’s spinal column was fractured and his arm broken. There were also internal injuries. The examination showed that there were no injtries which could have been inflicted before death. In Wenner’s ipockets was £7O in English money. Other papers showed that he had gone to Germany to prepare for his marriage. They included a. birth certificate, a document establishing that he was a widower, and his passport. When -an inquiry into his death was opened, the magistrate in charge took possession of these papers and the note. Brokenhearted.

Meanwhile, the woman he was to have married, Faulein Buchsenschutz, is heart-broken and completely mystified by her lover’s tragic end. She is an attractive brunette -tfT'34,

and lives in a small but comfortablyfurnished house with her aged parents and a married sister. She has been private secretary to a well-known artificial silk manufacturer, and has made many trips with him in this capacity to Switzerland and other countries. Two -years ago, while at winter sports in Switzerland, she met Max Wenner, and after that they corresponded occasionally. “I never knew he was a weaTthy man. From v.hat he told me about his position I guessed that he was only- in comfortable circumstances,” she said. She knew nothing of his palatial -home, Batchcote Hall, near Leebotwood, Shropshire.

*When she heard about Mrs Wenner's death last July, Olga wrote him a sympathetic leater, and since then they have met occasionally. At one yf these meetings Mr Wenner proposed marriage and was accepted. Before Christmas it was arranged that they should meet at Cologne to make the final arrangements for Hie wedding. At Mr Wenner's suggestion the -marriage v'as.' to take place in Switzerland, -as he was a Swiss bybirth, to be followed by a honeymoon trip round Germany.

His- fiancee met him at Cologne Aerodrome on New Year’s Eve, and they had gone to the Swiss Consul to ascertain the necessary procedure for ‘heir approaching marriage. Afterwards they spent some days at her home in Essen. Kissed Him Good bye. On the morning of his death she kissed him good-bye at Essen Station and then, at his request, telephoned Cologne Airport, asking them to delay the departure of the Croydon airliner until he arrived. “How could he make plans to marry if he meant to jump from the 'plane as toon as he had left me?’’ Fraulein Buchsenschutz asked, while tears streamed down her cheeks. “If he loved me as he said, Tow could he be so cruel a t. to ask me to delay the ’plane's departure and help him, to carry out his plan? Tfiiere must have been foul play.” Fraulein Buchsenschutz, who is now on the verge of a. nervous breakdown, met several members of Wenner’s- family, and was Well received by them. Her fiance had tola hensome time -ago that he had made -a will in her favour, “in case anything happens to me before we are married." Employees oh Mr Wenner’s 5000acre Shropshire estate are also unable to_ find any explanation of Mr Wenner’s death.

They knew that he was upset by the- death of his- invalid wife last July, but they believed he had recovered from the blow and Was looking forward to hie marriage to the German girl. In the neighbourhood he had the reputation of a man of mystery. He was reserved and uncommunicative, and it was believed that he chose' to live -at Batchcote Hall because of its remoteness. Mr Wenner was principal beneficiary in the £90,000 w-ill of his wife, but he v.'r.t’ already a very wealthy j man. In the last few months he is J said to have given large sums to J charity. Wenner’s Woman Friend Disappears. The disappearance of Max Wenneir was followed by a close friend of his. Miss Katlileeh Park, vanishing from Southport. Miss -Park runs a manicure business.l in -London Street, Southport, under the name of Madame La Mothe. She and her 26-year-old niece. Miss

Radcliffe, were great friends of the Wenner family, .and on several occasions Mis Wenner had stayed with ahem in Southport. Miss Radcliffe left for a holiday in Canada in petjjier. and le not due back in England until next month. Miss Park's companion, who is carrying on the business,, said that Miss Park had been to upset by wh-at had been, published about Mr Wenner’s deaah that she had left Southport. She refused, hov'ever, to disclose where Miss- Park had gone,. Defends Tragic Squire.

“Nonsense," was how Captain Alfred Wenner, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, Max W enner’s brother, described suggestions that Max had committed suicide and had been engaged -as a spy. “The family,” he declared to a- reprose-naative of “The People," “agree with a Belgian official who 'does not think that Max committed suicide. I have- visited' Belgium, examined the 'plane, and talked with th© pilot," added Captain Wenner, “and I am convinced that my brother's death was accidental.” The captain indignantly denied any suggestion that bin brother was engaged in any political activity wTiich would int'ke him a "marked man” by Nazi agents-. “He was a country squire who had nc interest in politics,” he said. Captain Wenner ulso had a conference with the Manchester firm of solicitors who acted for the detr* man. ‘The People" understands that Messrs Sale and Company., solicitors, have no knov,Hedge of any will In

favour of Olga Buchsenschutz. There was l one mysterious th’ng in Max Wenner's life —a room in his Shropshire mansion to which servants were, denied access. A kind of attic, it was always locked. It is believed to have contained cases and boxes in which Wenner's private papers were stored. It is believed that Mr Wenner ’Was alive after he struck the. earth. Experiments have been carried out with the air liner from which he fell to sen' if it were possible to fall accidentally, and these have shown that it is extremely difficult to open an “outside” door of the -aircraft by mistake. ,