The Pittsburgh Press from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 2

TWO Want Ad Headquarters, Court 4900 THE PITTSBURGH PRESS Otln-i r.r.-s Court FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, CITY IMPRESSED OVER MODESTY SHOWNBY POST Famous Flier Called Airport Here 'One of Finest I Have Ever Seen' POST AS HE WAS GREETED HERE IN 1933 BY FORMER MAYOR HERRON PRESIDENT PAYS REJECTED BID TO GO ON FATAL PLANE TRIP POST, ROGERS DEEP TRIBUTE PLANE DEATHS SHOCK CAPITAL TO ROGERS, POST 'Will Was an Old Friend of Mine Says Roosevelt Shocked at Tragedy Senate Pauses Amidst Duties to Pay Respects to Beloved Humorist I (if fr By The United Press WASHINGTON. Aug. 16 The By The United Press HYDE PARK, Aug. 16 President Roosevelt, week-ending at the Fresh from his 'round-the-world flight. Wiley Post brought his famous plane, the Winnie Mae, to Pittsburgh Sept.

7, 1933. Post, killed today a crash which also took the life of Will Rogers, movie actor and humorist, landed at City-County Airport, where a tremendous ovation was given him. The County Commissioners welcomed him at the airport, and the then Mayor John S. Herron and his Cabinet turned out to extend an official welcome at City Hall. Modestly, Post told a group of 400 gathered In the Chamber of Commerce auditorium of his achievement.

"If you've read the newspapers. 1 1 1 I MRS. WILEY POST The wife of the famous round-the-world flier- who was killed yesterday with Will Rogers in Alaska, rejected an invitation to accompany them on the ill-fated trip. Her refusal made it necessary for her to deny that she was considering a divorce. She went to San Francisco to bid her husband goodby.

if 1 fx "We can't let her talk to anyone, By The United Press PONCA CITY, Aug. 16 Mrs. Wiley Post, who originally intended to make the Alaskan aerial tour with her husband and Will Rogers, was grief -stricken today at reports of the death of the two Oklahoma ns. She was unable to discuss the tragedy. She left her husband at Seattle and returned here, where she has been visiting at the home of L.

E. Gray. 1933 world flight. He is being greeted by the then Mayor John S. Herron in front of the City-County Building.

The date was Sept. 7. Wiley Post, the 'round-the-world flier who died in Alaska last night with Will Rogers, famous comedian, as their plane crashed in Alaska, is shown above on his appearance in Pittsburgh after his Reporter Recalls Roger's Grief Over Lindbergh Baby Few in Nation Mourned at Kidnaping and Death as Famous Screen Star Did Will Rogers and Wiley Post Killed in Alaskan Air Crash Cecil B. Broun, now a Pittsburgh Press reporter, was a Los Angeles newspaperman ichen Charles Augustus Lindbergh was slam. He was assigned to tell Will Rogers, a close friend of Col.

Charles A. Lindbergh, of the tragedy. Here he presents his recollections of that interview. at least not now," Mrs. Gray said.

"She is unable to talk. She is deeply upset." Mr. Gray, a flier, has been a friend of Mr. Post for years. Mrs.

Post came here when she decided not to accompany her husband and Mr. Rogers on the hunting and sightseeing trip in the Far North. At San Francisco last week she tearfully denied she and Mr. Post had differed over the trip. coiner of epigrams, voluble wit, turned back to this reporter and said: "You say something for me.

I I I simply can't." When Flo Ziegfeld died in Hollywood, it was Will Rogers who helped Billie Burke, the wife of his onetime employer, in her sorrow. He took Billie and her daughter, Patricia, to his ranch home a few miles out of Hollywood, there to get the rest and quiet and charming seclusion that Mrs. Rogers had created for Will. "I'm going to take care of everything," he said. "He was one of my best friends, Flo was." And he did, because he was Will Rogers.

By CECIL B. BROWN Few persons in the nation sorrowed as greatly over the death of Charles Augustus Lindbergh as did Will Rogers; The night three years ago in Hollywood that I told him the body of the Lindbergh baby had beens summer White House here today expressed his deep regret at the deaths of Will Rogers and Wiley Post. Mr. Roosevelt, informed of the traiedy when he returned from a motor trip through his estate, authorized this statement: "I was shocked to hear of the tragedy which has taken Will Rogers and Wiley Post from us. Will was an old friend of mine, a humorist and philosopher beloved by all.

I had the pleasure of greeting Mr. Post on his return from his round-the-world flight. He leaves behind a splendid contribution to the science of aviation. Both were outstanding Americans and will be greatly missed." HOLLYWOOD MOURNS WILL ROGERS' DEATH De Mille and Lubitsch Pay Tributes By The United Press HOLLYWOOD, Aug. 16 The death of Will Rogers and Wiley Post was a tragic blow to Hollywood.

Mr. Rogers was regarded by all as the chief ambassador of the industry and the spokesman for every actor, carpenter and underling. Among the expressions of sympathy were: Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd "I have a deep sense of personal loss in the death of Will Rogers and Wiley Post, two of the nation's greatest leaders. As a lover of aviation I feel the world has lost two great men.

As a friend of both of them, I feel the sorrow that only such a loss can bring." Cecil B. DeMille: "What can anyone say when one of the greatest personalities in the world is taken so suddenly. I loved Will Rogers as a humorist and as a man." Ernst Lubitsch, director-producer: "The deepest sympathy of the whole world will go to the family and friends of Will Rogers. There is a big gap left in the screen world and I doubt if it ever will be filled again." 1 BACKER OF GLOBE FLIGHTOFFERS AID Suggests Post's Widow Use Plane to Get Body By The United Press OKLAHOMA CITY, Aug. 16 E.

C. Hall, Oklahoma City oil man who sponsored Wiley Post's first globe-circling flight in 1931, today proffered the use of his new airplane to the flier's widow to fly to Alaska and bring his body back. He his offer to Mrs. Post in Ponca City. "I extend to you my deepest sympathy in this your hour of bereavement," Mr.

Hall telegraphed. "I unhesitatingly proffer my ship to you in any capacity, even to flying into Alaska to return Wiley to your, home and I would indeed be glad to have you fly with Roy Hunt and myself to such point as you may direct." The Folks in Knew 'Mrs. Mtarried in 1908, They Had Three Children; Knew Happiness Mrs. Betty Rogers, wife of the humorist, seldom shared the spotlight in which her husband stood. Her first interest has always been her home.

And she made it a real home, despite the feverish activity of the movie colony all around it. The Rogers were married in Rogers, Arkansas, on Nov. 25, 1908 just three years after Will had made his stage debut in New York. Mrs. Rogers' maiden name was Betty Blake.

In all these years, there has never been even a hint of discord in the Rogers household. One of Will's favorite remarks was "I still have the same wife I started out with." About the only occasions on which Mrs. Rogers shared her husband's fame were when she was photographed with him on trips, or at the few public functions that she attended. In Beverly Hills, where her husband acted as Mayor for so many years, she has always been known as a good wife and mother. That is her self-chosen role.

The couple had three children Will, Mary and Jim; The stage has lured only one of this trio the girl. Mrs. Rogers and her daughter were at Lakewood, Maine, when they received news of the crash. Mary Rogers has a part in a picture being filmed there. Informed of the tragedy by local residents, who had heard it by radio but waited until the report was confirmed by the United Press, both bore up bravely.

They had arrived in Lakewood Tuesday. Capital was shocked today by tne loss of a frequent, popular visitor and a famous flier in the deaths of Will Rogers and Wiiey Post In an Alaskan crash. In an eloquent, quietly spoken eulogy in the Senate, Majority Leader Joseph T. Robinson described Mr. Rogers as "the most beloved" of American citizens.

"Probably the most widely known citizen of the United States and certainly the most beloved met his death some hours ago in a lonely and far away place," Senator Robinson said. Pause to Pay Tribute "We pause for a moment in the midst of our duties to pay brief tribute to his memory and that of his gallant companion. I do not think of Will Rogers as dead. I shall remember him always as a sensible, courageous, loyal friend possessed of unusual and notable talents. "He made fun for all In nothing that he ever said was there an intentional sting.

He was kind, generous, patriotic. "His companion was a courageous representative of a gallant group who on the wings of adventure sought remote places and conquered long distances." Senate Deeply Moved Minority Leader Charles L. Mc-Nary said that all Republicans shared the feeling expressed by Senator Robinson. "We shall miss him," he said of Mr. Rogers.

"He has brought good feeling and cheer to the hearts of America." Former Secretary of War Patrick J. Hurley, a fellow Oklahoman, heard of Will Rogers' death and proposed immediately that his name be perpetuated in the Congresssional Hall of Fame. Each state is entitled to two sculptured figures in the capitol. He Was a Great Man "He was a great man, one of ths finest characters who ever lived," Mr. Hurley said.

"Rogers was one of the best friends I had," said Vice President John N. Garner. "Two mighty good men have been lost to the world. I can't talk about it." Senator William Gibbs McAdoo, "This is one of the most tragic things and I am terribly sorry. I am grieved beyond words.

Rogers was a unique character and his loss will be felt by millions." The Coast Guard arranged to bring the bodies back from Alaska ana ine u. o. oenaie xiaiiea deliberations while leaders of both; parties paid tribute to Mr. Rogers. Rogers Known As Real Artist At Fun-Poking Only Man in U.

S. Who Could Razz the President And Get Away With It By The United Press HOLLYWOOD, Aug. 18 Will Rogers was probably the only comedian in America who could poke fun at or catechise a President of the United States and get away with it. Characteristic was this one mads after he toured Egypt: "Cairo's a great place. I was the only tourist there who never went out to see the sphinx.

Well I've seen Cal Coolidge." Others of his famous wisecracks included: "If the weather isn't right, we did it. If there are too many debts, it is our fault. If the Prince of Wales doesn't marry, we are to blame." Made Fan at Depression "Depression ain't nothing but old man interest just gnawing away at us. It'd been better if we'd let the first guy foreclose on us and shrunk instead of trying to expand." "Mussolini could run this country with his eyes shut. In fact, that's the way our Congress has been running it." "Holland had a mutiny on one of her battleships.

Now she is about to have one on the other." "Give Calfornia two months' rain in the year and nothing can stop us but lack of adjectives." Shaw Lampooned Too "Bernard Shaw stopped over Just long enough to make one speech in Bombay, India, started a war and 100 Indians killed each other." "Nothing will bring back distant kinfolks like the news spreading that you got a job." "France wants to get in on the debt settlement. On account of them paying nothing, as it is, under the new settlement we are to start paying them." Razzes the Senate "The repeal of prohibition was passed by the people last November. It finally reached the Senate yesterday. News travels fast in this country." "I hear England paid ninety million but it's only hearsay as far as the unemployed are concerned." "Say, that list of new cabinet members sent everybody scurrying through who's who, the "World Almanac" and the United States fingerprint department trying to find out who they were. The forgotten man has been found and there was nine of 'em and a woman." SISTER OF ROGERS COLLAPSES AT NEWS Oklahoma Woman Still in Serious Condition By The United Press CHELSEA, Aug.

16 Mrs. Tom McSpadden, 70-year-old sister of Will Rogers, collapsed today when informed that her brother had been killed with Wiley Post in an Alaskan airplane crash. Her condition was described as serious. fcund in a shallow grave in the Sourland Mountains, the humorist's face contorted into pain. "What can I say?" he lamented.

"This is What do you want me to say?" Douglas Fairbanks just back from a Sorfth Seas cruise, stood beside him in an actors' club where a testimonial dinner was being given to Fairbanks. Rogers turned to Fairbanks for help. He wanted desperately to express his grief, vocally and not just to the group of actors surrounding him. "Say," he suggesed, and then paused. "Oh, Lord, I hardly know what to tell you! My heart goes out to that poor mother and dad." The great Rogers, phrase maker, you know as much about the flight as I do," he said.

He praised the City-County airport as "one of the finest I've ever seen." Less than a month before, Post had paid another visit a brief one, this time to Pittsburgh when the "Winnie Mae" was forced down at Olty-County Airport by a heavy ram. He was en route from Oklahoma City to New York with a fripnd. Post and his friend, Harry Fred-erickson. drove to the William Penn Hotel, where they stayed several hours, until weather conditions enabled them to continue their flight. His second visit to Pittsburgh was under greatly different circumstances.

The throng which greeted him at the airport formed a parade which accompanied him Into Pittsburgh. The committee named by Mayor Herron to welcome him consisted of W. D. Sherman, chairman; C. C.

McGovern. W. D. Mansfield. C.

M. Barr, Clifford Ball, Hal Bazley, F. C. Harper, Wilson McClintock, George N. Laughlin III, George R.

Hann, Raymond C. Marlier, Bennett Oliver, Harry C. Frey, Ray Tucker, Harmar D. Denny, William Thaw, Elmer F. Harris, A.

Brady McSwigan, Richard K. Mellon, C. Bedell Munroe and C. B. Shaffer.

POST'S AGED PARENTS 'SEEM BEWILDERED' Try to Comfort Each Other; Decline to Talk By The United Press MAY VILLK. Aug. 16 Wiley Post's elderly parents, farmers near here, declined to talk today about the death of the famous flier in an Alaskan plane crash. The father, W. F.

Post, and his wife were shocked, neighbors said, when friends in Maysville advised them of Mr. Post's death. The father, who tried, even by physical punishment, to keep Wiley from aviation, in later years relaxed his opposition and took a quiet interest in his son's exploits. The Posts left their home, after learning of the accident, to stajj with Mrs. J.

E. Woodward, a neighbor. Mrs. Woodward said they told her they would have no comment or statements to make. They seemed bewildered, she said, and were trying to comfort each other.

Plane Crashes Take Lives Of Famous People Rockne, Cutting Among Americans to Be Killed In Air Disasters By The United Press Plane accidents have resulted in the death of many celebrities in recent years. The list includes: Representative William Kirk Kay-nor of Massachusetts, at Washington. Dec. 20, 1929. General Francesco De Pinedo of Italy, at New York, Sept.

3, 1933. J. R. Wedell, well wnown flier, Louisiana, June 24, 1935. Knute Rockne, Notre Dame football coach, near Bazaar, March 31, 1931.

Captain Alfred Loewenstein (attributed to suicide), financier, English Channel. July 4, 1923. Marquis of DufTerin and Ava at Meopham, Kent, England, July 21, 1930. Viscountess Edaam of Meopham, Kent, England, July 21, 1930. Stanley Hausner, aviator, Detroit, May 18, 1935.

Luigi Raza, Italian Minister of Public Works, Egypt, Aug. 8, 1935. Bronson Cutting, U. S. Senator, Atlanta, May 6, 1935.

L. R. Bayles, flier, Detroit, Dec. 5, 1931. Will Rogers and Wiley Post, Point Barrow, Alaska, Aug.

15, 1935. WAYNESBURG GETS U. S. WORK GRANT Funds to Build Addition to Hospital Special to The Pittsburgh, Press WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 -Waynes-burg, Greene County, was listed today among 'the first recipients of the new 45 per cent grants for none-Federal Public Works Construction projects.

The Works Administration announced a grant of $31,500 for construction of a fireproof, two-story and basement brick building for the Greene County Memorial Hospital. The loan necessary for the project is $38 500. It also was announced that $38,639 is to be provided from other than Federal sources. ALTHOUGH A SEA LION can consistently eat 20 pounds of fish a day, it can also endure long fasts, living entirely on its.reserjre fat. (Continued From Page One found the plane a complete wreck and partially submerged in two feet of water.

"I recovered the. body of Rogers and then found it necessary to tear the plane apart to extract the body of Post from the water. "Brought the bodies to Barrow and turned them over to Dr. Griest. Also salvaged the personal effects, which I am holding.

"Advise relatives and instruct this station fully as to procedure. "Natives camping on the small river 15 miles south of here claim Post and Rogers landed, asked their way to Barrow and, on taking off, the engine mis-fired on a right bank while only 50 feet over the water. The plane, out of control, crashed, tearing right wing off and toppling over, forcing the engine back through the body of the plane. "Both apparently were killed instantly. Post's wrist watch was broken and stopped at 8:18 p.

This message was relayed to Washington through the Signal Corps Station at Seattle, which works directly with the Point Barrow Station. The Seattle station added that Mrs. Post and Mrs. Rogers had been notified by the Los Angeles officers of the War Department. Post and Rogers were on a leisurely trip through Alaska, after which Post planned to cross the Bering Strait on a hunting trip in Northern Siberia, when their journey was so tragically ended.

After visiting the farm colonization project in Matanuska Valley yesterday, Post and Rogers returned to Fairbanks and set out for Point Barrow. Nothing more was heard until the news of the plane crash crackled over the radio. The plane was a new one, replacing Post's famous "Winnie Mae" in which he made two record-breaking flights circumnavigating the globe, one alone and both in eight days. Both Post and Rogers had been enthusiastic about the performance of the ship. Post flew the plane from Los Angeles, where he made exhaustive tests with it, to Seattle and there pontoons were fitted to it.

The pair flew to Juneau, Alaska, then on to Ketchikan and other Southwestern Alaska points, then to White Horse and Aklavik, northernmost Canadian outpost at the mouth of the MacKenzie River. They returned to Fairbanks, thence to Anchorage and the Matanuska, back to Fairbanks and then left on their fatal flight to Point Barrow. Point Barrow is on the extreme tip of Alaska which points out toward the North Pole. The Signal Corps station here was established in 1928. The settlement is mostly of native population and only about a dozen white people live here the year around.

Will Rogers' 'Home Town' Will' as the Ideal Wife HIGH SPEED TRAGEDY PLANE COST $27,000 Seven-Passenger Ship Could Travel 226 Per By The United Press NEW YORK, Aug. 16 Wiley Post was flying a Lockheed Orion, low-wing monoplane when he crashed with Will Rogers in Alaska. It was a seven-passenger cabin plane powered by a Pratt and Whitney wasp SI Dl, 550-horsepower engine. The engine was equipped with a supercharger for high altitude performance and it could drive the plane at a maximum speed of 226. Its cruising speed was 180.

It was equipped with a controllable pitch propellor. Lockheed aircraft officials were unable to estimate the plane's cruising radius. They said the plane, ordinarily equipped with retractable landing gear, had pontoons put on instead of wheels at Post's request. They estimated the ship cost $27,000. SPEAKER HAD HUNCH ROGERS WOULD DIE Congressman Told Wife Humorist Shouldn't Make Long Flight By The United Press WASHINGTON, Aug.

16 Speaker Joseph W. Byrns said today he had a premonition that Will Rogers would be killed. "I told my wife he shouldn't go on such a flight," Mr. Byrns said, adding he was "stunned by the loss of a man the whole nation loved." Representative Will Rogers who wdn his first race for Congress because of his name, said he considered that "Oklahoma has lost its greatest sons." He estimated that the fact Will Rogers, the humorist, indorsed him for Congress gave him 50,000 votes. Rogers Is Second In Play Cast to Die By The United Press 'GRAFTON, Aug.

16 Will Rogers was the second person cast for a role in the film version of Eugene O'Neill's "Ah Wilderness" to be killed. Mr. Rogers was to have played the male lead of Mac Miller, the father, which was portrayed by George M. Cohan in the Boradway production of the play, but at the last minute he decided to take the plane trip with Wiley Post. Junior Durkin, who was cast in the role of Richard Miller, son of Mac, kas killed in the same California auto accident which cost the life of Jackie Coogan's father.

Director Clarence Brown, here to film crowd scenes for "Ah Wilderness," said he argued with Mr. Rogers for two and one-half hours in an effort to persuade him to abandon the Alaskan flight. Lionel Barrymore later was given the part. Mr. Brown, close friend of Mr.

Rogers because of their mutual interest in aviation, said the news of the actor's death "knocked me for a loop." He said Mr. Rogers played the role of MacMiller with a Pacific Coast Stock Company for eight weeks and had agreed to appear in the film version. Stage Star Friend Writes Glowing Tribute to Rogers I Jgr (mMm wn" "A 1 A 'n sion had the benefit of his aid and advice, and older players who had passed their 'useful years found in him a friend and godfather. The public never heard of these benefactions and Rogers never mentioned them, but the theatrical world slowly came to know about and appreciate them. An incident which happened in St.

Louis, where I was appearing in the 1915 "Ziegfeld Follies' with Rogers, throws a light on his private life and character. We always shared the same dressing room Rogers wanted it that way and so did I. Bernard Granville, popular musical comedy star and dancer on the stage in the United States and England, tea intimately associated with Will Rogers in vaudeville and in the Ziegfeld Follier more than 2.5 yeart ago, tchen both tcere on the threshold of their careers. Granville has written for the United Press the following tribute to his old-time friend and dressing room, companion. By BERNARD GRANVILLE Copyright, 1935, by United Press NEW YORK, Aug.

16 Will Rogers was a gentleman. The word seems inadequate to describe one of the most generous characters we of the stage have ever known. He was never known to do an unkind thing, and the kind things he did would require a book in the i telling. Youngsters in the profes-1 Please Turn to Page 32 Features which usually appear on this page will be found on Page, 32 of this edition. THE HUMAN EYE responds to wave lengths of light from 167 ten-millionths of an inch long, which give a sensation or violet, to those 266 ten-millionths of an inch long, weh give a sensation of red.

Will Rogers and his wife are shown here as they returned from Europe on the He de France In September, 1934. Only on occasions such as this did Mrs. Rogers emerge jrom her comparative obscurity. 7-.