Great Falls Tribune from Great Falls, Montana • Page 1

A 0 A (fj mm r-i f- 11 ji Tj jff? 0 TT TTy 0 J) Jit 1 1 C. Wren, Gor don, GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE Associated Press MONTANA'S BEST NEWS GATHERER United Press International 7 Crew Victims C4 VOL. 76, NO. 258 GREAT FALLS, MONTANA, FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1962 PRICE 10 CENTS Sympathy Expressed By Officials By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Words of sympathy poured into Helena Thursday night for the families of Gov. Donald Nutter and the other victims of a plane crash that took six lives.

When Aircraft Dives Killed were Nutter, State Agriculture Commissioner Ed Wren; Rancher Describes Wreckage Editor's Note: Rancher Nick Wirth, 31, of Wolf Creek, was among the first to reach the crash scene of a plane that carried Montana Gov. Donald G. Nutter and five others. Here is his story: the governor's administrative secretary, Dennis Gordon; the pilot Maj. Clifford E.

Hanson; the co pilot, Maj. Joseph R. Devine; and. the flight engineer, M.Sgt. Charles From Wire Services WOLF CREEK Montana's chief executive, two of his top aides and three Montana Air National Guard C47 crewmen were killed when their plane crashed west of here late Thursday afternoon.

Gov. Donald G. Nutter, accompanied by State Agriculture Commissioner Edward C. Wren, 42, and Nutter's executive secretary, Dennis B. Gordon, 38, were en route to Cut Bank where the governor was to address meetings of the Montana Barley Growers, U.S.

Highway 2 Assn. and the Cut Bank Chamber of Commerce. All were killed when the plane crashed near Stemple Pass about eight miles southwest of here. Also dead are the pilot, co-pilot and the flight engineer identified as Maj. Clifford E.

Hanson, I SI 1 Ballard. Mansfield Shocked 'iy :4 1 SC I x- Mike From Washington, Sen. Mansfield, D-Mont. said: "With a sense of shock and dismay the news of the tragedy affecting the chief of our state, Gov By NICK WIRTH As Told to The Associated Press De- pilot; Maj. Joseph R.

vine, 3452 8th Ave. WOLF CREEK (AP)-The C47 Nutter; Ed Wren, Montana's hit the very top of a ridge VrsUc cnrrinaar commissioner of agriculture, pilot Hanson, crewmen C. W. Ballard four miles west of my place 11 I A Tir-l i. tin Ji at Malmstrom AFB, and M.Sgt.

Charles W. Ballard, and Joe Devine reached Mrs. Mansfield and me. "We are deeply sorry about the 105 Riverview 7W, ANG main untimely passing of our fellow tenance technician. The crewmen were all from the Great Falls citizen and we join with all Mon tana in expressing our sorrow and condolences to the family of these outstanding citizens.

area. The military plane burned. Trees in the area were set ablaze. The plane was reported to have been smashed into bits. "Rep.

Olson also asked that his regrets be expressed at the ter rible tragedy." xv i the plane had missed that ridge there was another and higher ridge just beyond. When we got there about 5 p.m., about an hour and a half after two loggers first came upon the wreckage, parts of the plane were still burning. The wreckage was spread over a two-mile area. Pine trees were afire. I was at the ranch a mile north of Wolf Creek when two loggers, I don't know their names, came to the house to report that a plane had crashed about four miles west of my place.

We reported this to the sheriff's office in the capital in Helena, then waited. When two deputies, Larry Lytle and Reed Collings arrived, we went by truck up a snowcovered logging road. Sen. Mansfield's office said Rep. Arnold Olson, D-Mont.

had been Montana National Guard confirmed the deaths and told the governor widow. CLOSE FRIENDSGov. Donald G. Nutter, left, killed Thursday in a plane crash near Wolf Creek, was a close friend of Lt. Gov.

Tim Babcock, right. The two men, shown above in a picture taken in Great Falls at the height of their 1960 campaign, worked as a team and successfully campaigned together, flying all over the state. Babcock, as lieutenant governor will succeed Nutter to the top state post. Staff photo. Babcock, Close Friend of Nutter, Becomes State's 15th Governor The plane left Helena at a time extreme weather turbulence was being experienced in the Wolf Creek area.

Weather Bureau spokesmen said if showers were encountered conditions would be icy for aircraft. There was no other immediate cause suggested for the crash. We could see fire from the The Federal Aviation Agency HELENA (AD Lt. Gov. Tim plane, is a past president of the I Only twice previously have lieu informed of the news and had asked that his regrets also be expressed.

Metcalf Offers Sympathy Sen. Lee Metcalf, said: "Regardless of our political di-ferences, Don Nutter and I were friends. He was a capable chief executive and a militant and an aggressive spokesman for his political philosophy. Mrs. Metcalf and I extend our sympathy to his family and to those of the others who lost their lives in the tragic accident." Lt.

Gov. Tim Babcock, who will succeed Nutter, was extremely shaken by the news. He refused to believe the reports, until the deaths were confirmed by the National Guard. 'I've Lost Best Friend "I've lost the best friend I had reported the plane missing when it did not arrive in Cut Bank at Montana Motor Transport Associa-tenant governors moved into the M. Babcock, 42-year-old Billings truck firm operator, will become the 15th governor of Montana un 6:05 p.m.

as scheduled. A search I Montana gubernatorial chair. Ed- was started soon afterward. dwin L. Norris took over in April tsetore enlisting in tne mianiry in World War II, Babcock worked der tragic circumstances without' The crash was reported to the Lewis and Clark county sheriff's 1908 when Gov.

Joseph K. Toole parallel in the state's 72-year his road. The plane was demolished, 100 yards off the logging road. One engine lay 150 yards down the hill. Most of the debris was in notebook to car door size.

We were able to find only two bodies. Both were mangled and beyond recognition. There was evidence the bodies were thrown in a northerly direction. We walked in about a 100-yard resigned. Frank H.

Cooney moved office in Helena about 4:30 p.m tory. Babcock campaigned for office in 1960 as the Republican running bv two loggers. They removed x- 7 ift'irw ntfji'rti ffr will ii iV 1 11 hi iiTiTilfn i fiir-fcfiftnKh for Douglas Aircraft in California for three years. Next in line of succession to the governorship behind the lieutenant is the between-session Senate president pro tern, who is State Sen. Paul R.

Rice, D-Teton. mate of his close personal friend up in March 1933 upon the resignation of Gov. John E. Erickson. When Cooney died Dec.

14, 1935, W. Elmer Holt, as Senate president pro tern, became Montana's four of the bodies from the wreckage. A ground party from Helena reached the area about two hours later. Montana Highway Patrol Super Gov. Donald G.

Nutter, who was killed Thursday night in the crash of a National Guard plane. chief executive. circle looking for bodies and sur All that is required for Babcock visor Alex B. Stephenson sai'' the plane was "splattered all over vivors: We found several parachutes that had been opened. to assume the chief executive the hill.

There couldn be an? and Montana has lost the best friend it had," Babcock said. "That's all I can say now. I'll issue a statement tomorrow." Secretary of State Frank Murray Thursday night said: One of the bodies had on a flight jacket with a name but I can't post is to take the required, statutory oath. Secretary of State Frank Murray said this can be administered by any public or any survivors," he said. A piece of the plane was found on a highway six miles from the Wren Had Long Record Of Service to Montana scene.

A deputy snenit saia District or Supreme Court judge "I and my family are shocked appeared the plane came straight As word of the accident which down on a round knoll. He said Edward C. Wren. 43, Montanaltion Commission for a two-year wreckage was spread over a two-mile wide area on two sides of the hill. Col.

Rodger Young, Great Falls, Montana Air National commissioner of agriculture, died (term. He also was chairman of GOV. DONALD G. NUTTER Extreme Damage Done By High Velocity Wind Hurricane force wind west of north. Wind from the north will in a plane crash at Wolf Creek! Montana's Farm Action Commit tee for National Republican head killed Nutter; his executive secretary, Dennis B.

Gordon; State Agriculture Commissioner Edward C. Wren, and the plane's three crew members got out, Helena telephone switchboards were flooded with calls. Officials Return to Offices The Capitol switchboard, which had closed at 5 p.m. for the day, Thursday night along with Gov. Continued on page 18 Dead Pilot Was Native Of Missoula Donald Nutter and three other quarters men.

Born in Great Falls Sept. 29, 1918, he attended local public schools, graduating from Great Wren, a Great Falls native and Cascade rancher and farmer, was Guard commander, said he was sure the sheet of metal about 12 inches square found six miles away was part of the guard plane. "It evidently went out of control in the air," he said. No distress signal was reported from any of several Federal Aviation Agency locations that normally should have heard such Falls High School in 1936, appointed commissioner by Nut Great Falls Thursday wreaked; go to about 40 miles per hour as was reopened and a number of state officials returned to their considerable havoc north of Augusta. Unofficial reports of wind the front moves in and then will drop to about 15 miles per hour ter, succeeding Albert Kruse.

He was the first state department head appointed by the incoming During his senior year in high school, Wren was a quarterback on the Great Falls Bisons foot Maj. Clifford E. Hanson, pilot of the Air National Guard plane in offices. give the name. Bodies could have been burned, but I don't think the fire was hot enough to burn them completely.

Three Groups Waited for Gov, Nutter By Tribune Correspondent CUT BANK Three groups were waiting here Thursday to hear talks scheduled by Gov. Donald B. Nutter when news arrived that his plane had crashed near Wolf Creek. He was to have attended meetings of the U.S. Highway 2 Association and the Montana Barley Growers in the afternoon, and to have spoken at the 18th annual dinner of the Cut Bank Chamber of Commerce Thursday night.

His arrival was scheduled originally for 4 p.m., then changed to p.m., then to 6, when adverse flying conditions developed. Babcock, unaware of the crash, velocity in the Augusta area were as the temperature falls to 5 which Gov. Donald Nutter died, had left Helena for Billings on ball team. Wren was employed by Ana above 100 miles per hour. a Northern Pacific passenger train Great Falls recorded only a 35- about 7 p.m.

Babcock was a Yellowstone mile-per hour southwesterly wind, with gusts up to 53 m.p.h. of County representative in the Mon conda Co. between 1936 and 1939, was in the sales and advertising department of Eddy's Associated Bakeries in Helena and was Eddy Baking Co. plant manager in Grand Forks, N.D., before returning to the Great Falls area to enter ranching. ficially.

An Air Force recovery team from Malmstrom left Wolf Creek at 11:15 p.m. to recover bodies. The team, led by the two men who first reported the crash, Harold Mc-Curdey and Gene Shaffin, was turned back by sheriff's deputies. The team of about 15 men was tana Legislature in the sessions of 1957 and 1959. He also served in the 1953 session of the" House Greatest damage during the high velocity wind was reported from Custer County.

by Ron Hanson, Fairfield, man As lieutenant governor, he The agriculture commissioner served in the 1961 legislative ses ager of the Sun River Electric Co-Op. Hanson said 66 large electric poles west of Fairfield and sion as president of the State A entered the army from Helena as a private in 1941. He was commissioned a second lieutenant a year headed by Maj. Ralph Hover, north of Augusta were snapped chief of safety for the air defense off. I I Senate.

Veteran of World War II He was 1960 chairman of the later, saw action in the Pacific during World War II, rose to the Continued on page 18 The poles were 35 feet long, al most 2 feet thick at the butt and rank of lieutenant colonel and Montana Cancer Crusade and that 1 foot in diameter at the top, were same year was elected lieutenant 6's feet in the ground. All the served as regimental executive officer with the 24th Infantry Regiment. Bar Liquor Purchases governor by a margin poles were carrying 3 phase power lines. He was active in military re ire State Permits over the Democratic nominee, former State Senator Henry H. Anderson of Libby.

Reqw One pole, snapped in two places, belov Authenticity of the unofficial reports is indicated by an official report of west-southwest winds of 75 m.p.h. with gusts up to 108 m.p.h., received at 10 a.m. from Pincher Creek, just north of the border. Cut Bank reported Continued on page 9 Dennis Gordon Nutter's Aide In Campaign Thirty-eight-year old Dennis B. Gordon, a Billings oilman and attorney who died in the plane crash with Gov.

Donald E. Nutter, had been the governor's executive secretary for a year. Gordon, known as Denny, worked actively in the gubernatorial campaign under Gregg Baldridge, chairman of the Billings Nutter-Tim Babcock Club. Before he joined the governor's team he spent seven years in the oil business in Billings. For three years he was a landman for the Skelly Oil Co.

He was an oil and gas broker and independent oil operator. Before moving to Billings he was in the construction business in Missoula. serve affairs following separation once about eight feet from the Babcock and his wife, the form from the service in 1946 and is a past president of the Montana HELENA (UPD-Montana Liq ground and another time near the top, had the center section blown EDWARD C. WREN Reserve Officers Association. He attended several schools con er Betty Lee of Glendive, have two daughters, Lorna, 18, a student at Montana State College in uor Control Board oinciais warned Thursday that an individu MAJ.

CLIFFORD HANSON ment that a record 80,734 individual permits were sold in 1961, returning $45,367 to state coffers. Ashton Jones of Broadus, anoth- 150 feet by the force of the wind. Hanson said a meter was ripped governor. His position also included serving as the real estate al permit is required to buy bot Bozeman, and Maria, 13, a Bil was a native of Missoula, where he attended Montana State Uni tled liquor from a tavern. commissioner for the state.

from the side of a house in Augusta by the wind. lings Junior High School of the three-man Board Chairman J. Rafn member A rancher since 1948 he had The next governor served with School children at Augusta were been active in Montana farm and the 99th Infantry Division in World Lewistown said signs often seen board, credited the board's 1961 over bars proclaiming "no permit emphasis on requiring permits for ducted by the Command and General Staff College, Leavenworth, Kan. In 1956 and 1958 he ran unsuccessfully on the Republican ticket as a candidate for the State Legislature from Cascade County. He is survived by the widow and a 16-year-old son, Michael.

allowed to return home shortly War U. He fought in the Battle legislative affairs. In 1958, retiring Republican Gov. J. Hugo needed here" are in error if they of the Bulge and was awarded before noon Thursday as the wind velocity increased.

are interpreted to mean that a Aronson appointed him to repre the Bronze Star. He has lived in person doesn't need one of the The electric co-op manager said Montana since 1920, the year after sent Montana on the U.S. Department of Labor special Farm board's 50-cent individual permits his birth at Littlefork, Oct. service was still out northwest of Augusta and in one section south versity. He joined the Civil Aeronautics Authority, now the Federal Avia-tiin Agency, in Great Falls in 1947.

With the exception of two years' service with the Air Force in Korea, he had been with the agency continuously. He was an air traffic control specialist. He lived at 2904 8th Ave. with his wife, Verneeta, and daughters, a 1 1 1 e. ll, and Joyce, 7.

to buy a bottle. Labor Committee. 27, 1919. He was raised in the Rafn said the buyer must have Wren was district census super Glendive area, graduating from 50,000 Lepers west of town, but the co-op and two line contractors are working to restore service. producing the record total.

The board notified state store vendors and clerks last year they faced disciplinary action if they sold liquor to persons without per-mKs. The third board member, Oakley E. Coffee of Missoula, said the vendors and clerks were so vigilant that no discipline was necessary. I visor for the Great Falls area Dawson County High School in a permit just as he would ne were buying the liquor from a SAIGON, South Viet Nam (AP) 1939. The district forecaster said state store.

during the 1960 census. In 1960 Wren was appointed io the advisory council of the Montana Unemployment Compensa- The board officials issued the Officials say the country has 50,000 lepers, with the largest percentage in the high plateau area. Babcock Flies Own Plane Babcock, who flys his own Thursday night an arctic front is moving into the state from the warning along with an announce-.