Statesman Journal from Salem, Oregon • Page 1

ow sm d(0)WEK(Q)n I meamau COUNDDD 1651 Snell, Farrell, Cornet on Stricken Plane; Wreckage Found with'No Sign of Life' KLAMATH FALLS, Oct. 29 AP The -halleretl wreckage ot a plan carrying Oregon's governor, secretary of state, state senate president, and their pilot was sighted today "so damaged that no one could be The crashed private plane vras seen from the air, but a Mall of darkness am! rain prevented a definite ground check of the fate of Oregon's leaders. Radio com munications said tonight that searchers had criss-crossed the rugged, heavily tint bered area three times without finding the wreckage, concealed by pounding rain! and darkness. i The red-trimmed plane, which left here last night when the state officials NINETY-SEVENTH YEAR 16 PAGES Th Oregon Statesman, Salem, Thursday, Oregon's High Executives in hunting outing, crashed at the top of a hill, threV John Hall, Speaker of House, Iii Line for Highest State Post Nrc i CRT Sffl3QDQB One by one the threads jot hope mere fevered after the news first came Wednesday that the, plane was missing in which Governor SnelL Secretary of State Farrell and President of the Senate Cornett were passengers. The longer time elapsed in which no word came the less valid became the eld adage, "no new is good news.

In the afternoon came a report of the sighting of plane wreckage on a mountainside, and later the word that it had been identified as that ci the plane under search, with the further report that there were no signs of life about the wreckage. The single thin thread of hope that somehow they might have snapped with report that all occupants of the plane were dead. has stunned the whole stale. It stands out as the greatest catastrophe allectmg nign puduc officials in the history of this or any other state. The multiple tragedy has left the people bewildered and sick at heart.

will alter abruptly the course of current poll-tics, i hn Aer until tomorrow a personal tribute to these men, with all of whom I sejssrd In close association for a term in the state's official life. I do want to say crtmthinff about the sad event which brought them to their It is easy to moralize the event on the risks thafaitended their flight and the unwisdom of a Ml I .4 having so many nign oinciais io-thr in one clane. But there were r.tt tnr a brief holiday, with confidence in their host and his plane. The distance to be nown was- short. The weather reports catisfactorr.

Something hap pened plane trouble, human er ror, i raif into a Clou a Dan ana the plane crashed into the moun Margins of safety in modern living are narrow. The difference of a few seconds or of a few feet often means the difference between life and death. If we are to partici nate actively in life we must BC rnt nmi of these hazards. These men were not reckless but the pert-Jls of. modern aviation closed in on -gether in one plane.

But they were aware and broueht them to dis aster. Speculation on how the accident might have been averted is now bootless. AH we can do is bow our heads in profound sorrow arid share our sincere sympathies with the families of the fallen. Succession Line To Goyerhorship Well Established By an amendment to the Ore-eon constitution adopted by the people in 1948, succession to the rovernorship- now runs to the president of the senate, the er of the house of representatives, the secretary of state, the state treasurer in the order named Prior to this amendment the sue- cession stopped with the two first named. The amendment was passed by the -495 assembly for mo ELL Laborites Shaken By Vote LONDON, Thursday, Oct 30 (yp-The labor government came within 24 votes of defeat in house of commons early.

today in a stormy defate over abolition of the sum gasoline ration nojwi allot ted British motorists. Shouts from the conservative benches of 'resign, resign" greeted the vote the smallest majority which the labor party ever has received on any issue in the house of commons since it swept Jnto power xn una. The gasoline rationing debate developed a few hours after eight messengers had carried into the chamber a petition containing more than 1,000,000 signatures protesting a government decision abolishing the basic ration. The closely contested vote came on a government motion to end debate on the issue. Immediately after the government motion to amend the order by a count, of 184 to 160, ah opposition motion to amend the order abolishing the gasoline ration was defeated by 10 lO 10U.

Only a few hours earlier con servative leader Winston Church ill had lost by a vote of 348-201, his fourth attempt to oust the labor government from office by parliamentary ballot Both Parties to Hold Conclaves WASHINGTON, Oct 29 UP) Both democratic and republican national conventions will be held at Philadelphia in 1948. The democratic -national com mittee unanimously selected that city today as San Francisco "re luctantly withdrew" its The date for the convention was not set -but it probably will be early in July. Republicans previously had de cided to meet there, beginning June 21. In a spirited session today, the democratic committee installed Senator J. Howard McGrath of Rhode Island I as new national chairman and whooped it up for re-election of President Truman in 1948.

McGrath succeeds Robert E. Hannegan, who resigned be cause of ill health. The committee rejected a resolution bitterly condemning the republican-controlled 80th congress for placing "partisan politics above love of country." McGrath told reporters he had asked that the resolution be withdrawn because1 it might jeopardize non-partisan, action on em-gency legislation at the special session of congress, starting Nov. 17. "I asked them to' tear it up." McOrath said.

"That's no way to get cooperation." Joe Bishop Waives Hearing on Thet Charge PORTLAND. Oct. 29 -(JP)- Joe hBerry Bishop, 27, charged with robbing the Sweet Home and Oakland banks, waived preliminary hearing today on the Oakland charge. Bond was set at $15,000. Bishop waived hearing on the Sweet Home charge earlier, after his arrest in Oklahoma.

At Philadelphia started a southern Oregon miles west of Dog Lake rough, timbered lower in the Barnes valley. Private pilots from Lakeview, sighted the wreckage wings bent at a 90-degree angle from normal, trees snapped off, a swath cut through the hillside late this afternoon. Flying at tree top height, they read the private plane's license number, and reported "no sign of life. The plane is damaged so badly that no one could be alive." Key Officials Ahoanl Aboard the craft were Oregon's key state officials Governor Earl Snell, 52; State Senate President Marshall Cornett, 49, next in line of succession to the governorship; Secretary of State Robert S. Farrell.

41, and Cliff Hogue, 42, Klamath Falls pilot. Oscar Kittredge. owner of the Warner valley ranch to which the governor's party was headed for a day's hunting, and co-owner of the lost plane with Cornett, said the information he received indicated the wreckage was indeed the governor's craft. The death of Governor Snell and his normal successor, Senate President Cornett, would give the governorship to the speaker of the state house of representatives John H. Hall, a Portland attorney.

Like all Oregon's key officials, Hall is a republican. The nearest town to the crash scene was Bly, 22 miles to the north. Employes of the Fremont national forest, working within a few miles ot the wreckage, were dispatched through the roadless, rugged region toward the site. Area Near-Impassable The terrain, drenched with rain and some snow, w.is so near-im passible that one forest crew which at 6 p.m. had left a logging road only a mile and a half or two from the reported crash scene still had not returned to its roadside radio three hours later.

Another crew was Wwking Into the area from the other side The state, tensely awaiting news of its chief officials was flooded with reports. A statement by Ore gon Adjutant General Raymond F. Olson at 6:52 p.m. that the men had all been found dead proved to have stemmed from a radio "ham's" message. But little hope was held out by the private pilots who had seen the shattered wreckage.

A forestry crew hiked into the region earlier this afternoon, only to find itself off the track, and returned for a new try. An ambulance and truck added extra chains, and started toward the region. The cresh site is southeast of here, between Klamath Falls and Lakeview. Weather Hinders Hunt The same heavy rain and clouds. which all through the day pre vented a small armada of rescue planes from four states from launching a hunt, battled the searchers tonight.

Only a brief break In the low ceiling enabled the wreckage to be sighted at all. Two private Lake- view pilots lumberman RoBert Adams and airport mechanic Greg Painter took off when the sun emerged momentarily late this af ternoon. They saw the wreckage near Dog Lake. Other pilots con firmed it. The governor's party took off from Klamath Falls about 10 o'clock last night for the Oscar Kittredge ranch icr- Warner valley an hour's hop for a morning of Plane Crashes at John Hubert Hall.

48-year-old Portland attorney who was chosen speaker of the house at the last state legislature, will become Ore gon new governor if, as appeared probable early today, a southern Oregon plane tragedy had cost the lives of three top-flight Ore gon officials. Hall was representative of the Fifth district, Multnomah county, the 1933, 1939, 1943. 1945 and 1947 sessions of the legislature. A native Oregonian. Hall was born in Portland.

February 7. 1899. He was graduated from Oregon State college in 1923 and received his LLB from Northwestern College of Law in 1926 when he was admitted to the Oregon bar. As a law student he worked as deputy sheriff and deputy county clerk and upon graduation entered practice with his father, John H. Hall, who was United States district attorney under Presidents McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt Hall served with the navy during World War I.

As a Portland attorney he has been in practice with former Gov. Jay Bowerman. Hall is married and has three children. His affiliations include Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Masons, Eagles and the Multnomah Anglers' and Hunters' club. The Who's Who in the 1947 goose and duck hunting.

The crash site was along the general route they planned to follow. The dearth of country telephones in the sparsely-populated country and a shift of weather reports combined to conceal the disappearance of the plane until this morning. At that time Kittredge telephoned Mrs. Cornett to ask when her husband and the governor were coming: They had not arrived yet Left Salem Tuesday Mrs. Cornett reported the party had left last night Immediately, Oregon and surrounding states began massing planes for a hunt The ill-fated plane a red-trimmed Bonanza Beech era ft owned jointly by Cornett and Kittredge left Salem yesterday, planning a direct flight to the Kittredge ranch.

But soupy weather halted the party here. They dined at the Cornett home, and toward evening, the weather was reported better. They took off and have not'been heard from since. Globe-Circlers to Land at Seattle SEATTLE, Oct 29 -JT)- Two American pilots circling the world in tiny Cub planes will land at Boeing field here from Alaska on their first return stop in the United States, a flying service owner was notified today. The two former army fliers, George Truman, 39, Los Angeles, and Clifford Evans, 26, Washington, D.C., were resting at Shemya in the outer Aleutians today after arriving from Japan late yesterday on a daring North Pacific hop.

Near Halfway No. 185 Air Tragedy MARSHALL E. CORNETT, 49, has been state senator representing rCrook, Deschutes, Jef ferson, 'iKlamath and Lake counties since 1941. He was chosen president of the senate at the last legislature. A resident of Klamath Falls since 1926 he was born in Burning Springs, Nov.

22, 1898, and educated at Berea (Ky.) college. He "married Olive Van Decar Byram, Kake, Alaska, in 1922. Cornett was employed by the Port Commission in Astoria in 1921 and became connected with a salmon canning firm in Alaska. Since his residence in Klamath Falls he has entered various business enterprises including distribution of petroleum products, operation of service stations, automobile sales, and radio stations KBKR, KBLM and KSRV of which he has been president. Cornett served in World War 1.

Trade Pact to Boost British Goods in U. S. LONDON, Oct. announced today a new Anglo-American tariff agreement embodying "concessions" on both sides and called for a reinvigora-ted campaign to sell British goods in the United States. Board of Trade President Harold Wilson told the house of commons that tariff pacts also have been concluded with 14 other countries during six months of international trade negotiations just ending in Geneva, Switzerland.

Details, he said, would be disclosed about November 18. Concessions by the U. S. delegation, he said, were made under the president's authority to modify tariff rates by 50 per cent and would not have to be approved by congress. Dispatches from Canberra, Australia, quoted unofficial sources as saying the Australian-United Stales agreement involved a 7 lucent reduction in the 34-cent U.

8. wool tariff. Wood burn School District Raised to First Class Status WOODBURN. Oct. 29 Wood-burn school district automatically became the third first class school in Marion county Tuesday when the ,1947 school census was completed, Frank Proctor, clerk, announced.

One thousand persons between the ages of 4 and 20 are required to qualify as a first class district and Woodburn district counted 1082, 501 girls and 581 boys. The 1946 census totaled 974 following the consolidation of several districts with Woodburn last spring. Salem and Silverton are other fiTst class districts in Marion, county. Board membership will remain as it is until the next school election, June 21, 1948, when two additional-members will be added to the present three member board. Dean Bishoprick is chairman of the board and other members are W.

Earl Dunn and Roy Kuns. North San ti Highway Closed Over Week-End DETROIT, Oct. construction area of the North Santiam highway between Niagara will be closed from 5 p. m. Friday to 7 a.

m. Monday, it was announced today. Construction operations will necessitate the closure. STATEHOUSE OPEN TODAY Business will go forward as usual in state offices today, despite the southern Oregon plane crash which apparently carried three top Oregon officials to their deaths, it was indicated last night 5c ISSSSfMSSSSSflBSaVrMrWSSflSMBSSI hi rvf I a Oct 30, 1947 Prlc ROBERT S. FARRELL.

jr 41, was chosen secretary of state Nov. 3, 1942, and was re-elected last year. He was speaker of the house in 1941 after representing Multnomah county in the state legislature at the 1935, 1939 and 1941 sessions. A native of Portland, he was born October 25, 1900, and was educated in Portland public schools and Hill Military academy. He was graduated from the University of Washington In 1928 and from the Northwestern College of Law in 1930.

From 1930 to 1942 he practiced law in Portland. Farrell was married to Nancy Jane Carpenter, Portland, in 1929 and they have two daughters, Joan, 16, and Sallyr13. For the past year Farrell has been serving at president of the National Association of Secretaries of State and has been an executive of the4 American Association of Motor Vehicle Ad- ministrators. Governor Would Fill Office of State Secretary In event a vacancy occurs in the office of secretary of state, the office would be filled by gubernatorial appointment until the next general election, a survey of Oregon law showed Wednesday. Should there be final confirmation of the deaths of Oregon's three top state officials in Tuesday night's plane crash, the appointment would be made by John Hall of Portland, speaker of the house who would automatically succeed to the Present assistant secretary of state is Harry Schenk.

Officials said there would be no need of. a special election to fill the offices of president of the senate or speaker of the house. Governor's Son Returning Home SAN DIEGO, Oct. 29 (JP) Lt. (it) William E.

Snell, navy medical-officer and only son of Governor Earl Snell of OreRon, obtained emergency leave from the navy hospital here today and left for the north. Hospital associates said he knew his father was missing but had not heard before his departure that wreckage of the, governor's plane had been located. Weather SALEM Portland San Francisco Chicago New York Mox. Si 55 es 56 Min. 41 44 57 48 Preclp.

.22 IS trace .35 71 62 Willamette river 2.7 feet. FORECAST from U.S. weather bureau. McNary field. Salem): Cloudy to partly cloudy today and tonight with occasional light shower.

High temoer- ature today SS, low tonight 40. ern California, answered his call. Over the weak wire he told his story. She reported it to the Modoc forest headquarters in AI-turas, and- from there it was relayed to Lowden at Lake-view. Lowden was interested because this was a voluntary report from a man who knew nothing of6 the tragic crash that by that time had become nationwide news.

The forest supervisor notified the waiting search plane crews at Lakeview airport, and Robert Adams took off for the Dog Lake area. It, was Adams and his ob server, Greg Painter, who first sighted the wreckage about two miles west of Dog Lake at about 4 p. m. Wednesday. Lowden had already dispatched a crew of four men Into the Dog Lake region as a feature of the general search.

He made contact with his crew by radio, and the ground search of the area then began in earnest. afaa v-1 JOHN HALL Legislature, by th Oregon Voter, described Hall wm "shrewd, resourceful, a a 4 fighter." State officials said Wednesday night that Hall's succession wcukf be automatic, in event the death ot Gov. Earl Snell and Senatt President Marshall Comett wera confirmed, and that state busin could proceed regularly even v. to formal swearinj-ia proctrd A Board Opens Fight on Racial Discrimination WASHINGTON! Oct 29 0T) President Truman's committee of civil rights today recommended that congress and the state legislatures outlaw segregation arwf discrimination based on race, col-' or, creed or national origin ao4. do it "now." In a sweeping review cf tlat) whole U.S.

civil rights field, tns committee made S3 specific reconv mendations on lue which hav embroiled congress In some cf ita) bitterest struggles. I Discrimination against negroes in the south was criticized at length. if President Truman hailed the re-! port with a statement saying hopes the committee has given th country "as broad a document mm the declaration of Independence "An American charter cf human freedom in our The 1 3-member committed, bended by President Char lea Ei Wilson of. the General Elect issued a 178-page report urging among other things: 1. Enactment of federal snti-lynching, anti-poll tax and employment practice laws.

2. Federal and state laws to pre vent racial or religious segregat tion and discrimination in suctf places as trains, bines, schools, theaters, hotels nd restaurants. 3. State laws barring restrictive in which property owners bind themselves not to sell or lease to "undesirables. Point of Trip B.

i EARL SNELL, 52; was elected governor of Oregon Nov. 3, 1943 after serving as secretary of state since 1934. His political career began in 1927 when he first went to the legislature. As member of the house of representatives he served i 1 1 1 a a n. Wheeler and Morrow counties until 1933 when he was chosen speaker of the house.

The son of Oregon pioneers, William and Mattie M. Snell, he was born in Gilliam county, July and received his public school education -in Arlington and Condon, later attending the Oregon Institute of Technology in Portland. Snell was first in country newspaper work and has been active in the automobile business and wheat ranching since 1915. He served with the United States army during World War I. He married Edith Welshons, Condon, in 1920 and they hava one son, William Earl Snell.

Search Fails To Recover Body of Boy An all-day search of the Willamette river in the Wheatland ferry area by state police and Marion county deputy sheriffs Wednesday failed to locate the body of Roy Statz, 16-year-old Newberg youth, who was believed drowned Tuesday about 5 pjn. Statz was hunting ducks from boat with companions, Walter tv Wright. 31. and Delbert Web ber, 19, both of Newberg, when their boat overturned. Wright and Webber made their way to safety at two separate spots along the banks.

Wright told Sheriff Denver Young that Statz was clinging to the overturned boat and called for help, but that he was unable to give aid before they drifted apart. Officers conducting Wednesday's search said they dragged more than nine miles of the river near the scene before being forced to cease by approaching darkness. The officers also said they would continue their search again today. Silverton Hospital To Hold Open House SILVERTON, Oct. of the new $45,000 maternity wing of the Silverton hospital will be marked with an open house Sunday, November 2, between the hours of 2 and 4 p.

m. The new addition to the hospital increases the capacity by 10 beds. The maternity section of the hospital has been part of the main part of the hospital but now will occupy the new wing. Mrs. George Steelhammer is chairman of the hospital board.

unusual situation caught his 'attention and as he listened something happened which startled, him. He said later that he could not say he actually heard a crash, but there was something that happened that led him to believe the plane had gone down. It was sufficiently alarming to the lonely camper that he went that night to the nearby Dog Lake ranger station and tried to call Lake view on the telephone there. The ranger station had been closed for the winter and the telephone line was out of order. Hill could get no answer.

He went back to his camp, still disturbed by what had happened. It was on his mind when he awoke Wednesday morning. He again went to the ranger station and began twisting the crank on the forest service telephone. This time, his efforts were repaid. A woman at Crowder Flat, a forest service station on the Modoc national forest in north Xi submission to the people.

It did not change the order of succession, merely added two more officials Lonely Cattleman's Report Leads Air Search to Sector of Officials' Crash In line. Speaker of the House John Hall, who will be Oregon's new gov-. emer if plane crash reports are verified, normally would be sec ond in line of succession, coming after Senate President Marshall Comett who was with Gov. Earl Snell on Tuesday's ill-fated flight in southern Oregon. Third in line was Secretary of State Robert S.

Farrell, also cn the flight State Treasurer LesLe Scott holds the fourth spot Animal Crackers By WARREN GOODRICH i6 Wvf, clear- you don't ooifa set thm idt? KLAMATH FALLS, Oct. 30-W) -The determination of a lonely cattleman camped in remote back country to report an unusual incident led to the air discovery of the airplane wheh it is feared has carried Governor Earl Snell and other top Oregon officials to their deaths. Merle Ixwden, supervisor of the Fremont national forest, said today it was a report reaching him over remote forest service telephone lines from George Hill that directed the search into! the Dog Lake area where the plane wreckage was later sighted from the air. This is the story as related by Mr. Lowden: Hill, employed by Fred Ross, a stockman, was camped Tuesday night at the south end of Dog Lake.

At about 10:05 o'clock he heard the roar of an airplane motor. He noticed something strange about the sound. It seemed to rise and fall, roaring as if the plane were diving, and then dying away. The tssssjssisx I f. ii I flans.

Scene of the plane crash in which Got. Snell and bis party are missing was identified last raight ay the national guard as three miles west Doc Lake, an Doc Lake Meaataia ta Lake eaaaty. Thaa would place the scene at lower center of above map (marked with star) at a locaUaa approximately seven miles sooth the north tip af Drew's reservoir at highway. west af Lakeview. The laadiagr field for which the party was headed In State Sen.

Marshall Carsett's plana fa marked by arrow at lower right af map, aa Is the KJttrldge ranch where the party was to visit on a hunting expedition..