Airplane Accident at Mongaup Pond - 1934


"A sixteen-passenger Condor bi-plane of the American Airlines Company which left Newark airport about 4 o'clock last Saturday evening, enroute for Chicago, with Syracuse as the first stop, got lost in the fog and storms after passing Newburgh, and about 5 o'clock crashed against a 2800-feet peak of the lower Catskill range of mountains, a peak known as "the Last Chance," near Mongaup Pond and nine miles northeast of DeBruce and near the boarder of Sullivan And Ulster counties. The plane caught fire and burned and the seven occupants were burned to death, or killed by the fall and then burned.

Those killed in the crash were:

  • Clyde Holbrook, pilot, of LaGrange, Ill
  • John Barron, Jr., co-pilot, of Chicago
  • Miss Ada Huckeby, stewardness, of Chicago.
  • Harry Pinsley, theatrical booking agent, of New York.
  • Harold C. Coppins, factory superintendent of F.N. Burt & Co.,Ltd., paper box manufacturers, of Buffalo.
  • E.W.B. Bader, chemical engineer, of Buffalo.
  • William Andrew Cass, an executive of F.N. Burt & Co.,Ltd., of Buffalo.

"Two of those on board were to have been married soon. Miss Huckeby had told friends that she was making her last flight as stewarddess and had made plans for her wedding. Mr. Pinsley also was engaged to be married soon to an actress. The three other passengers were married and had families awaiting them in Buffalo.
..." to be continued.

June 14, 1934
Sullivan County Democrat

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"When the plane failed to arrive at Syracuse in its scheduled two hours' time, search began for it, and during all day Sunday many planes were flying through the air over the area, along and adjacent to the airline route trying to locate the lost plane.

"The first intimation that the plane had reached the vicinity of Mongaup Pond came early Monday in a report to the state police that it had last been seen near DeBruce, about five miles from the mountain. W.H. Hallock and Lee Lord, private pilots of Wurtsboro, volunteer searchers, undertook an air search to check these reports.

"Soon after 11 o'clock Monday morning, Hallock sighted a brown scar in the dark green of the mountainside. He dropped down as close as possible and circled. Sure that he had found the plane, he flew to Livingston Manor, about twelve miles to the south, landed and called first the state police and then Earl Ward, American Air Lines manager at Newark.

"Airplanes by the dozen then began to flock to the landing fields at Livingston Manor and Liberty. The roads were crowded with cars rushing to the scene or as near as they could get. City news and camera men were on the job, and there was great excitement in that section of Sullivan County. ..."

June 14, 1934
Sullivan County Record

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"It was after 3 p.m., Monday, when the first searching party, guided by Hallock, succeeded in making its way to the scene of the wreck. For hours they climbed through a thick tangle of underbrush, across gullies and streams up the mountainside before they reached the scorched and broken treetops that marked the plane's path to destruction. The plane had cut an eighty-foot swath through the tree-tops for fifty yards and then crashed to the ground and burst into flames.

"With Hallock were Dr. Victor Bourke, coroner of Livingston Manor; Captain Daniel E. Fox of the state police and Sergeants Hopkins, Mangan and Hofer.

"The party found two mail bags, one intact and one partly burned, but with most of the mail safe. Among the charred remnants of other luggage they discovered Bader's bag, which they opened. Inside they found several bottles that Dr. Bourke said contained picric acid crystals, which he said were highly explosive. They apparently had been undisturbed by the crash. ..."

June 14, 1934
Sullivan County Record

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"The bodies of three of those on board, Harold Coppins and Harry Pinsley, passengers, and Miss Ada Huckeby, the stewardess, were thrown clear of the wreckage by the impact.

"Fire consumed part of the fuselage and much of the wings and burned a 100-foot circle of timber about the plane. One of the two motors, weighing 1,200 pounds, was ripped from its frame on the crumpled wing and hurled thirty feet into the woods.

"Pilot Holbrook was an ace flyer in the world war and had seventeen years' experience in flying.

"The bodies of the seven victims were removed to the Russell undertaking rooms at Livingston Manor and the McGibbon & Curry rooms at Liberty. The bodies of the two Buffalo men were brought through Jeffersonville Tuesday and shipped on the Erie to Buffalo.

The time of the crash was figured at about 5 o'clock Saturday evening by people living in the neighborhood hearing the crash at that time, and also by the clock on the plane stopping at the time of the crash. The airlines travel on standard time. ..."

June 14, 1934
Sullivan County Record
 

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"Lee Lord of Rock Hill, who with Ted Hallock of Washingtonville, first sighted the cracked-up plane, telling in brief what happened on the trip, said; "We were both at the controls and were about 2,000 feet up when we first discovered the orange and red colored fabric fluttering in the air. We dropped down and felt sure that we
had discovered the wrecked plane. We flew over the spot several times and at one time were only about 200 feet above it. We watched carefully for signs of life, but everything seemed quiet. We had planned on one of us jumping out with a parachute if there was a sign of life, for we felt that we gould give aid. Everything seemed dead and after looking the situation over we started back to get help."

"Government officials are investigating the theory that the secret chemicals carried by Bader may have had some effect on the pilot and passengers before the crash, but that theory seems remote, as the chemicals were found undisturbed."

June 14, 1934
Sullivan County Record

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"The excitement attending the finding of the crashed and burned passenger and mail plane with its seven occupants at Mongaup Pond, near DeBruce, last week has died down, Sullivan County has settled back to its normal condition, and the tragedy will soon be forgotten as just another happening of this fast-moving world.

"The ballyhoo attempt to make a sensation out of the chemicals found in the plane wreck has fizzled out; it proved to be just another publicity stunt, with no foundation in fact. The six bottles of crystals found in the bag of one of the plane's passengers, William B. Bader, a chemical engineer, were turned over to the U.S. Navy officials of Brooklyn, who reported that these and the exploited "secret documents" were of no interest to the government.

"That it has less than nothing to do with establishing the cause of the crash is now perfectly apparent. The Navy Department finds the much publicized chemicals to be ammonia picrate, and it hadn't exploded. The mysterious character of the papers turns out to be a myth. They contained no navy secrets, and both papers and chemicals have been ordered returned to Mr. Bader's employers.

District Attorney Willaim Deckelman sensibly refused to get excited about the discoveries and quickly dropped the investigation of the accident as soon as he found that the plane landed in Ulster County, three-fourths of a mile from the Sullivan County line. The district attorney of Ulster County says if the relatives of the victims want an inquest they can have it; otherwise there will be none. ..."

June 21, 1934
Sullivan County Record

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"Now, it can be hoped, there will be a genuine investigation of the crash unclouded by picturesque and irrelevant scene shifting. What caused the crash? That is the only question that matters, and we submit the very least the state or the federal government can do out of respect to the memory of the dead, and for the protection of the living, is to get the answer.

"Enough has been rumored to suggest some other questions which may have a bearing on the cause of this tragedy. For instance;

"What was the weather conditions over the Hudson River valley when the plane took off at Newark?

"Are pilots given authority by their employers to ground their ships if flying conditions, in their judgement, are unfavorable?

"Cases are known in which one plane remained grounded, while the plane of a rival company took off. If flying conditions are unfavorable for one plane, why are't they equally dangerous to another plane bound for the same destination?

"Is uncontrolled rivalry of competing companies being allowed to jeopardize the lives of passengers?

"The Department of Commerce maintains a corps of inspectors who are supposed to see that transport planes are operated safely, so far as humanely possible. How much authority have these inspectors? Are they appointed on a political basis or are they under civil service? What steps are taken to protect them from outside influences?

"The time has come for a thorough checkup of the air passenger business, and Mongaup Mountain is an excellent place to begin. ..."

June 21, 1934
Sullivan County Record

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"The plane wreck was a feast for souvenir hunters. Nearly every shred of the orange and silver fabric left by the fire has been caried away, besides a large part of the metal framework of the plane. The ashes were even sifted in search of coins, pocketknives, buttons and other things about the seven victims. Even the heavy wheels of the plane were rolled away. Everything that could be removed without a truck was taken by the souvenir hunters.

"The tragedy again proves that while the air has been conquered, storms and fog still remain the undefeated enemy of aviation and cannot be safely penetrated."

June 21, 1934
Sullivan County Record

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"Eugene Mears and Gerald Simpson of Livingston Manor were sentenced on Monday in Ulster County to six months in jail for theft of money from the site of the American Airlines plane crash on Last Chance Mountain, near Mongaup Pond, after discovery of the plane on June 11th.

"Mears was one of the first two persons to reach the wreckage. He and Mrs. Thelma Rose, also of Livingston Manor, reached the wreck about 3:30 p.m. June 11th, a short time before state police and a party of one hundred searchers arrived. They were hailed as the first to reach the scene on the mountain after the wreck had been sighted from the air by Ted Hollock, Washingtonville pilot.

"The money, said to have been in possession of William Cass of Buffalo, one of the seven victims of the wreck, was held Monday by Sergeant John A. Hopkins of Ellenville, who worked with Sergeant Thomas J. Mangan of Liberty on the case. The bills were badly charred along the edges.

"Both men pleaded guilty Monday before Magistrate Fred Shaver at Turnwood. They declared they found the money near the Cass body. They were taken into custody and questioned by Sergeant Mangan about two weeks ago as the result of rumors of burned money in their possession. Mears is an automobile mechanic, and Simpson a laborer. Both are married and have families."

July 19, 1934
Sullivan County Record


Fred Fries