I have come across a rather interesting archive on a website maintained by the Clark County, Wisconsin Internet Library; a collection of dedicated person who place historic records and news archives on the internet to the general public. It details the 1940 wedding of Velma Scribner to a Mr Harvey in Los Angeles, California. Velma was of course the sister to Alice Scribner, the air hostess so tragically killed in 1933 in the Chesterton crash. Interestingly Velma wore the wedding dress that had been intended for her sister Alice who was meant to be getting married.
If ANYONE from the Scribner family line who knew of Alice or Velma or are descendants of this particular branch read this please do get in contact. I believe that there is no memorial to this 1933 crash and I believe Alice deserves a bit more recognition for being the first hostess killed in the USA by a suspected act of sabotage.
Thank you for remembering this ill-fated airliner crash!
ReplyDeleteI built a small webpage dedicated to this accident, including a photo of the actual 247 that was lost:
http://arizonawrecks.com/wrecksfromtonymireles/boeing247nc13304.html
I have been unable to get additional info on this mishap. But am working on it.
I sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the F.B.I. asking for copies of their file on it, and they responded by saying they had no records! Despite the fact that I have numerous newspaper articles stating that Melvin H. Purvis himself was leading the investigation (Chicago FBI chief). Oh well.
I could find no info on US National Archives which FBI may have shipped info to.
I have outstanding letters to Porter County Coroner, Porter County Sheriff, and US Dept of Commerce (all of who participated in the investigation) requesting their files. I hope something pans out there.
But I don’t expect much since it was 1933 and I have never retrieved files that old from local governments on aviation accidents.
Will update my webpage if I find anything out.
I agree that a memorial should be placed for this very early and significant crash.
Chris Baird
www.arizonawrecks.com
The story of the "wedding dress" intrigued me because there's another wedding story buried in the saga of Flight 23.
ReplyDeleteThe pilot, Harold (Hal) Tarrant had been married only three or four months when he died. His new bride, Bessie Olsen Tarrant, and her father were waiting at the airport and had learned that Hal was over Chesterton, Indiana, and would be arriving soon.
The wait seemed to become a little long, and suddenly reporters descended on Bessie and her father yelling, "Is this the widow?"
A usually mild mannered gentleman, Bessie's father resorted to rather vulgar language. "Get out of here, you SOB's." he yelled as he tried to shield his 23-year-old daughter, who, family stories say, had been selected as queen of United Airlines.
Yeah it is a sad aspect of the story really. I had no idea about the pilots widow being hounded at the airport - those newsmen must have picked up on the crash quickly.
ReplyDeleteI am one of several nephews of Alice Scribner. My Mom was one of her younger siblings. I knew that Alice died in a commercial plane crash, but until this week did not know she was basically murdered. I would be interested in participating in establishing a memorial to her. I was at first a novelty when I learned how she died, or rather the circumstances then I started getting sad.
ReplyDeleteHi and thanks for coming forward. I'm sure Alice would appreciate that as would the others who were onboard. This mystery has always intrigued many people, myself included. I set up a blog site in 2007 for a crash in similar circumstances, that of Continental Airlines Flight 11 in 1962, nearly thirty years after this one. It too was blown up although they got their man there. Here's the link to my blog: http://continenalairlinesflight11.blogspot.co.nz/ It was through this blog that the town of Unionville, Missouri got a memorial going and now a headstone stands in the town square with the names of passengers and crew who died. Perhaps something similar at the crash site near Chesterton or in the town of Chesterton is in order here...I think your Aunt Alice deserves to be remembered permanently and that this crime gets some recognition more so than it does. It remains an endearing mystery and a haunting tragedy and an unsolved crime. I'm surprised that the local historical society in Chesterton (if it has one) hasn't made contact via this blog.
DeleteBy the way I can be contacted at dhcomet@gmail.com
ReplyDelete