Pacific Ocean Claims Aviator and Los Angeles Newspaper Man Accompanying Him. Belief as to Fate is Borne Out by the Finding of a Pontoon of the Hydro-Aeroplane "Snookums" in Which They Were Attempting Flight to Frisco, Daily Journal and Tribune, Knoxville, Tennessee: December 16, 1912, Transcribed by Bob Davis - 12-31-03       "Los Angeles, Cal., Dec. 15. - Horace Kearney, the young Kansas City aviator, attempting a hydro-aeroplane flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco, is believed to have drowned together with Chester Lawrence, a Los Angeles newspaper man, who was accompanying him on the trip.       A pontoon of the hydro-aeroplane "Snookums" was picked up late today in the Pacific ocean by a motorboat off Redondo beach and towed into Santa Monica by a party of fishermen. Thirty hours continuous search for Kearney and Lawrence was without result except that Glenn H. Martin, a fellow aviator, nearly met Kearney's fate while attempting to alight on the waves off Point Mugu, where he was seeking the missing men.       Efforts at organized search have for the time been abandoned. Charles Day, who built Kearney's machine, went down to Santa Monica and looked at the pontoon. He identified it as the one he had put on the "Snookums" remarking that Kearney had often said death would catch him while flying.       Engine trouble, Day said, probably drove the men to the surface of the sea which, smooth for months at a time had been agitated by a 30-mile gale. A swell, Day believes, wrenched off the pontoon which has been recovered. This unbalanced the machine and probably threw the men into the water or dragged them down in a sudden overturn.       Glenn Martin, in a fruitless effort to find the missing men, flew from San Pedro today carrying Frank S. Garbutt, secretary of the Los Angeles Athletic club. They were followed by Garbutt's power launch. Forty miles up the coast Martin flew while Garbutt searched the waves with powerful glasses. At Point Mugu, Martin as he agreed, alighted on the water and replenished his gasoline supply from the power launch, but attempting to rise found that the waves would not let him. The launch took the air-craft in tow, and headed back for San Pedro, but near the backwater ran out of fuel, and rolled hopelessly about until rescued. The aeroplane was wrecked and but for the aid of the launch, Martin and Garbutt must have been drowned when they alighted.

Hopes Men are Safe Daily Journal and Tribune, Knoxville, Tennessee: December 16, 1912, Transcribed by Bob Davis - 12-31-03 San Francisco, Dec. 15 - W. H. Pickens, Kearney's manager here, when told of the finding of the pontoon from the hydro-aeroplane, expressed hope that while the machine was lost the men might have made an island, though he said this seemed doubtful. Chester Lawrence, Kearney's passenger, devised the plan of making the Los Angeles - San Francisco flight, submitted it to Kearney who was delighted with it and the two explained it to Manager Pickens.

Kearney's Career Daily Journal and Tribune, Knoxville, Tennessee: December 16, 1912, Transcribed by Bob Davis - 12-31-03 San Francisco, Dec. 15 - Eighteen months was the period of of Horace Kearney's career as an aviator. Born in Kansas City twenty-six years ago, Kearney was claimed by the coast, where he did most of his work. Kearney flew at Los Angeles and Oakland meets, and in a tour of 105 days through the middle east last summer flew every day but one without an accident. At Springfield, Ill. his engine stopped. His father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. J. K. Kearney, and a brother, Archie Kearney, live in Kansas City.       He was engaged to Miss Luise McPherson, of Madisonville, Ky., and named his hydro-aeroplane "Snookums" after his pet name for his fiancee.

Futile Search for Aeroplanists Daily Journal and Tribune, Knoxville, Tennessee: December 17, 1912, Transcribed by Bob Davis - 12-31-03 Los Angeles, Cal., Dec. 16. - A day of futile search by land and water and the investigation of numerous rumors, all of which proved groundless, strengthened the conviction that Aviator Horace Kearney and Chester Lawrence, his companion on the attempted hydro-aeroplane flight to San Francisco, had lost their lives. The fruitless search of the last two days and nights for the wreckage from Kearney's flying machine has led many to the opinion that the aviator fell from such an altitude that the aircraft plunged to the bottom of the Pacific.

Proof Found of Disaster that Overtook Aviator Hearney and His ReporterCompanion Lawrence Daily Journal and Tribune, Knoxville, Tennessee: December 18, 1912, Transcribed by Bob Davis - 12-31-03 Los Angeles, Cal., Dec. 17. - Fragments of a hydro-aeroplane and clothing which were washed ashore and identified, proved today that Aviator Horace Kearney and his reporter companion, Chester Lawrence, met disaster soon after they started last Saturday on their proposed flight over the ocean to San francisco.       The exact circumstances surrounding their death probably always will remain unknown. They may have died within a few hours after they vanished Saturday afternoon in the mists off Point Fermin or they may have clung to their fragile craft all through a stormy night and the next day. But judging from the position of the wreckage, which gave today the first definite clue to their fate, they died a short distance from ashore and in all probability their bodies now rest in the tangled morass of the kelp beds near Redondo beach.       The wreckage of the hydro-aeroplane was found today at Fishermans' cove, four miles south of Redondo beach by Paul Banzhaf and two companions who conducted an independent search. The searchers picked up a shirt and vest. Glenn Martin, who undertook Sunday the dangerous hydro-aeroplane flight in search of Kearney, declared that the vest was part of the clothing Lawrence wore when he boarded the aeroplane with Kearney.       The shirt and vest were ripped and torn, indicating the haste and desperation with which their wearer had cast off impediments for his battle with the sea. A pontoon found nearby was battered and dented and the condition of a fragmentary wing tip also found grave evidence of having been battered by the waves.

Sacrificed to Aviation, Bodies of Aviator Horace Kearney and Reporter Lawrence are Found in Sea Daily Journal and Tribune, Knoxville, Tennessee: December 20, 1912, Transcribed by Bob Davis - 12-31-03 Los Angeles, Cal., Dec. 19. - The bodies of Horace Kearney, aviator, and Chester Lawrence, newspaper man, rescued from the sea, lie side by side tonight in a little undertaking shop at Redondo Beach. They met death in an attempted hydro-aeroplane flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Ten hours after the body of the young reporter, battered almost beyond recognition by waves and rocks, was found on the precipitous coast near Rocky Point, that of Kearney was picked up a mile away at sea by a searching party.       Kearney's body was found entangled in kelp and partly attached to a life-preserver, the white cloth of which attracted the searchers to the spot. There was every indication that Kearney had met death soon after his hydro-aeroplane struck the water. The life-preserver had not been buckled about him. His hands were gloveless and clenched.       Little doubt remains that the aeroplane and its passengers made the fatal drop within fifteen minutes after it was last sighted last Saturday by watchers at San Pedro, disappearing into the haze beyond Point Fermin, which marks the entrance to the Los Angeles harbor. Kearney and Lawrence could not have been more than five miles from shore when a treacherous air current or a defective engine dropped them to the water.       The relative condition of the bodies showed that Lawrence died last and that he had made an ineffectual attempt to relieve himself of his heavy wearing apparel in order to be better able to battle with the heavy seas. A light jersey and a heavy sweater were pulled partly over his head, showing that he had been drowned while trying to remove them. His watch had stopped at five o'clock. The main section of the hydro-aeroplane has not been found"       Was the visibility so poor that the horizon was undiscernable? While it was daylight, did they meet the same fate as Kennedy?

 

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