Victims of Plane Disaster Burned Beyond Recognition.
By United Press
GRANTS, N. Mex., Sept. 8.—High on the wooded hillsides of Mt. Taylor, 65 miles south of here, a searching party Sunday found the charred bodies of the passengers and crew of the ill-fated air liner City of San Francisco.
Passengers aboard were:
Mrs. Corina Raymond, wife of George B. Raymond of Glendale, Cal.
Amasa B. McCaffey, wealthy lumberman of Albuquerque.
Harris Livermore, shipping man of Boston.
M. M. Campbell of Cincinnati, paper concern sales manager.
William Henry Beers, New York golf magazine editor.
Members of the crew were:
J. B. Stowe, chief pilot, of Clovis, N. M.
Edwin A. Dietel, co-pilot, of New Branufels, Texas.
C. F. Canfield, New York Courier.
Identify Mrs. Raymond
The body of Mrs. Raymond was the only one that could be identified, eye witnesses of the wreckage said.
The plane had crashed trees nearly three feet in diameter as it careened across the mountain slope.
The bodies were not moved at once, pending investigation by Coroner Geronimo Baca, who was expected to reach the scene of the disaster late Sunday.
The plane was found on the southern slope of the mountain, as reported by pilot George K. Rice of the Western Air Express Saturday. It was six miles from any road or trail and it was necessary for members of the searching party to beat through brush and shrubbery to reach it.
The City of San Francisco sailed from Albuquerque airport at 10:10 a. m. last Tuesday and, it was established by the searching party, had taken its eight occupants to their death less than an hour later.
The time of the accident was established at 11:01, as at that time the watches of those aboard had stopped.
Wreckage of the plane was scattered for 200 yards. In the cabin were the burned bodies.
Death Instantaneous?
First word of the discovery of the plane came to the telephone exchange here in the form of a message from the forest ranger station atop Mt. Taylor. It said the searching party, which set out early Sunday morning from the station, had reached the plane at 11:30 a. m. following directions of the aviators who sighted it Saturday.
The fact that the bodies had been discovered was confirmed by a United Press special correspondent traveling with the party.
Those who saw the plane thought that it had hit the mountainside and exploded. Apparently death came instantaneously to all aboard. It seemed that after the crash flames had enveloped the plane and cremated the victims.
Carry Bodies From Wreck
The bodies first were reached by Ranger Mills and superintendent Adams of the Manzano National forest.
Most of the searching party that started out of Grants late Saturday and was led up the mountain sides by trained Zuni Indian guides, remained at the scene of the wreck on the south slope of the mountain while G. T. Hazen, department of commerce investigator, looked over the wreckage.
Later the party will begin its journey through the wooded section with the charred bodies.
These will have to be carried by men on foot until the party reaches the horses, four miles below the summit, and it will take several hours to make the journey.
South Bend News-Times, South Bend, IN, September 9, 1929
Transcontinental Air Transport Plane Crash of 1929
On September 3, 1929, T. A. T. Ford Tri-Motor NC9649, named City of San Francisco, crashed into the forested slope of Mount Taylor near Grants, New Mexico . The crash took place during a thunderstorm; the three crew and five passengers on board were killed.