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Show TirE FATE OF GKAILIiI rE fate of Maurice Graham, intrepid in-trepid air mail pilot, still is unrevealed after ten days searching search-ing of the Kanarra mountains. The mystery of his disappearance was solved with the finding of his plane, but his body has not been located. How, when and where he came to his end is still a secret locked in the rugged fastnesses of the mountains. Some incline-toward the belief that he went toward Zion park after his plane crashed, and probably prob-ably fell to his death over the abrupt precipices in that section. Other.5 believe that he headed toward to-ward the summit of the mountain and succumbed to exposure in the snow and cold. Still others think he may have received a blow when he brought his plane down that rendered his mind a blank, that he made his way to the highway and is now wandering over the country. The latter is possible but highly improbable. Of the ' theories advanced, the one that Graham headed toward higher country seems the most feasible. He was an army trained pilot,, had seen combat service in the war and was trained to take care of himself in any emergency. emergen-cy. In all probability his first thought after bringing his plane to the ground was to leach a high point and build a fire to attract attention. On the other hand, if Graham had become confused at Leeds and took the course east of the regular mail route, thinking he was skirting Pine Valley mountain, he would naturally make down the slope, thinking the highway was below him. In this case he would GO toward Zion park. Searchers . have hunted the canyon section without a trace of the man, while to the northwest, toward the summit sum-mit of the mountain, remains of camp fires have been found, and other clues, which would lead to the belief that he endeavored to reach high ground, knowing he had come down east of the Ka-narra Ka-narra and Cedar mountains. As the ever-widening search progresses without trace of the body, it is apparent that Graham lived, several days after the crash. While he was endeavoring to reach habitation, struggling in the deep snow and brush, probably injured, and putting up a brave fight for his life, his brother pilots, misled by rumors, were searching hundreds hun-dreds of miles away. Local clues were disregarded and the whole search centered in Nevada. Ne-vada. This in spite of the fact that local people made every effort to convince the company that Graham Gra-ham had flown over this section, and was positively heard over Leeds at 3 o'clock. Later, when a farmer farm-er on Smith mesa returned to Toquerville To-querville and reported the plane had passed over his cabin, still no notice was taken of it. Even after two flares were found north of Virgin, the company still continued contin-ued the search in Nevada. In fact, the day the plane was located, two Western Air Express pilots were combing the country in the vicinity vicin-ity of Ely. Graham did his part, t ringing his plane down without completely wrecking it in some ef the most rugged contry in the (vest, and got out of the cra.-.h alive; but his company fell down on their end. in not investigating rv.mors, before jumping at conclusions. con-clusions. This is not written in an I-told-tou-ko attitude. In this office and in the office of the sheriff of Washington county are copies of letters written the post office department de-partment urging that an organized organ-ized search be made in this section, sec-tion, or at leait an inv?stufit:on iSc- OTMie here, and' giving niUira-tic niUira-tic information of jOrfthaia's tuovo-ments tuovo-ments tip to about 3 o'clock on the morning of his disapp'ormoe. Prom a note found oi the- plan; Orahr'.m landed fit 3 m. Thn: letters were written lou-i before the plane was found mi Iluiam mountain, but the reply wis always al-ways lhat 1 lie company ml past ctfice department wers siwinciil th;.t Graham was forced down in Wrvada.' and (hat when ever clue v.m -haiulftd there l.hcy mitjht turn their attention to .voulhera Utyh. The many rumors and statements state-ments made by persons in some cases living hundreds of miles away, show how the human imagination imag-ination so works on the mind sometimes as to convince one that he saw or heard things which never occurred. It again stresses the unreliability of street gossip, and the obligation which rests on newspapers to confirm whenever possible, the source and reliability of reports they give to the public. People at the Bristol mine in Nevada now deny that they sent a message to the W. A. E. saying a plane was heard there the morning morn-ing of Graham's disappearance, that the first they knew of the report was when they read the newspapers. Where this wild rumor, ru-mor, that possibly cost Graham his life, originated, no one knows, but it is certain that it deprived a brave man of at least an even break, and there is a chance that had an intensive a search been made here as was made in Nevada Ne-vada he would have been located before he perished. |