Crítica
- A Serious Aviation Accident Occurred Today in England
- Criminals Actively Sought
- Tex Rickard Will Stage a Great Festival
This Buenos Aires Crítica page of 2 October 1926 carried an Associated Press cable reporting that a French Air Union airliner bound for Croydon caught fire in the engine near Tonbridge and crashed in Kent. It said all seven aboard, five passengers plus the pilot and the mechanic, were burned beyond identification, and that local farmworkers had arrived too late to help. A long local crime report described detectives under commissioners de la Cuesta and Urruchúa raiding suburban haunts and holding many suspects incommunicado, while admitting the hunt had so far been almost fruitless. From New York, another AP dispatch announced an all-heavyweight card Tex Rickard would promote at the new Madison Square Garden, said to be an elimination to find a challenger for the new champion Gene Tunney, and listed the bouts.
Translation
A Serious Aviation Accident Occurred Today in England
[?] …caught fire… [?] A SERIOUS AVIATION ACCIDENT OCCURRED TODAY IN ENGLAND. A French airplane bound for Croydon aerodrome caught fire moments after passing over Penhurst, and all its occupants were burned to death. THEY HAVE NOT BEEN IDENTIFIED.
(Associated Press) PENHURST, Kent (Great Britain), 2. – A French airplane flying to Croydon aerodrome, carrying five passengers in addition to the pilot and the mechanic, plunged to the ground near this town after a fire broke out in the engine. As it passed over Tonbridge it could already be seen blazing in flames, and moments later it fell and, turning over, trapped the seven occupants, all of whom were burned to death. The bodies could not be identified, since they were completely burned and barely anything but bones remains. The airplane belonged to the French Air Union. Farmworkers of the area, who had seen the airplane in flames, immediately ran to help the occupants, but they arrived too late, for the pilot must have died from burns as he was heading for the military aerodrome here, so that the craft was left without control and fell heavily to the ground, trapping the [?]
Criminals Actively Sought
[?] The police in action. In this regard, the activity being displayed by the investigations staff is enormous. Several squads of detectives, headed by commissioners de la Cuesta and Urruchúa, are moving ceaselessly through the suburban towns, keeping close watch over all the gathering places of disreputable people and carrying out continual raids that turn up dangerous elements. In this way numerous criminals have been detained, all of whom are being questioned in detail. And although many of them offer no information of real interest and no tangible proof of guilt, they are being kept strictly incommunicado, in case they might supply some revealing detail. Nevertheless, all the work so far has been all but fruitless, owing to the time that has elapsed and the prevailing confusion, all of which the criminals have taken full advantage of to get away calmly from the scene of the crime. [?]
Tex Rickard Will Stage a Great Festival
[?] It is said that its purpose is to single out the most likely opponent of the brand-new world champion. THE BOUTS
(Associated Press) NEW YORK, 2. – Next Thursday a boxing festival will be held at the new Madison Square Garden, under the auspices of Tex Rickard and with heavyweight boxers taking part exclusively. According to reports, the festival's purpose is to hold an elimination to single out the most likely opponent of Gene Tunney, the brand-new world champion. Thursday's program is as follows: main event: Franz Diener, German, vs. Knute Hanseen, American, 10 rounds; semifinal: Alex Rely, Peruvian, vs. Jimmy Delaney, American; preliminary: Jack Demare, American, vs. Young Fitzsimmons, American, ten rounds; first preliminary: Monte Munn, American, vs. Jimmy Murphy, six rounds; and opener: Henry Lamar vs. George Gemas, four rounds. [?]
Context
What actually happened near Penshurst on 2 October 1926
The airliner in the cable was the Air Union Blériot 155 F-AICQ, which caught fire in mid-air on 2 October 1926 on its way from Le Bourget, Paris, to Croydon. It crashed at Leigh, Kent, while the pilot was trying to make an emergency landing at Penshurst Airfield. The paper's count of seven dead, five passengers plus the pilot and his mechanic, matches the later record: two crew and five passengers, all killed. That record lists the passengers as English and the crew as French. The first-day wire story differs in some details. It said the pilot had probably burned to death while heading for the airfield, and that the bodies could not be identified. The later record says instead that the pilot was thrown clear in the crash and killed, and that one woman passenger was pulled from the wreckage but found to be dead. The inquest later heard evidence on who the victims were. The paper's spelling "Penhurst" and its phrase "military aerodrome" come from that first cable. The airfield is recorded as Penshurst Airfield.
How the crash was investigated, and why it stood out
The crash is recorded as the first in-flight fire on an airliner, a kind of emergency the Paris–London passenger service had not faced before. The morning after the crash, an official from the Air Ministry arrived to begin investigating. The site was cordoned off, partly because crowds of sightseers were blocking the narrow lanes and could have spoiled the evidence. At the inquest on 5 October, a Bureau Veritas certificate was produced showing the aircraft had been passed as fit to fly. The pilot was shown to be very experienced, with more than 2,000 flying hours. Major Cooper of the Air Ministry testified that no airliner had ever caught fire in the air before. The jury returned verdicts of accidental death. The cable printed here, datelined the day of the crash, carried only the first account: an engine fire, an aircraft seen burning over Tonbridge, the fall, and early assumptions about the pilot's death and the victims' identities that the investigation later went beyond.
Why a new challenger for Gene Tunney was needed
The paper calls Tunney the "brand-new" world champion. He had won the title only nine days before this issue, beating Jack Dempsey by unanimous decision over ten rounds in Philadelphia on 23 September 1926, when most insiders had expected Dempsey to win. Rickard himself had been trying since early 1926 to stage a Dempsey–Tunney bout. The fight was finally set for Yankee Stadium, but it moved to Philadelphia because the New York State Athletic Commission refused Dempsey a licence until he fought Harry Wills. That dispute shows how contested the choice of a heavyweight challenger already was. A Rickard card made up only of heavyweights and described as an elimination was a way to produce the next challenger. The paper presents that purpose only as something "it is said".
The "new" Madison Square Garden and Rickard's role
The dispatch places the card at the "new" Madison Square Garden. That was the third arena of the name, on Eighth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets. The boxing promoter Tex Rickard built it in 349 days for $4.75 million, and he also owned and ran it. It opened on 15 December 1925, less than a year before this issue, and boxing became its main attraction. Its first bout was a light-heavyweight title fight in December 1925. In planning a heavyweight elimination there, Rickard was acting both as the matchmaker and as the owner of the arena, so the card announced in this cable was also business for his own building.
Original
UN GRAVE ACCIDENTE DE AVIACION OCURRIO HOY EN INGLATERRA
UELO SE INCENDI aba UN GRAVE ACCIDENTE DE AVIACION OCURRIO HOY EN INGLATERRA Un aeroplano francés que se dirigía al aeródromo de Croydon, se incendió instantes después de haber pasado sobre Penhurst, pereciendo car bonizado todos sus tripulantes NO SE LES HA IDENTIFICADO (Associated Press) PENHURST, Kent, (Gran Bretaña), 2. - Un aeroplano francés que iba al aeródromo de Croydon, conduciendo cinco pasajeros, además del piloto y el mecánico, se precipitó a tierra cerca de esta localidad, por haber estallado un incendio en el motor. Cuando pasaba por Tonbridge ya se le alcanzó a divisar ardiendo en llamas, e instantes después caía y dándose vuelta, aprisionaba a los siete tripulantes, todos los cuales perecieron carbonizados. Los cadáveres no han podido ser identificados, pues han ardido totalmente y apenas si quedan los huesos. El avión pertenecía a la Unión Aérea Francesa. Los labradores de la región, que habían visto al aeroplano en llamas, corrieron inmediatamente a socorrer a los tripulantes, pero llegaron tarde, pues el piloto debió haber perecido quemado cuando enfilaba hacia el aeródromo militar de ésta, de modo que la nave quedó sin comando y cayó pesadamente a tierra, aprisionando a los [?]
Se Busca Activamente a los Malhechores
[?] La policía en acciónEn ese sentido, la actividad desplegada por los empleados de investigaciones, es enorme. Varias comisiones de pesquisantes, encabezadas por los comisarios de la Cuesta y Urruchúa, se mueven sin tregua en los pueblos suburbanos, ejerciendo una estrecha vigilancia en todos los centros de reunión de la gente de mal vivir, y efectuando continuos allanamientos que deparan el hallazgo de elementos peligrosos. Con ello se ha conseguido detener a numerosos maleantes, todos los cuales son interrogados minuciosamente. Y si bien, muchos de ellos no ofrecen datos de verdadero interés y pruebas palpables de culpabilidad, se les mantiene rigurosamente incomunicados, por si pudieran aportar algún detalle revelador. No obstante, toda la tarea hasta el presente, ha sido poco menos que infructuosa, en razón del tiempo transcurrido y de la desorientación reinante, todo lo cual ha sido ventajosamente aprovechado por los delincuentes, para alejarse tranquilamente del lugar del hecho. [?]
TEX RICKARD REALIZARA UN GRAN FESTIVAL
[?] Se dice que tiene el objeto de destacar al más probable oponente del flamante campeón mundial LOS ENCUENTROS (Associated Press) NUEVA YORK, 2. - El jueves próximo se realizará un festival de boxeo en el nuevo Madison Square Garden, bajo los auspicios de Tex Rickard y con la participación exclusiva de pugilistas de peso pesado. Según se dice, el festival tiene por objeto realizar una eliminación para destacar al más probable oponente de Gene Tunney, el flamante campeón mundial. El siguiente es el programa del jueves: Pelea de fondo: Franz Diener, alemán, v. Knute Hanseen, norteamericano, a 10 rounds; semifinal: Alex Rely, peruano v. Jimmy Delaney, norteamericano; preliminar: Jack Demare, norteamericano, v. Young Fitzsimmons, norteamericano, a diez rounds; primera preliminar: Monte Munn, norteamericano, v. Jimmy Murphy, a seis rounds; e inicial: Henry Lamar v. George Gemas, a cuatro rounds. [?]
Source: Source: Internet Archive / Biblioteca Nacional de la República Argentina