| Summary: | Comrade's Death Saddens Airmen: Arctic Expedition, Though, Carries On With Plans For Flight Pole./ Silent Crowds Watch./ Will Hold Funeral Services For Hutchinson In Fairbanks And Send Body To Mother. COMRADE'S DEATH SADDENS AIRMEN Arctic Expedition. Though, Carries On With Plans for Flight to Pole. SILENT CROWDS WATCH Will Hold Funeral Services for Hutchinson in Fairbanks and Send Body to Mother. By Captain George H. Wilkins, commander of the Detroit arctic expedition. (Copyright, 1926, by North American Newspaper Alliance.) Fairbanks, Alaska, March 12.—Throughout today telegrams and telephone calls came to members of the Detroit arctic expedition expressing sympathy and condolence in the death of one of their number, Palmer Hutchinson of Detroit, correspondent of the North American Newspaper Alliance, who was killed late yesterday when he backed into the propeller of one of the party's two monoplanes. It was a subdued group of men who filed this morning to the hangar here where the machines are being tested, for Hutchinson's laughter and cheery banter were lacking. Nevertheless the work of reassembling spare parts and repairing the defective radiator of the single-engined ship, the Alaskan, proceeded, the workers being watched by silent crowds who flocked to the scene. The Detroiter still rests where the accident occurred. She is complete in every respect and ready to fly. Funeral Sunday Afternoon. Major Thomas G. I.anphter, unofficial army observer, and C. M. Wiseley and Andrew Hufford, the two airplane mechanics, are fitting the Alaskan and she should be ready to take the air by this evening. The members of Igloo No. 4, Pioneers of Alaska, came forward today with an offer to arrange an impressive funeral service for Palmer Hutchinson Sunday afternoon. The casket will be,carried to the church by members of the expedition and after the service will be entrained for Seward, where it will be shipped to the home of Mrs. Charles Hutchinson, his mother, who lives at Gilrad, Pa. The mayor of Fairbanks on behalf of the citizens sent a message of today. The coroner announced there will be no inquest. as the fatality was purely accidental. No blame is attached to any one, but every one is profoundly sorry that such a promising career was cut short and such a likable companion removed. Field Needs Attention Taxiing of the Detroiter on the aviation field yesterday showed that the field needs further attention for the heavy ship sank through the crust that has formed on the prepared surface of snow, and the crust acts like a choke in front of the wheels. Under the direction of the Fairbanks city council, men are hurrying to put the field in good shape. A message from Earl Rossman, cameraman and correspondent of the North American Newspaper Alliance, who is with the dog team party carrying supplies to Point Barrow for the flying division, reports that on 60-mile cabin. Two Indians have been added to the party which now has five dog teams. They were trailing slowly through deep, wet snow, but were confident of making good progress. The message was carried to Tanana by an Indian who happened to pass them.
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