was carrying." "His body was badly mutilated. The nose of the plane was buried four feet in the ground." "The motor was torn loose." This was the twelfth Army death in the effort to fly the mail. "It marked the first fatality, however, since the army resumed the mail routes since a suspension of service." "Clinton County Coroner L. O. Riggert took charge of the body. It was to be taken to Dewitt." [sic] "Mail pouches scattered over the ground were collected by a crowd of farmers. They were turned over to postal authorities at Clinton. Coroner Riggert obtained a tractor from a neighboring farmer and attempted to pull away the fuselage to get to the pilot's body. There was no fire." 31 March "SACRAMENTO, March 31. - Eastbound airmail was delayed approximately six hours here early today when an army plane piloted by Lieut. C. B. Stone snipped off the top of a power pole as he was preparing to land at the municipal airport. Lieutenant Stone was able to keep the plane under control and brought it to a safe landing. Because of slight damage to wings and struts, it was decided to bring a relief ship from Oakland to continue the trip eastward." 5 April "ALTOONA, Pa., April 5. - Second Lieut. John Leland McAlister of Langley Field, Va., leaped to his death late today a few seconds before his army ship crashed into the side of Healy's mountain, one of the rugged peaks that stud the area known as the 'graveyard of aviators.'Three farmers in a field about five miles west of the Duncansville (Altoona) airport saw the reserve officer suddenly rise in the plane as it roared toward the rocky mountainside and leap from the cockpit, less than 200 feet in the air. Slashing their way through the dense underbrush and rolling terrain of 'Maple hollow,' the farmers found the body resting against a tree, 80 feet from the wreckage of the plane, which had rolled 100 feet down the mountainside. Unable to determine the cause, airmen said the pilot might have been trying to fly between Healy's mountain and Pomeroy mountain, realized something had happened to his controls and decided to risk an almost certain death by such a short leap rather than dash against the bare mountainside. The pilot's log stated he left his home port, Langley field [sic], this morning and made