A yellowed newspaper was among items Tom Brown of Columbia, Mo., found in his mother’s possessions after her death in 1990.
While on a trek with Elderhostel (through Carl Albert Junior College), Brown and his wife, Mildred, presented the newspaper to the Will Rogers Museum. It is the Washington (D.C.) Evening Star Sunday, Aug. 16, 1935 account of the Alaskan plane crash that claimed the lives of Will Rogers and Wiley Post the night before.
“We didn’t throw anything away in my family,” laughed Brown, “but we thought this would be a good time to give it up.”
Retired from the University of Missouri School of Agriculture 21 years, he thought the timing was right to give up the item from their family archives.
Brown said he knows none of the history of the newspaper, but appreciates the complete account of the crash and the accompanying stories about Will and Wiley.
A check of the internet shows the Washington Evening Star was at one time known as the Washington Star-News and the Washington Evening Star and was a daily afternoon newspaper published in Washington D.C., between 1852 and 1981.
A box at the time of the front page credits the newspaper as being the only evening paper in Washington (D.C.) with Associated Press News and wire photo service. The front page photo was taken of Will and Wiley in Seattle while the mechanic prepared the plane for flight.
A number of inside photos focused on Will and Wiley, especially Wiley’s flying history and a photo of the space suit.
There is a quote from Mississippi Senator Pat Harrison who said he told Will “he ought to cut flying out; he was going to be killed.”
“But he merely told me I would be killed some time trying to hit a golf ball,” the Senator added.