From the collections at the Leavenworth County Historical Society and Museum. Reprinted with permission from The Leavenworth County Historical Society and Museum and the Leavenworth Times. Donated by Debra Graden.

D. R. Anthony IV Killed in Crash Of His Airplane

Leavenworth Times, June 28, 1959

 

Daniel Read Anthony IV, co-publisher of The Leavenworth Times, was killed when the light plane he was piloting crashed and burned during a severe thunderstorm Friday in rugged hill country near the Ohio-West Virginia border.

He was 33 years of age.

The body was flown here yesterday by chartered plane from Wheeling, W. Va., 12 miles southeast of the crash scene.

The two-engined plane carrying the body put down at the Ft. Leavenworth airfield at 6:16 p.m. yesterday. It had bucked strong winds during the five hour flight of 760 miles from Wheeling.

Funeral service will be announced later.

A farmer saw the plane, a four-passenger single engine Cessna, losing altitude as it flew over a series of saw-toothed ridges.

The plane brushed trees atop Jug Run Hill, lost its tail section and then crashed mid-way up Gerke Run Hill one-half mile away.

Crews from five fire departments in the area formed lines and searched for the plane. Wreckage was spotted from the air by a search plane. Ohio state patrolmen found the tail section wedged in the ground.

Rescuers followed parts of the plane to where the engine had nosed into the hillside.

One member of the search party described the hill as "almost like a mountain. We had to dig in our heels and hold to trees to climb it."

Fireman used crowbars to pry apart the smashed cockpit.

Scene of the crash was on the Nellie Plintie farm between Smithfield and Dillonvale, Ohio. It is about 10 miles west of the Ohio river and some 15 miles northwest of Wheeling, W. Va.

It is almost on a direct line between Leavenworth and the New York airport where a receipt in his possession indicated he had gassed the plane.

Another Leavenworth flyer, Donald Doyle, operator of the American Printing Company, lost his life in a crash several years ago in this same area.

Mr. Anthony was returning to Leavenworth from Edgartown, Mass. He had flown his parents, Mr. and Mrs. D. R. Anthony III, to their summer home at Edgartown.

He had called The Times Thursday from Ohio to report he was weathered in and would be delayed a day.

Information was not immediately available regarding the location of his Friday take-off. The crash occurred shortly before 3 p.m. This schedule would have allowed him to return before dark to Sherman Army Airfield at Ft. Leavenworth where he had left his car.

The Ohio Highway Patrol said the Civil Aeronautics Administration planned yesterday to start an investigation of the crash. There was no indication as to what caused it.

The storm dumped great quantities of water in the area. A resident of Dillonvale told The Times streets there Friday afternoon "were running two-thirds full."

Some speculated the engine may have drowned out. Others believed a downdraft may have caused loss of power, said Charles A Wilson of Dillonvale, one of the rescue party.

News of the death shocked this community. He was known to be a capable and conservative pilot. For several years he and his father had piloted their own plane. His wife also had taken up flying.

Police Lt. Bill Alford received word of the death shortly before 6 p.m. Friday. Employes of The Times were advised. They notified the parents.

His wife, Mrs. Frances Anthony, and daughters were, visiting her cousins at Carrizozo, N. M. She was reached by her father, Dr. Carl Schutz, a Kansas City, Mo., physician and surgeon.

Members of the family yesterday returned by air to Leavenworth.

He was a fourth generation Kansan and a member of one of the oldest families of this state.

His great grandfather, a Civil War officer and political leader in Territorial Kansas, founded The Times in 1857, Susan B. Anthony, famed campaigner for women's suffrage, was a sister of the Colonel.

His grandfather, D. R. Anthony Jr., at the time of his death in 1931, had served this district in Congress for 29 consecutive years, longer than any other Kansan.

Before election to Congress he had served from 1898 to 1902 as postmaster of Leavenworth and mayor from 1903 until 1907.

On the occasion of his 30th birthday, Oct. 16, 1956, "Young Dan," as he was widely known, was made co-publisher with his father.

Arrangements recently had been completed for him to assume full control in operation of the newspaper.

In 1941 he began work at The Times during summer vacation from St. John's Military Academy at Delafield, Wis. After enrolling at the University of Kansas he continued part time work in the newsroom until he entered the Army on Sept. 22, 1943.

He graduated from Officers Training School and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Airborne Infantry.

During World War II he served as a first lieutenant with MacArthur's forces in the Southwest Pacific. Two months after the war ended he was returned to the United States from Japan.

He resumed his studies at the University of Kansas where he enrolled in the school of journalism.

While at Lawrence he met Miss Frances Schutz of Kansas City, Mo., a fine arts student. They were married Nov. 26, 1948, at Grace and Holy Trinity Church, Kansas City, Mo.

He remained at the university for awhile after their marriage.

But he preferred the practical side of journalism to the academic life. He cut short his formal education and returned to work full time on the news staff.

He became actively engaged in municipal politics and wrote a series of news articles in support of the Citizen Committee candidates' campaign during the spring of 1949.

Later he filled assignments in the business and advertising departments, and served as news editor and associate editor.

He was regarded by those who knew him as a calm and methodical worker. He rarely became excited and exercised a penchant for preciseness, whether in the written word or in speaking.

Flying was one of his delights. Occasionally he and his father would slip away for a few days hunting at family farms at Huron and Ulysses.

He served as a member of the Chamber of Commerce and municipal airport committees. He served as one of the key figures in negotiating the use of the Army airport at Ft. Leavenworth for use of private planes through a lease arrangement.

Although he shunned publicity he frequently volunteered his services and his plane for mercy flights between Leavenworth and Rochester, Minn. Trips to and from the Mayo Clinic were made much easier for a number of critically ill persons.

He also enjoyed the classics, whether in music, literature or other forms of art.

Recently the family moved from the older Anthony residence at 503 N. Broadway to a more spacious new home on Westwood Drive. From there he could overlook the city which for more than a century had been linked inseparably with his forefathers.

He was a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, the Leavenworth County Club, the Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce, the Henry Leavenworth Chapter of the Association of the U.S. Army and a director of the Citizens Mutual Building and Loan Association.

Other than his parents, Mr. and Mrs. D. R. Anthony III of 519 N. Broadway, He leaves his wife, Frances, and four daughters, Constance 10, Elizabeth Havens 9, Sara 7, and Marjorie 6; one sister, Mrs. Martin Begien of Boston, and an aunt, Mrs. Eleanor Anthony Dadiani of Palm Beach, Fla., co-owner of The Times.

The body was received by the Davis Funeral Church.

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