Thursday, January 15, 1970
HIS LAST TRIP
The fate of Lieutenant E. H. Bobitt, Jr., of Hot Springs, Virginia.
O’er the West Virginia mountains
On the bleak December day,
Sped a fast and stately airship
For a port not far away.
Many eyes were cast upon it.
On that sad, sad Christmas day
When the young and handsome pilot
Bravely sped upon his way.
Going home to spend his Christmas
In that old Virginia State
Little dreaming on that morning
What would be his sad, sad fate.
But the winter twilight deepened,
And that Christmas day wore on
Yet to this old Virginia home
Came no tidings of their son.
Soon to them came a message
“Missing plane cannot be found.”
There was formed a searching party
To search the hills for miles around.
For weary days that search continued
Thru the mountains, cold and gray
Still there came no cheerful tidings
At the close of each hard day.
Then at last one fateful evening
Sad the words now to relate
Came the mournful story
Of the brave Lieutenant’s fate.
Down within the stately airship
His charred body there they found,
High upon a lonely mountain
Lying there upon the ground.
None were there to tell the story,
How the fast airship went down,
With its brave and gallant pilot
Who had won so much renown.
Days may come and years roll on,
As the seasons pass away,
Still to them will come the memory
Of that sad, sad Christmas day. ~ W. Russell Leach, Alderson, W. V.
This poem was kept by Harry Gum, of Cass, who helped bring out the body of Lieutenant Bobbitt, after he crashed on Cheat on Christmas Day of 1931. It took a week to find the wreckage.
BIRTHS
Born to Mr. and Mrs. James Lee McGraw, of Chesapeake, Virginia, a daughter, named Martha Kay.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Clark Buzzard, of Frost, a daughter, named Shelia Jane.
DEATHS
Mrs. Lucy Jane Lott, 70, of Huntersville; survived by her daughter, Mrs. Bertie McLaughlin, of Huntersville. Burial in Parkersburg.
Miss Mary Wolfe, 51, of Cass, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Laban Wolfe. Burial in the Arbovale Cemetery.
John Layton, 68, of Dunmore; burial in the Grogg Cemetery near Dunmore.
Paul McNeil, 84, of Lexington, Virginia; survived by his sister, Agnes Cackley, of Mill Point. Burial in Lexington.
James S. Cook, 88, of Buckeye, a retired farmer.
