Manor Ink March 2021

16 | MAR. 2021 | MANOR INK
Winters
past and
present
WHILE THE WINTER of
2020-21 may seem
endless, piles of snow
NOW &
THEN
FEATURES
are
nothing
new in Livingston Manor. A view of Pearl Street from the corner of Main,
a postcard picture taken more than a century ago, shows the hamlet just
as snowbound then as it is today. The only differences are the absence of several shops,
including the Hoos building, seen on the right in the older image. That structure, one of
the Manor’s oldest, was destroyed by fire in 2012. Manor Ink photos
Legendary last flight over
Last Chance Mountain
1934 crash brought notoriety to Manor
By Edward Lundquist | Manor Ink
In 1934, the Catskills experienced one
of the most interesting, and tragic, occurrences
in Livingston Manor’s history. In
early June, a 16-passenger biplane plummeted
from the sky, crashing into one of
the peaks near Mongaup Lake known as
Last Chance Mountain. The plane struck
the hillside, launching three passengers
clear of the metal coffin, and erupted into
flame.
At 4 p.m. on a Saturday, the American
Airlines Curtiss Condor took off from
Newark, en route to Chicago. The crew
was comprised of pilot Clyde Holbrook,
copilot John Barron and Ada Huckeby, the
stewardess. The passengers were Harry
Pinsley, a booking agent; Harold Coppins,
a factory superintendent; William Cass, an
executive of the same company; and E. W.
B. Bader, a chemical engineer.
On that unlucky day, when all of these
strangers came together, a worst nightmare
became a reality. Flying through a
storm mixed with fog, conditions were
such that even an experienced pilot
couldn’t handle them without modern
technology. To quote a contemporary
report in the Sullivan County Record, “The
tragedy again proves that while the air
has been conquered, storms and fog still
remain the undefeated enemy of aviation
and cannot be safely penetrated.”
W. H. Hallock was the first to discover
the plane’s crash site, spotting a brown
scar on the side of the mountain at around
11 a.m. on the following Monday. Dropping
as low as possible in his own plane
and confirming the wreckage location, he
flew to the Manor to tell the news. The
first to investigate were the captain of state
police and two officers, along with Hallock
and the town coroner. Following them
were about one hundred searchers.
Upon arriving at the site, they found the
charred corpses of the passengers. Thrown
from the plane were Coppins, Pinsley and
Huckeby, the latter two of which had both
been engaged to be married to their respective
fiances within a few months. As though
through some dark irony, the flight was to
have been the last plane trip Huckeby made
before quitting her job as a stewardess.
Also scattered in the 80-foot scorched
swath from the crash’s subsequent fire
Now showing
The Tiny House Project
See the display of houses in the windows of
the Laundry King, 65 Main Street
CAS Annual Appeal
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