SWALLOWED KEY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 217, 12 September 1940, Page 4

SWALLOWED KEY.

STEWARDESS , STORY. "SLUGGED" ON AEROPLANE. NEW YORK, August 8. Officials of American Airlines to-night investigated the reported '•'slugging 5, of a stewardess on a sky sleeper 'plane by an unidentified person shortly before the 'plane, west bound, landed at Nashville (Tennessee), last night, states the Nashville correspondent of the "New York Times.' , The stewardess, Rosemary Griffith, 24, of Flushing, New York, was recovering in a hospital here from a blow on the head and other bruises. Paul Stanley, local sales manager for the airline, talked with her this rnornand', and late to-day gave out a statement that Miss Griffith had told him of being accosted in the women's lounge by a man who demanded a key she was carrying to the mail, express and baggage compartment. '"Give me the key," the stewardess said the man whispered. "Give me the key or I'll slug you." Miss Griffith told Mr. Stanley that she was leaning over in a corner of the lounge at the time. She fell to the floor "as if under a heavy blow," and then swallowed the key. Shortly afterwards passengers found her unconscious. Doctors reported that the stewardess had scratches.and bruises on one leg and one arm. They said that she was "too ! nervous" to be questioned further. The airline official's statement was given out after he had conferred with company officials in New York.

She Saw No One. Mr. Stanley reported that Miss Griffith said she did not remember anything after falling from the blow. She said that she did not see anyone in the lounge. At the hospital she was guarded from unofficial visitors, but, mentioning the experience to one visitor, she said that "it was awful." Roy Mitchell, assistant operations manager in charge of flight personnel, who came, here from New York to handle the inquiry, said that the ship's cargo consisted only of mail, express and passengers, and "nothing of especial valuu ae far as I know now." "When this investigation is completed" he said, "I will give a detailed account of the case." He declined to discuss what efforts, if any, would be made towards interviewing the passengers, most of wlinin transferred to another ship here fnr the south-west leg of the flight. Othere boarded trains. X-ray photographs at the hospital here confirmed the young woman's story of swallowing the key. Another X-ray was taken to-day to determine the extent of the injury to her head, but the result was not immediately announced. One airline official, in an early report to-day, said that he was inclined to believe Miss Griffith was holding the key in her mouth, possibly while changing j her uniform, and that when the ship passed through rough air the jolt caused ] her to swallow the key and fall and | bruise herself. Examination of the mail compartment' of the 'plane showed its contents had not been tampered with, it was stated. Fingerprint Examination. Investigating the possibility that the key had been swallowed deliberately to avoid having it fall into other hands the}--women's lounge was examined for fingerprints. Chester Boruni, superintendent of the Nashville airport, flew to Dallas on the same 'plane which carried passengers transferred from Miss Griffiths' 'plane, which was held here for further examination. Reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had entered the investigation could not be confirmed to-day, although last night Tom Phe.lps, police man at the airport, said that lie hail [ been notified to meet F. 8.1, agents who would arrive and examine the 'plane today. ' Captain James Stroud was pilot of the "plane. Miss Griffith, who has been employed by the airline for the last three years, was listed in hospital records as the daughter of Mr. H. D. Griffith, of Sprin"! field, Mass. . Mail Cargo Is Ordered Held. Thomas. Cotton, a postal inspector, ordered the impounding of the mail cargo on its arrival at Los Angeles. "None of the passengers is under suspicion, and all have been allowed to leave," said Mr. Cotton, who also ordered that the passenger list be kept secret. - - Postal authorities refused to discuss whether the 'plane carried any mail of unusual value or significance.