The Airplane Crash Conspiracy

Statesman Journal (Salem, OR) March 4, 2003 Tuesday
Copyright 2003 Statesman Journal (Salem, OR)

March 4, 2003 Tuesday
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 1C
LENGTH: 824 words
HEADLINE: Death of a statesman
BODY:
A 1947 plane crash changed the course of Oregon politics
BY CAPI LYNN
Statesman Journal
Earl Snell, the 23rd governor of Oregon, loved to fish and hunt and he had a fox terrier named Picky that he found at the Humane Society.
Snell preferred to ride in the front seat of the Packard limousine the state provided him, could always put a name with a face and was known for sending stacks of birthday and holiday cards.
"Politicians were loved back then," said grandson Bill Snell Jr. of Monmouth. "There was not this cynicism. It was based on a lot of integrity.
"These guys, not just Granddad, actually were what they were - really standup people."
The state mourned the loss of Earl Snell and two other such politicians more than 55 years ago.
Snell, Secretary of State Robert Farrell Jr. and Senate President Marshall Cornett were killed in a plane crash Oct. 28, 1947, in the wild terrain of Southern Oregon.
The accident turned state politics upside down. All three men were popular and had political promise.
Snell, 52, was expected to run for the U.S. Senate after finishing his second term as governor. Farrell, 41, was regarded as Snell's logical successor, and Cornett, 48, also was considered governor material.
To prevent another wipeout of leadership, the state adopted a policy prohibiting the governor and the next in line of succession from traveling in the same plane. Today, Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Secretary of State Bill Bradbury have to make separate travel arrangements.
Snell is interred at Belcrest Memorial Park, on a gentle sloping corner of the South Salem cemetery. The flat marker is unassuming, much like the man himself.
He was born and raised on a small Gilliam County farm near Olex in northeastern Oregon, the only son of five children.
He worked as a paper boy, played the tuba and became a strong swimmer. On two occasions, his swimming skills helped him save children from drowning.
As a young man, Snell dabbled in the garage and auto sales business, then commercial radio.
He began his political career by serving on the City Council in Arlington and later became state representative, speaker of the House, secretary of state, and finally governor.
Snell was described as an affable leader. He preferred to be called "Earl" as opposed to "Mr. Speaker" or "Mr. Secretary" or "Mr. Governor."
He left an environmental legacy when he died, having charged a special committee to survey and analyze Oregon forests.
The day of the fateful flight, Snell, Farrell and Cornett were on their way to Southern Oregon to hunt for duck and geese. They were travelling in a red-trimmed, four-passenger Beechcraft Bonanza.
"That was like flying a space shuttle in 1947," Bill Snell Jr. said.
Just before the fatal trip, a newspaper reporter asked Gov. Snell if he was afraid of flying. He raised his right hand and joked: "My mark isn't up yet."
The plane crashed in stormy weather near Dog Lake, about 85 miles east of Klamath Falls.
"It looked as if the plane was a terrible wreck rolled up in a small ball," one searcher said in a newspaper report.
The search party found Snell, Cornett and pilot Cliff Hogue in the badly damaged fuselage. Farrell had been thrown out of the unburned plane. It is thought that they all were killed on impact.
The late Dr. William Snell, the only child of Gov. Snell and his wife Edith, was a Navy medical officer at the time in San Diego. His son, Bill Jr., was a toddler.
Although just 2A years old at the time, Bill Jr. recalls attending the funeral.
"I just remember my grandmother crying," he said. "I don't have very good memories."
The day of the funeral was declared a legal holiday by Speaker of the House John Hall, who was catapulted into the governor's office.
City offices were closed all day, and schools closed at noon.
Governors from California, Idaho, Nevada and Washington attended the state funeral. It was held in the House chamber, packed with some 700 people.
Memorial services on this scale are few and far between. The last one was for Gov. Bob Straub in December. Prior to that, you have to go back to 1993, after the death of former state Sen. Frank Roberts, husband of Gov. Barbara Roberts.
Loudspeakers in the corridors of the Capitol carried Snell's service to the overflow crowd. It was broadcast on all Oregon radio stations.
Snell is on a long list of politicians killed in aircraft disasters on the Web site database "The Political Graveyard," but was one of only four governors killed while in office.
As Bill Snell Jr. reflects today about the tragedy, he is proud to say what happened to his grandfather did not keep the family grounded.
His father was a pilot, he is a pilot and his 19-year-old daughter, Sarah, is training to be a pilot.
"You can't let it steer your life," Bill Snell Jr. said. "I wasn't going to let it stop me."