Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Friday, February 27, 2009 at 05:37:42 :
Independent Journal
Monday, May 11, 1953
Page 9
BOTTINI – In San Rafael, May 9, 1953, Joseph Edward Bottini Jr., adored son of Joseph E. and Agnes Bottini, loving brother of Patrick Bottini and Edith Milani; a native of California; aged 28 years. A member of Wilkins Post No. 37, American Legion; Veterans of Foreign Wars and the San Rafael Police Department Auxiliary.
Friends are invited to attend the funeral Wednesday, May 13, 1953, at 9:15 o’clock a.m., from Keaton’s mortuary, thence to St. Raphael’s church, where at 9:30 a.m. a Requiem High Mass will be offered for the repose of his soul. Interment, Mt. Olivet Cemetery, San Rafael. Recitation of the Rosary 8 p.m. Tuesday, at the mortuary.
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Same paper, page 1
A late evening ride over Marin in a “borrowed” plane ended in death for a San Rafael man Saturday and near tragedy for some 500 persons who were enjoying a movie nearby.
Police said the plane crash was the fourth at the airport since its opening in 1947. Previously four men had been killed and two others seriously injured in plane crashes there.
Joseph Edward Bottini Jr., 29, of 1412 Second street, reportedly left a cocktail lounge on Francisco boulevard late in the evening “to go for a plane ride,” investigating officers said.
Thirty minutes later, at about 11:00 p.m., the small two-seater Cessna headed into San Francisco Bay airport near the San Quentin Wye and crashed into a giant-sized power tower and plunged to the ground in a flaming mass.
Wires carrying 60,000 volts of electricity current to Marin snapped and sparked on the ground casting momentary darkness over busy U.S. 101 and the crowded Motor Movies, a scant hundred yards from the crash.
The darkness in the area was lighted only by the flaming orange colors of the burning plane and the eerie whiteness of t he power sparks. Moviegoers and police rushed to the scene only to be halted in their advances by the dangerous “live” wire lying near the plane.
Firemen were warned to remain free of the wire and “not to use water on the lines.” Coroner Frank J. Keaton explained that water, a conductor of electricity, could have caused the death of firemen had the fire hoses come in contact with the power wires.
Within moments firemen and Sheriff’s deputies worked their way near the crash and used a 10-foot boat hook from a fire engine to drag Bottini free from the wreckage.
The flyer suffered second and third degree burns on his body and serious bruises on his face, Keaton said. Bottini was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.
He was identified at the Keaton mortuary by a medal, a ring and belt buckle.
Keaton said death was due to multiple body injuries including a fractured skull and second and third degree burns on 40 per cent of t he body surface.
It was after the accident that San Rafael police, firemen, sheriff’s deputies and highway patrolmen could piece together the events which led up to the crash.
Coroner Keaton said:
“Witnesses who rushed to the scene told us Bottini had been a visitor to a cocktail lounge during the evening and left with the announcement that ‘I’m going for a plane ride!”
Bottini apparently went to the airport, parked his auto and left the lights burning to illuminate the runway and then “borrowed” a small plane belonging to a Stockton man who was watching the movie at the Motor Movies.
From the accident, repairmen from the Pacific Gas and Electric company surmised that Bottini was flying in from the southeast and struck the 85-foot power tower. The crash caused the steel tower to buckle about 25 feet from the top and fall toward the treatment plant of the San Rafael Sanitation district. The treatment plant was about 40 feet from the pole.
The plane, meanwhile, had fallen to the ground and burst into flames. It was valued at $2,200 by John Clayworth, who had flown it to Marin.
Repairmen were at the crash scene at about 11:15 p.m. and worked steadily until about 5 p.m. Sunday to erect temporary poles for the wires and to remove the twisted steel structure. They estimated the cost of repair work and the steel tower at $3,000.
Electrical service to parts of Marin was interrupted intermittently after the crash.
Bottini, co-owner of a hotel and bar in San Rafael, was a licensed pilot.
An inquest into the death may be scheduled by the coroner.
Bottini was a member of Wilkins Post No. 37, American Legion; Veterans of Foreign Wars; San Rafael Police department auxiliary.
He leaves his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Bottini; a brother, Patrick, and a sister, Edith Milani.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday at 9:15 a.m. at Keaton’s mortuary and will be followed by a Requiem High Mass to start at 9:30 a.m. at St. Raphael’s church. Rosary services will be held at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the mortuary. Burial is set for Mt. Olivet cemetery.
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