LOSES LIFE AT AIRPORT

GEORGE THEIS, JR.

GEORGE THEIS, JR., IS KILLED

Wichita Capitalist Victim Of Propellor Accident At Airport

While Wife and Two Sons Look on President of Arkansas Valley Interurban Killed When Struck by Travel Air Ship Driven by Lloyd Stearman, Well Known Pilot

George Theis, Jr., president of the Arkansas Valley Interurban company and prominent Wichita capitalist, was instantly killed when struck by the propeller of a Travel Air plane piloted by Lloyd Stearman, at the municipal airport about 6:20 p.m. Friday.

Theis was thrown into the air twice by the propellor, and both his arms and the back of his head were torn off, according to bystanders. His wife and two children witnessed the tragedy.

Stearman, who is designer and treasurer of the Travel Air company, had been stunting over the field. He had landed and started to taxi to the hangar.

Theis was standing with one foot on the running board of his car, which was parked on the roadway in front of the hangars, and his back to the approaching plane. His wife and children stood near the car, facing him. They saw the plane coming and took refuge on the other side of the auto. But Mr. Theis was not warned in time, and as the plane stopped with one wing against a rear corner of the car, he was caught in the propellor.

Mrs. Theis and the two children saw the husband and father picked up, mangled, and thrown to the ground, dead. Mrs. Theis collapsed from the shock.

Stearman at first could not realize what had happened. He evidently could not see over the engine of the plane, and did not know what had happened. When told he had killed a man, he collapsed and had to be lifted from the plane.

"There wasn't anyone there when I went up," was Stearman's only explanation of the tragedy. "I couldn't see them after I landed."

Car and plane were but little hurt in the collision. Mr. Theis's body was taken to Lahey and Martin mortuary.

While no one blames Mr. Stearman for the tragedy, he is of a very sensitive nature and his many friends were greatly worried about his condition last night.

An inquest will be held into the death of Mr. Theis, as a formality.

Life of Mr. Theis

George Theis, Jr., 64 years old, was born in St. Louis, Mo. His father was a Prussian; his mother from Bohemia. When George Theis, Jr., was still a youth the father went to southeastern Kansas and purchased a farm near Columbus, the family joining him as soon as the house was ready. The lad attended school in Columbus and afterward took a special course at the Kansas State Agricultural college at Manhattan. The senior Theis was compelled to go to Colorado for his health and the son accompanied him. While there he busied himself in helping to construct the Denver and Rio Grande railroad. When he returned to the Kansas farm he made up his mind to take up a commercial career. He became a clerk for Isaac West in the nearby town, his start being at $8 a month. Then he became a clerk in a dry goods firm which in time came to be Murray, Theis and Foster. Thence he went into a bank. He had married in southeastern Kansas and was now 22 years old and had accumulated $3,500. This he converted into cash and set out for Ashland, Kansas, at a time when Western Kansas was having its first and memorable boom. He established a bank in which he owned one-third interest. The first three years were prosperous, . In 1888 the drouth began driving the settlers out of that section. Mr. Theis called the farmers who stayed with the country around him and proposed that they go into the cattle business in earnest and fight it out. This was agreed and Mr. Theis went into New Mexico, bought yearling cattle, transported them to western Kansas, sold them to the farmers, took their notes, sold those notes to eastern banks and lived to see Western Kansas on its feet again. In the meanwhile he took part in all the activities of this section. He made the run into the Cherokee Strip in 1893 and took a town lot at Pond Creek. Ashland, however, was still his home and eighteen years after he settled there he sold his bank to C. Q. Chandler and J. W. Berryman and came to Wichita. His wealth when he left Ashland was rated at $800,000. He came to Wichita in 1903 and at once leaped into prominence because of his outstanding public spirit. He built the interurban railroad to Newton and Hutchinson. He was largely interested in the Southwest Cracker company here, and the Electric Service company of Dodge City and in numerous oil properties. he had part in the organization of the Farmers and Bankers Life Insurance company and the Guarantee Title and Trust Co. He was a prime mover in the building of the Lassen and Broadview hotels. He was an official or a director in forty different corporations. There was a period in which he owned 53,000 acres of western Kansas land, of which, he retained 30,000 acres, the Theis ranch. It was in connection with this rance that his famous experiment with the development of an Indian maize fitted for western Kansas was carried on under the inspiration of Harvey Sconce, the foremost corn culturist of the nation. It was in his charities that George Theis shone among his fellowmen resplendently. His givings were innumerable and generous to a superlative degree.

Surviving relatives, besides the widow, are: five children, Otto of Dodge City, associated with his father in the Clark county ranch; Mrs. David Graham, Newton; Mrs. Ethel Wait, Los Angeles, and the two boys at home, George Russell and Charles; two brothers, Charles Theis of Spokane and Albert Theis of Philadelphia; two sisters, Mrs. John McReynolds, Idaho and Mrs. W. L. Tilton, St. Louis.

Funeral arrangements are awaiting word from relatives.

GEORGE THEIS, JR. The long, leveled lines of light from a westering sun across the plains reached to the heart of George Theis and took that heart home. He was truly a son of the vast plains and the vast sky. Both claimed the heart of him and both confirmed possession. In the dread and dreary years in Western Kansas, when the drouth whipped the last lingering bit of courage out of the breasts of tens of thousands, George Theis clung to those floor-flat reaches as to a rock of ages. They were his refuge and his strength. He loved them. That faith, that strength and that deep affection were rewarded richly by the prairies. Wealth came to him, wealth from the prairies which turned golden at his loving touch, wealth that poured in on him and his works almost magically. So rewarding him the prairies made him heir. It was a wealth which never seduced integrity or hardened heart. As it mounted higher and higher around this man, he grew in gentleness. For through the years he gave to his fellowmen generously. Without posing and without pretence, he shared of his abundance with the unfortunate, the distressed, the disabled. Whole sections of this state have felt the lift of his faith, whole communities the sustaining power of his strength, but the glory of his life is written in the hearts of individuals, who, in dark hours, were led to light and life again by the touch of a right hand that did not know what the left hand did. It was in these acts, published acts, acts which gild poor human clay with the incandescence of immortality, that the skies claimed him, and claiming him, took his heart home.

STEARMAN'S FIRST TRAGEDY

"It's the first tragedy I've ever been involved in---in fact, the first accident, automobile or airplane, in which I have ever figured---and I only wish there was something I could do."

Such was the statement of Lloyd Stearman, well known and popular airplane pilot and designer, who was testing out an airplane Friday afternoon when it killed George Theis, Jr., at the municipal airport.

Mr. Stearman is known as one of the best pilots in the entire Southwest and one who does not take chances when they can be avoided. He did not realize he had struck a man Friday afternoon until the crowd started to run to the plane, and then did not realize the seriousness of the accident until a man rushed up and volunteered to be a witness.

The story of the accident, as told by Stearman, is practically as follows:

"I had taken the plane up to test it. It was a new ship. The ship worked all right and I made a good landing. After landings in the wind, I turned and taxied in to the hanger. I had to pass a large government plane and was standing up and looking to the right in order to miss the plane.

"I would look to the left occasionally, but it was not until I was right on the car that I saw it. I cut the engine instantly and felt a slight tremor of the plane as the wing grazed the car.

"The car must have been driven up after I landed. I did not see it when I started to taxi in. I never dreamed that anyone could get in the way for I could see that the crowd was watching me come in.

"As soon as the plane stopped, a man rushed to the side of the plane and said: 'I saw you hit him. I'll be a witness.' Then I realized there had been a bad accident. I remember Mr. Howell taking me out of the ship, but they did not tell me how serious the accident was until I reached home.

"They tell me Mr. Theis was trying to push his car out of the way and did not see the 'prop' to my ship---that he backed into it. I do not know, for I did not see the man at all, I was devoting most of my attention to clearing the government ship.

"I hate to think about it, or of Mrs. Theis and her children. If there was only something I could do."

Bystanders who witnessed the accident said it was one of those which occurs sometimes when everyone seems to be watching, and where circumstances seem to be the chief fault. Stearman was not coming into the hangars at any great speed, and was watching his course closely. He believed the other side clear. Mr. Theis did not see the ship in time, or he could easily have stepped out of the way.

Mr. Stearman made a report of the accident to the sheriff Friday evening.
(Wichita Eagle ~ Saturday ~ August 14, 1926)

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HUGE TRAVEL AIR PLANE THAT TOOK LIFE OF GEORGE THEIS, JR.

HOLD NO INQUEST IN PLANE TRAGEDY

WIDOW AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATES FAVOR NO INQUIRY

No good purpose would be served by a coroner's inquest in connection with the accidental death of George Theis, Jr., it was announced by Walter A. Blake, county attorney, today, after he had investigated circumstances surrounding the air field accident last night.

Mrs. Theis, who witnessed the accident, also expressed a similar opinion. Likewise, friends of Mr. Theis said they were certain there was no necessity for an inquest, that his death was due to an unavoidable accident. Others who saw Mr. Theis killed by the plane propeller made similar expressions and the author had abandoned their plans for a formal inquest.

PLANNED TO BEQUEATH $100,000 TO ORPHANS

REPORT OF THE GIFT COULD NOT BE VERIFIED TODAY

The belief that in the will of George Theis, Jr., who was killed accidentally at the Travel Air Field, last night, will be found a bequest of $100,000 to the Wichita's Children's Home could not be verified today. Mr. Theis made it known to friends quite recently that it was his intention to leave that amount to the home for orphans at his death. They do not recall whether he said the he made the provision for the contribution or that he said that he intended to do so. Chester L. Long, attorney to Mr. Theis, is out of the city and the report of the large bequest to the home could not be verified thru him.

THEIS DRAWN TO PROPELLER THRU SUCTION

The terrific suction of the huge steel propeller on Lloyd Stearman's 200 horse power airplane engine drew George Theis, Jr., to them in the same manner that the suction of a vacuum cleaner draws articles into its maw.

That is the only logical theory for the death of the Wichita capitalist Friday evening at the municipal airport, and answers the questions asked by those who could not understand how Mr. Theis would have walked into the machine.

This is the way the accident occurred, and should answer satisfactorily all questions as to the reason for the tragedy.

Mr. Theis had parked his car, a new Packard sedan, in front of one of the hangars in the northeastern part of the flying field. He was standing in front of the car when Stearman came to the ground after stunting in the air. At the left of the car, which was headed east, was Mrs. Theis.

Mr. Stearman taxied his machine toward the hangar, going north to the outskirts of the field and then turning east past an army transport plane which was parked to the southwest of the hangar.

The pilot, who was looking out from the opposite side of the plane's cockpit, did not see the Theis car to his left, and his plane was heading toward the automobile.

Seeing that his motor car might be struck, Mr. Theis came around the south side of the car toward the rear, his hands in the air, motioning to Stearman. Just then the airplane's left wing struck the automobile, swinging the right side around, coming, therefore, too close for the propellers. Mr. Theis was irresistibly drawn to the knifelike blade and to his death.

Anyone who has been on an airplane field knows how great is the suction of a plane propeller as it cuts the air, causing the grass on the ground to lie flat, so great is the force. And Mr. Theis, who was not in good health, was in no condition to withstand this suction when he stepped into the current of air that the whirling propeller was pulling toward the ship.
(Wichita Beacon ~ Saturday ~ August 14, 1926)

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THEIS FUNERAL PLANS WILL BE KNOWN MONDAY

Arrangements Await Coming of Capitalist's Relatives From West

Funeral services for George Theis, Jr., president of the Arkansas Valley Interrurban, who was killed in an airplane accident at the municipal airport Friday, will be announced Monday. The arrangements await the arrival of relatives, some of whom are coming from the Pacific Coast.

The oldest son, Otto Theis of Dodge City, who was his father's partner in a number of enterprises, arrived at 5 o'clock Saturday afternoon. A daughter, Mrs. Ethel Wait, lives in Los Angeles. Another daughter, Mrs. David Graham of Newton, and her husband, have been touring the Ozarks, and had not been reached Saturday night.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Theis of Spokane, brother and sister-in-law of the Wichita capitalist, have left for Wichita, and will arrive Tuesday. A sisters, Mr. W. L. Tilton of St. Louis, will arrive at 2 o'clock this afternoon.

Several hundred telegrams were received Saturday at the Theis home from old friends of Mr. Theis. Many of them were from men widely known in the financial and industrial world.

The Gill Mortuary is in charge of arrangements for the services.
(Wichita Beacon ~ Sunday ~ August 15, 1926)

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FAITH OF CHILD DOMINATED LIFE OF GEORGE THEIS----SAYS PASTOR

When Fame and Fortune Came his Heart not Puffed Up Says Rev. Anderson

WAS BEAUTIFUL SERVICE

Though wealth and fame came to George Theis, Jr., he had the simple faith of a child and it dominated his life, said his pastor, Rev. Harrison Ray Anderson, who delivered the funeral sermon at the First Presbyterian church, Tuesday at 4 p.m.

Referring to the suddenness of the death of Mr. Theis, killed by an airplane propeller at the municipal airport, Friday evening. Reverend Anderson spoke of the wings of death, which he said were the pinions of God carrying the earthly traveler to home and rest.

"Wichita had just had another lesson which cities never learn, but are always being reminded of," said Reverend Anderson. "That is the certainty and the swiftness of death. Out of a clear sky and with no warning, it comes, swift as a great bird, and takes human life with it. Death has often been symbolized by wings, and this is its truest meaning."

Reverend Anderson spoke of the wings of death as the wings of God, under which men take refuge and which bring comfort and shade on warm days. He referred to many allusions of psalmists to the wings of God.

"The most remarkable thing about Mr. Theis," declared Reverend Anderson, "was that he trusted in the wings of grace. There are men whose measuring stick estimates men by their capacity for gathering wealth. Mr. Their was wealthy. God loaned it to him for a little while. It isn't his now.

"But with this fortune went the faith of a little child, as simple as the faith of one of his sons here. And except a man become as little child, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. It is said that it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a wealthy man to enter the kingdom of heaven. What is meant is that men trust in their wealth. It comes between them and God. But the heart of Mr. Theis was not set upon wealth. And when fame came, his heart was not puffed up.

"As his pastor, I have often marveled. I have heard him speak of his religious convictions around the campfire in Wyoming, and while I was with him in his own home. His simple trust and faith, made me marvel. Faith is the evidence of things not seen and it certainly applied in Kansas in the early days. This faith made him believe in men and help men. It was the same faith that made him trust in God and it dominated his whole life. He lived by faith."

It was a beautiful, yet a simple service, which accompanied this eulogy. The church quartet, consisting of Prof. F. A. Power, Mrs. Harvey Grace, Lloyd Cole and Miss Winifred Palmer, sang "Abide with Me" and "Whispering Hope." This was followed by scripture reading and prayer. As the crowd left the church, the tower chimes played "Abide with Me."

The front of the church was banked with flowers, the gifts of friends. A troop of Boy Scouts stood guard at the church doors during the entry and exit of the crowd.

After the service at the church, the funeral procession went to Old Mission cemetery. Interment was made in the Theis private room in the mausoleum. A brief service was held there.

Active pallbearers were: C. Q. Chandler, Frank L. Carson, Charles H. Smyth, R. B. Campbell, Dr. J. D. Clark, H. C. Wear, Charles McKinney and L. M. Dakin. Honorary pallbearers were: Darey E. Dunne, Warren E. Brown, O. A. Keach, Dwight K. Oxley, John H. Engstrom, J. W. Berryman of Ashland, George H. Sledhoof, Henry J. Allen, Victor Murdock, W. C. Coleman, A. O. Rorabaugh, Howard V. Wheeler, George B. Dugan of Dodge City and Emerson Carey of Hutchinson.

Funeral arrangements were in charge of the Gill mortuary.

As a tribute to the memory of its late president, every piece of machinery on the A. V. I. was stopped from 2:45 to 2:47 p.m., Tuesday. Offices of the Interurban company closed at noon. The Southwest Cracker company of which Mr. Theis was vice president, also closed at noon.

Hundreds of messages of condolence have come to the Theis family from friends all over the country, among them J. R. Koontz, vice president of the Frisco railroad; W. T. Kemper, president of the Orient; F. C. Fox, general manager of the Santa Fe, and L. E. Fischer, engineer of the Illinois Traction company.
(Wichita Eagle ~ August 18, 1926)

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FAITH THE GUIDE OF GEORGE THEIS IN ALL HIS ACTS

Final Tributes Are Paid to the Widely Known Capitalist

The religious faith of George Theis, Jr., was the simple faith of a child, declared the Rev. Harrison Ray Anderson, in his funeral sermon for the later Wichita capitalist in the First Presbyterian Church Tuesday afternoon.

"The most remarkable thing about Mr. Theis," Dr. Anderson said, "was the simplicity of his faith: the simplicity with which he trusted God. With all the fortune which he had accumulated, this trust remained like that of a child.

"And that was the faith which he had in his state, in the early days, when one had to take it on faith. It was the faith which he had in his fellow men, which made him believe in them and help them."

CHURCH WAS FILLED

The wings of the airplane which killed Mr. Theis were mentioned symbolically as the wings of time, as contrasted with the wings of God, which protected him after the wings of time had done their test.

A quartet consisting of Prof. F. A. Power, Mrs. Harvey Grace, Miss Winifred Palmer and Lloyd Cole sang "Abide With Me" and "Whispering Hope."

The auditorium of the church was filled for the services. An entire section was reserved for employees of the Arkansas Valley Interrurban, of which Mr. Theis was president. The entire altar was banked with one of the most beautiful floral displays ever seen at a Wichita funeral.

Burial was in the Theis family room in Old Mission mausoleum. The Gill Mortuary was in charge of arrangements.
(Wichita Beacon ~ Wednesday ~ August 18, 1926)

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