The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., June 22, 1972, page 1
WRECK NEAR KLICKITAT KILLS 3
Two Wahkiacus men were killed and a third is missing and presumed
dead as the result of an-automobile accident June 16 at 1:35 a.m. two miles
south of Klickitat on SR 142.
Dead are Frank Spino, 29, and Leander Sampson, 17; missing is
Stanley Spino Jr., 17.
The bodies of Frank Spino and Sampson were recovered that afternoon
about 100150 yards downstream from the scene of the wreck, the Klickitat County
Sheriff's Office, which is in charge of the search, reported. The body of the
younger Spino, the presumed driver, has not been found. The late-model Chevrolet
was pulled from the Klickitat River about 11:30 a.m. Sgt. Rich Williams, KCSO,
used underwater gear to attach a cable to the vehicle which had landed in about
eight feet of water.
The car was traveling south apparently at a high rate of speed, the
WSP, which was the investigating agency, said. It hit an embankment on the west
side of the road, veered across the road and went over a 50-foot cliff. The car
hit on the railroad tracks below and then fell another 10 feet into the river.
Assisting the KCSO with search efforts were Search and Rescue Post
234 of the Yakima Sheriff's Department and Northwest Helicopters.
The 11-man Post crew, under the direction of Harlan Briskey, Yakima
deputy sheriff, searched a 3½-mile area downstream from the Pitt Bridge for
about seven hours Saturday.
The helicopters, flown by Walt Pettigrew and Dennis Clark, Lyle,
checked the area from Pitt Bride to the mouth of the Klickitat for about two
hours Sunday. They recovered a shirt which wad identified by a relative as
belonging to the missing Spino, about ½ mile below the bridge.
Ed Guwyon of the Yakima Indian Police and several private citizens
also aided search, efforts.
Efforts of law enforcement agencies were at times hampered by the
throng of spectators, policemen at the scene Friday said.
The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., June 22, 1972, page 6
INDIAN DEATHS SADDEN LYLE
LYLE-Elizabeth D. McDowell
Lyle was saddened, last week, by tragedy that befell the Spino
family in the loss by drowning of two of its members and of one of its friends.
Stanley Spino Jr., 17, and his uncle, Frank Spino, 29, were two of the victims,
and Leander Sampson, also 17, was the third victim. The accident occurred around
1:30 a.m. Friday morning. According to the occupants of another car, just ahead
of them, those two vehicles had been engaged in some sort of a "racing" game,
prior to the Spino car's plunge off of the road into the Klickitat River.
The Spino boys were descendants of Louise Spino, long known and
liked by pioneers in the Klickitat-Lyle early days as a fine Indian woman, until
her death not too long ago at an advanced age. The family lives at Wahkiacus,
not far from Klickitat. All three victims were Indians.
We believe that it must have been Frank Spino, costumed as a young
Indian brave for a representation of the Yakima Tribe at Olympia to protest
curtailment of Indian fishing rights, who appeared, silently and out of
"nowhere" several years ago to change a flat tire for this correspondent and
refused payment, to our startled astonishment!
The Skamania County Pioneer, Stevenson, WA., July 7, 1972, page 1
BODY RECOVERED IN COLUMBIA
The body of Stanley Spino Jr., 17, Wahkiacus, who was downed when
the car he was presumed driving plunged into the Klickitat river June 16, was
recovered in the Columbia about ½ mile west of Cooks Landing Monday.
The bodies of two others who died in the accident were recovered on
the afternoon of the tragedy. They were Frank Spino, 29, and Leander Sampson,
17.
Trooper William Haines and Deputy Sgt. Rod Bevans supervised
recovery of young Spino's body after it was discovered near the rocky bank below
the railroad track.
The body was taken to Gardner's Funeral Home in White Salmon and
transferred to Knosher's Funeral Home in Goldendale.
The three men lost their lives when their late-model Chevrolet
veered across the road two miles south of the town of Klickitat and went over a
50-foot cliff.
The car hit on the railroad tracks below and then fell another 10
feet into the river. The bodies of Frank Spino and Sampson were recovered
several hours later about 150 yards downstream.
The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., July 13, 1972, page 13
CARD OF THANKS
We wish to thank all the many friends and relatives for their many acts of kindness through gifts of food, cards, flowers and helping during our search for a missing loved one. There just aren't words enough to express our heartfelt thanks. God bless all of you.
The families of:
Franklin Spino
Stanley Spino Jr.
Leander Sampson