| Notes |
- MHR note: Carl Bivens was a pilot instructor who was shot by a student, Ernest Pletch.
[1]
- CARL, only child of GEORGE I. and MARY (OGLE) BIVENS, both deceased, was born northeast of Purdin MO. Body found late Sat by possee near Cherry Box northeast of Clarence,
Shelby County, MO. Had been shot in back of head by person unknown. Lived in Brookfield MO, garage owner and flying instructor. Leaves wife, ETTA, half brothers JOHN HAWKINS, Granite City IL; ROBERT BIVENS of Brookfield; half sisters Mrs GEORGE ROSS, Brookfield; MARY SWEENEY, Kansas City. Wife is daughter of Mr and Mrs W.H. CASSITY of near Purdin MO. The son ORVILLE, a radio operator on Pan American Airways Clipper plane in South America, was unable to attend funeral. [2]
- Brookfield Pilot Lost Since Friday Afternoon Flight
Accompanied by a Stranger Wanting a Lesson, Said to Have a Gun.
Ask Myers To Search
Local Flier Out of Town So He Could Not Answer Plea.
Bulletin
Brookfield, Oct. 28 – Cap. W.J. Ramsey of the Missouri Highway Patrol received a report today that a plane, believed to be that of Bivens, landed at Nelsonville, Marion County, Mo., last night and took off again today.
Captain Ramsey said the report came from a patrolman working at the Hannibal office. The information stated that a plane bearing the number, NC-24796, had been seen to take off.
The plane in which Carl Bivens and an unidentified passenger were riding bore that number.
Carl Bivens, airplane pilot of Brookfield and well known flier in Chillicothe aviation enthusiasts, and a stranger who was said to be carrying a gun, are missing after having taken off for a flight from the Brookfield airport yesterday afternoon, according to an Associated Press report.
Las night Andy Myers, local pilot and the co-owner of the Myers-Luther Airport here, was called to ask if he would take his plane into the air to help in a search for the missing plane which is believed to be down somewhere in this area since it was not carrying enough gasoline for a flight of more than 100 miles. Myers is in Bethany and was not reached.
Police Chief Ed Carroll of Brookfield asked airport attendants and police throughout the country to watch for the yellow Taylor Cub monoplane which is owned by Bivens and in which the men started their flight.
The stranger, according to the Associated Press dispatch from Brookfield, had asked for a flying lesson. He was said to have been about 29 years old. Carroll said that Bivens seldom carried much money.
A search of the immediate region around Brookfield has been planned with the possibility that the men had crashed, unnoticed, or were forced to land some miles from a telephone.
The yellow monoplane is familiar to people of Chillicothe who have seen it in flight over the city on many occasions. Bivens was a frequent Sunday afternoon visitor to the local airport.
The Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune, Chillicothe, Missouri. Saturday, 28 October 1939.
[3]
- Institute Search for Plane Pilot
Blood-Stained Suit of Flier Lends Mystery to Disappearance.
Brookfield, Mo. (AP) Reports that a young pilot wearing a blood-stained flying suit landed a plane near Nelsonville, in northeast Missouri, intensified a search today for flying instructor Carl Bivens, who disappeared from here yesterday in a ship carrying an unidentified passenger.
Sheriff W.J. Schneider of Marion county said a plane believed the one used by Bivens landed near Nelsonville about desk last night and took off again early this morning.
Uniform Blood-Spattered
Schneider said the young pilot, about 28 years old, stayed overnight at the farm home of Gilbert Spratt. He was wearing a “blood-spattered” white uniform the sheriff quoted members of the Spratt family as saying.
The flyer explained the stains by saying the “flew too high and had a nose bleed.”
Before leaving this morning, he borrowed a pair of blue overalls from one of the Spratt boys. He carried the bloodied uniform away with him.
Saw Name on Shirt
Although Spratt did not inspect the plane closely, she said he saw only one man.
The pilot said he planned to fly to LaBelle, in adjoining Lewis county, and then probably to Quincy, Ill. He gave his name as Charles Jackson, but members of the Spratt family said the name “Larry” was on his shirt.
Residents of LaBelle reported a small ship was sighted over the city this morning but it did not land.
The small yellow plane bore the number NC-24796, the same number of the ship in which Bivens took the strange up for a flying lesson.
Several airplanes joined in the extensive search this afternoon, scouting possible landing fields in northeastern Missouri, Illinois and Iowa.
Seek Indiana Man
Meantime, the state highway patrol sough to learn the whereabouts of Earnest Pletch, also known as Larry Pletch, of Bowling Green, Ind., whose name was on a driver’s license found in the automobile left at the flying field here by Biven’s passenger.
The machine bore a license issued to Pauline Pletch of Frankfort, Ind., who Indiana police said they believed was his sister.
Capt. W.J. Ramsey of the highway patrol said the car contained a shotgun, cartridges for a .32-caliber pistol and 12 empty gasoline cans.
Farmer Spratt reported the young man who stayed at his house carried “some kind of a revolver.”
The Maryville Daily Forum, Maryville, Missouri. Saturday, 28 October 1939, page 1.
[3]
- Self-Confessed Slayer Returned to the Macon Jail
Three Missouri Counties Today Sought Custody of Ernest P. Pletch
May Face 3 Charges
Macon, Linn and Shelby Counties Interested in Prosecuting him.
(by the Associated Press)
Macon, Mo., Oct. 30 – Three Missouri counties sought custody today of Earnest P. Pletch, 29-year-old barnstorming aviator and confessed slayer of his companion in a dramatic mid-air struggle.
Pletch, who told Indiana authorities he fatally shot Carl Bivens, 38-year-old Brookfield, Mo., flying instructor after they quarreled while in a plane over northeast Missouri, face possible charges of first degree murder, kidnapping and airplane theft by Macon, Linn and Shelby counties.
Prosecuting attorney Fred C. Bollow of Shelby county said a conference was planned by prosecuting attorneys of the three counties to decide which would prefer charges against the youth. Bollow expressed his belief Bivens was killed while in the air over Macon county, although his body was found in a thicket near Cherry Box in Shelby county. Pletch is held in the Macon county jail where he was lodged after a hurried trip from Indianapolis.
A coroner’s jury at Cherry Box returned an open verdict today, finding Bivens came to his death by “shots in the head with a pistol by some person to the jurors unknown.”
The Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune, Chillicothe, Missouri, Monday, 30 October 1939, page 1.
[3]
- Photo caption of a portrait photo of Carl Bivens:
The bullet-pieced body of Carl Bivens (above), Brookfield, Mo., flying instructor, was found in a thicket 25 miles north of Macon, Mo., a day after he had taken a passenger aloft at Brookfield. Indiana State Police Superintendent Don Stiver announced that Ernest Fletch, 29, arrested near Bloomington, Ind., had confessed shooting Bivens during a mid-air argument.
The Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune, Chillicothe, Missouri, Monday, 30 October 1939, page 1.
[3]
- Photo caption of man pointing to a fence post surrounded by tall weeds.
Where Body of Carl Bivens Was Found
With the head resting against the ticket-surrounded fence post at spot pointed out by the youth above, the body of the Brookfield, Mo., flyer was found by searchers near Cherry Box, Mo, 25 north of Macon. Arrested by Indiana state police, Earnest Pletch, 29, who, according to reports, confessed to the shooting of Bivens during a mid-air argument, was returned to Macon, Mo.
The Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune, Chillicothe, Missouri, Monday, 30 October 1939, page 3.
[3]
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1900 - 1939 (39 years)
[1, 2] 
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