Beil, Heinrich

Scope and Contents This two-page letter and accompanying envelope is from Mrs. Francis (Mary) Winter to Mrs. Tasker (Eleanor) Bliss. Mrs. Winter's husband, Major Francis A. Winter, was the surgeon who cared for Orville Wright at the hospital at Fort Myer, Virginia, after Wright's September 17, 1908 crash there. The accident resulted in the death of Wright's passenger, U. S. Army Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, whose death is considered the first powered airplane fatality. In the letter Winter devotes an entire...