Milestones, Aug. 26, 1940

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Died. William Meade Lindsley Fiske III, 29, famed U. S. winter-sportsman, driver of winning Olympic bobsleds (1928, 1932), reputedly the first American to join the R. A. F. as a pilot; of wounds received during aerial combat; somewhere in southeastern England. In 1938 Mr. Fiske married the beauteous Countess of Warwick.

Died. Walter P. Chrysler, 65, locomotive wiper who became one of the three greatest automobile producers in the U. S.; after long illness; in Great Neck, Long Island. Son of a railroad engineer, Machinist Chrysler in 1905 bought an automobile with $700 savings, a $4,300 loan, kept taking it apart and reassembling it until he found what made it tick. In 1911 he resigned a $12,000-a-year job as general manager of American Locomotive Co. to work for Buick at half the pay. Two-fisted, paternal Tycoon Chrysler drove himself and his men, thought "the one reasonably sure way to get ahead was to do just a little bit more than was expected of you." Two salvage jobs he did on moribund companies—Willys-Overland and Maxwell Motor Corp.—led to the birth of Chrysler Corp., which boomed even in the depression. In 1933 Chrysler outproduced Ford for the first time; same year Chrysler stock multiplied seven times in value.

Died. Franklin Henry Hooper, 78, editor emeritus of the Encyclopaedia Britannica; of injuries when he was hit by a truck; in Saranac Lake, N. Y. After supervising five Encyclopaedia editions as managing or U. S. editor, he became editor-in-chief in 1932, retired two years ago. A dauntless pedestrian, Editor Hooper persistently flouted traffic signals, replied to friends' pleas for caution: "We are all going to die some day."

Died. John Eliot Wolff, 82, professor emeritus of geology at Harvard University; of thirst and exhaustion; in the Mojave Desert, California. Motoring across the desert (where the heat often reaches 120°) for a one-day camping trip, Geologist Wolff apparently got stuck in the sand. While awaiting death or rescue, Professor Wolff wrote a codicil to his will, leaving a bequest to his gardener.

Died. Belle Breazing, about 82, famed Kentucky bawd; in Lexington, Ky. Her plushy, luxuriant salon, famed for its influential patrons and for being the most orderly of disorderly houses, was closed by the U. S. Army in 1917, when Camp Stanley was set up on the outskirts of Lexington. Day after Miss Breazing's death, the Lexington Herald ran her obit on the front page. All copies were sold by 10 a.m., brought private speculators $1 apiece, provoked many a caustic phone call (Sample: "Is it true that to get on the front page of the Herald one must operate a house of ill repute?").