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EARHART'S MOTHER WRITING ABOUT THE DISAPPEARANCE (EARHART, AMELIA.) EARHART, AMY. Two Autograph Letters Signed, by Earhart's mother, each to Neta
EARHART'S MOTHER WRITING ABOUT THE DISAPPEARANCE(EARHART, AMELIA.) EARHART, AMY. Two Autograph Letters Signed, by Earhart's mother, each to Neta Snook, the aviatior who taught Amelia how to fly, both written after the disappearance about search parties and asserting that Amelia had been found by Japanese fishermen, but that the Japanese government was holding her prisoner and had possibly killed her. The first 4 pages, folded 8vo sheet; the second 4 pages, two single tall 8vo sheets, personal stationery. With a copy of Snook's book I Taught Amelia to Fly, in which she mentions the letters on page 159. Berkeley, 8 January 1940 and 6 May 1944
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Notes: 8 january 1940 : "... I had quite a time after the automobile accident near Bakersfield in learning to walk again for with more than seventy years as a handicap several breaks in one leg took some time... I was spurred on to getting about as quickly as possible by the thought that Amelia might get back and she must not find me helpless when she needed me. I haven't given up hope of having that come to pass even yet for I still have many letters from people who at one time or another have been shipwrecked there, have lived there, or send trading boats in and out the islands who write me it is perfectly possible for one to be off on one of the thousands of islands... I think of a little couplet sent me last year, 'So many things that couldn't be Have come into Reality,' and still am working to get a searching party off and down that way. One is ready at Honolulu now, boat loaded, crew on hand and tied up in war conditions and where we only await the unrolling of government red tape to start. It is a small party, every one interested only in finding our travelers or traces that will show us what happened, ready to spend a year or two down there if necessary and knowing how resourceful Amelia was, how free from panic or fear. I cannot give up until this is done..."
6 may 1944 : "... This story came through the Associated Press whose representative here told me they stood ready to vouch for the story... It does happen to fit in with information brought me by a friend a few days after Amelia's S.O.S. who was listening to a former schoolmate's short wave radio when a broadcast from Tokio [sic] came in saying that they were celebrating there with parades etc. because of Amelia's rescue and pickup by Japanese fishermen. That was before the war you know and evidently the ordinary Jap had no knowledge of their military leaders plans... I went with her to the Japanese Consulate in Los Angeles and asked him about it. He was very pleasant and said that he had been out the night before so hadn't heard the broadcast... When we went back a stranger was there - said he was the new Consul... We tried to get inquiry made from Washington, but could get no further than with the Jap and they were all stirred up about the search ordered for her and getting that started. The search when it finally arrived near the islands were not permitted any more than one small boat there to search the Marshall, Carolinas or Marianas groups under the Jap mandate but were told the natives were not friendly and they the Japs would man boats and search everywhere themselves... Many other things have come to me from time to time from people interested and who no more believed that she crashed into the sea than I did. I have thought for some time she was being kept a prisoner there because of what she saw and what they knew would be reported... You know Neta, up to the time the Japs tortured and murdered our brave flyers, I hoped for Amelia's return... So the hope is only finding out what happened after the Jap fishing boat picked her up from the small island where she landed..."
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