Nix, James T.

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 7 | Number 2 Article 4April 1939The Invisible Hand: A Narrative of the Experienceand Marvelous Escape of Dr. James T. Nix,President of the New Orleans Guild of CatholicPhysiciansJames T. NixFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqRecommended CitationNix, James T. (1939) "The Invisible Hand: A Narrative of the Experience and Marvelous Escape of Dr. James T. Nix, President of theNew Orleans Guild of Catholic Physicians," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 7 : No. 2 , Article 4.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol7/iss2/4THE ' LINAGRE QUARTERLY THE INVISIBLE HAND A NARRATIVE OF THE EXPERIENCE AND MARVELOUS ESCAPE OF DR. JAMES T. NIX, PRESIDENT OF THE NEW ORLEANS GUILD OF CATHOLIC PHYSICIANS It was Tuesday, October 18, 1938, the second day of the Eighth National Eucharistic Con· gress. Joseph V. Connolly, Gen-eral Manager of the Hearst News-papers, had flown from New York to give an address at the Con-gress; he was flying back to New York. Dr. James T. Nix of New Orleans likewise had addressed a Congress group that evening. He was flying to New York, intending to return for the grand proces-sion on Thursday. On the same plane were nine other passengers, besides Pilot Dave Hissong, Co-pilot C. R. Russell, and Steward Frank Gibbs. A perfect start! The ship soared into the air. (Swell plane and fade.) It stopped first at Mo-bile, then at Montgomery, after which it suddenly caught fire. Flames quickly enveloped the en-tire right wing and its gasoline tanks. Automatic fire extinguish· ers were applied to no avail. For five long minutes the plane was burning as it sped in the sky. Ignited gasoline devoured part of the right wing and caused one of the motors to fall; the aluminum wing adjoining the cabin was con-sumed like parchment before the terrific blast, not unlike a huge oxygen furnace in a foundry. The brave pilot was ~ndeavor-ing to fly back to port m Mont-gomery. But after the motor fell, the plane, controlled only by an experienced hand, careened, al-most catapulted, nose-dived, rock-etted, rapidly falling for 1,500 feet. In the swift descent of semi-somersaults the plane struck a small tree and the partly burned right wing was torn off. All pas· sengers and crew escaped safely in the brief interval of time between the burning out of the ton of gaso-line in the right wing and the igni-tion of the ton in the left-twenty seconds or less. The pilot alone was slightly burned on his right hand and the right side of his face, next to the burning wing. Time, Life, the Associaten Press, and thousands of news-papers proclaimed this phenome· non a miracle of the air. Th(: members of the crew have been ac· claimed heroes and at a public re· ception were awarded medals by the Hearst Newspapers. Hun· dreds of letters, telegrams, and messages of prayerful thanks, coming in as if by collusion, her· aided this salvation a miracle of the Congress. The following poem has been pennPd by Dr. Nix as his humblt> expression of thanks to Almighty God: 

The Invisible Hand: A Narrative of the Experience and Marvelous Escape of Dr. James T. Nix, President of the New Orleans Guild of Catholic Physicians

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The Invisible Hand: A Narrative of the Experience and Marvelous Escape of Dr. James T. Nix, President of the New Orleans Guild of Catholic Physicians

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