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The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., June 22, 1973, page 1

WRECK NEAR KLICKITAT KILLS 3

Two Wahkiacus men were killed in and a third is missing and presumed dead as a result of an automobile accident June 16 at 1:35 a.m. two miles south of Klickitat on SR 142.
Dead are Frank Spino, 29, and Leander Sampson, 17; missing is Stanley Spino Jr., 17.
The bodies of Frank Spino and Simpson were recovered that afternoon about 100-150 yards downstream from the scene of the wreck, the Klickitat County Sheriff's Office, which is in charge of the search, reported. The body of the younger Spino, the presumed driver, has not been found.
The late-model Chevrolet was pulled from the Klickitat River about 11:30 a.m.. Sgt. Rich Williams, KCSO, used underwater gear to attach a cable to the vehicle which had landed in about eight feet of water.
The car was traveling south apparently at a high rate of speed, the WSP, which was the investigating agency, said. It hit an embankment on the west side of the road, veered across the road and went over a 50-foot cliff. The car hit on the railroad tracks below and then fell another 10 feet into the river.
Assisting the KCSO with search efforts were Search and Rescue Post 234 of the Yakima Sheriff's Department and Northwest Helicopters.
The 11-man Post crew, under the direction of Marlan Briskey, Yakima deputy sheriff, searched a 3½ mile area downstream from the Pitt Bridge for about seven hours Saturday.
The helicopters, flown by Walt Petigrew and Dennis Clark, Lyle, checked the area from Pitt Bridge to the mouth of the Klickitat for about two hours Sunday. They recovered a shirt which was identified by a relative as belonging to the missing Spino, about ½ mile below the bridge.
Ed Guwyon of the Yakima Indian Police and several private citizens also aided search efforts.
Efforts of law enforcement agencies were at times hampered by the throng of spectators, policemen at the scene Friday said.

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., June 22, 1973, page 6

INDIAN DEATHS SADDEN LYLE

LYLE - Elizabeth D. McDowell

Lyle was saddened, last week, by a tragedy that befell the Spino family in the loss by drowning of two of its members and one of its friends. Stanley Spino Jr., 17, and his uncle, Frank Spino, 29, were two of the victims, and Leander Sampson, also 17, was the third victim. The accident occurred around 1:30 a.m. Friday morning. According to the occupants of another car, just ahead of them, those two vehicles had been engaged in some sort of a "racing" game, prior to the Spino car's plunge off of the road into the Klickitat River.
The Spino boys were descendants of Louise Spino, long known and liked by pioneers in the Klickitat-Lyle early days as a fine Indian woman, until her death not too long ago at an advanced age. The family lives at Wahkiacus, not far from Klickitat. All three victims were Indians.
We believe that it must have been Frank Spino, costumed as a young Indian brave for a presentation of the Yakima Tribe at Olympia to protest curtailment of Indian fishing rights, who appeared, silently and out of "nowhere" several years ago to change a flat tire for this correspondent and refused payment, to our startled astonishment.

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., July 13, 1972, page 13

CARD OF THANKS

We wish to thank all the many friends and relatives for their many acts of kindness through gifts of food, cards, flowers and helping during our search for a missing loved on. There just aren't words enough to express our heartfelt thanks. God bless you all.

The families of:
Franklin Spino
Stanley Spino Jr.
Leander Sampson