PADDLER BOUND FOR FLORIDA ELUDES COAST GUARD POSSE

Somewhere between Cape Cod and Cape Hatteras 17-year-old Richard W. Heurtley, Jr., erstwhile member of the Class of 1940, is padding his own canoe in a desperate attempt to reach Florida.

At the request of the Darien, Connecticut, boy's mother, forty Coast Guard cutters from three states piled coastal waters yesterday, but latest reports did not reveal the whereabouts of man or boat.

Heurtley, who lived at 14 Garden Street last year, was forced to leave school because of poor health. All indications seemed to prove that his latest venture was a frantic effort to reach Palm Beach before the height of the winter season.