From the Collinsville News, Volume 19, Number 47, May 11, 1945
Plainview was the scene of a double tragedy last Friday, when B. D. Wisner, 53, killed his close friend, Green Bogle Everett, 64, and then turned the gun on himself and took his own life.
The scene of the act was at Wisner's store. As far as we have been able to learn Mr. Everett went to the store, and when asked what he wanted, told the proprietor there wwas no hurry, to finish what he was doing, whereupon Mr. Wisner walked around to the his cash register, where he had a pistol lying on the counter, took it up and fired twice at Everett, missing him with the first shot, the second killing him.
No cause for the tragedy has been established, other than Mr. Wisner's health wasn't good and according to an attending physician he was suffering from a blood-clot on the brain and would not have lived but a little while had this not have happened. The two men had been the best of friends for many years, and as far as anyone know, no hard feelings had arisen between them.
Mr. Wisner is the father of 2 daughters, and Mr. Everett has several children. The men were neighbors; the deed is a mystery to the people of that section.
This is verbatim from the Collinsville News, May 11, 1945. There are a few discrepancies between this and my earlier posting about my grandfather's murder by his best friend, Mr. Bob Wisner, who was also his next door neighbor.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Shoking Tragedy Takes Two Lives
My grandfather was killed by his next door neighbor May 3, 1945. I have always known about it but, I never knew the details. Thanks to my cousin, Kim Everett, I found this at the library in Fort Payne, Alabama today. Another neighbor was an eye witness to the events and his account is in this piece from the DeKalb Times, May 9, 1945, No. 50. This newspaper cost $1.50 a year for in county delivery and $2.00 a year for out of county.
Quoted from the paper verbatim:
Shocking Tragedy Takes Lives of Two
The store of Bob Wisner near Plainview School was the scene last Thursday afternoon of one of the most shocking tragedies in the history of DeKalb County. The tragedy took place when Wisner shot and killed a neighbor, Green Everett, and immediatelly turned the weapon on himself and inflicted a mortal wound. A 38-caliber pistol was used for the double killing.
Mr. Snowdon Dupree, an eye-witness to the homicide and suicide, has furnished The Times with the following account of what took place:
"Thursday afternoon at 2:15 Uncle Green Everett came into the store where Uncle Bob (Wisner), his wife and daughter, and myself were sitting. Uncle Bob went around behind the counter. Uncle Green thought that Uncle Bob was busy over behind the counter. Uncle Bob said, 'Something for you, Mr. Everett' the reply was 'Just go ahead' By the time he had finished saying that he was fired upon with three shots. Then Uncle Bob swung around the corner to about where Mr. Everett was standing and turned the gun on himself, firing one time. I ran to the door, hooked the screen and called the law and doctor. About that time three men stopped, Alfred Dupree, Granville Hasting and another man; then came Mr. John Hopper. By that time the patrol drove up and the story was told. May I say right here, that was the most nerve-shocking of anything a man ever witnessed, between two good neighbors that had never had any trouble, that had lived in the same community for years, and still there was not trouble between them. I want to say to the Everett family and to the Wisner family that I am praying that the Lord will bless you all."
Everett was 65 years old: Wisner 53. As stated by Mr. Dupree, they were neighbors and good friends. Their families were friends, and still are. What it was that prompted Mr. Wisner to such a rash and shocking act will probably never be known. It is reported that Wisner had been under the treatment of a physician for some time for severe headache. Many think that he suddenly became demented and in that condition killed his good friend and himself.
Surviving Wisner are his wife, Mrs. Lizzie Wisner; two daughters, Mrs. Gladys Sayre and Miss Ruby Nell Wisner; three brothers, J. A. Wisner, J. H. Wisner and M. C. Wisner; seven sisters, Mrs. Emma Dupree, Mrs. Hattie Lynch, Mrs. Mary Lynch, Mrs. Alice Prewett, Mrs. Ida Gorham, Mrs. Irene Hodge and Mrs. Florence Keith.
Funeral services were held Saturday aftenoon at 2:30 o'clock at Town Creek Church, the Revs. J. B. Ledford, W. D. Sparkes and Ted Dawson, officiating.
Mr. Everett is survived by his wife, Mrs. Lilla Everett; five daughters, Mrs. Eulene Hardeman and Mrs. Edith Hammond, Chattanooga; Mrs. Inus Sudduth, Hollywood, California; Misses Mary Evelyn and Delina Jean Everett, Fort Payne; five sons, Gelisco and Barnard Everett, Detroit, Mich.; Guice Everett, Camp Fannin, Texas; Edward Everett, U. S. Navy Hawthorne, Nevada; DeArmond Everett, 5th Division U. S. Marines, San Francisco, Calif.
He is also survived by ten grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held for Mr. Everett this afternoon (Wednesday) at two o'clock at Town Creek Church, with the Revs. Brown, Taylor, Black and Jones officiating.
Honorary pallbearers: A. O. Murdock, Dave and Walter Jack, Dr. R. F. Elrod, O. V. Case, J. H. McCartney, C. A. Wolfes and Lester Thompson; active pallbearers: Sam Hixon, Leonard Hammond, Edge Tumlin, John Hopper, Frank Davis, Tom Head, Taylor Goza and Ephren Finch.
McBryar Funeral Home in charge of arrangements for both Everett and Wisner.
All the names were spelled correctly in this article except for my Uncle Glysco and my grandmother's name was Lillah.
I went to Aunt Jean's on my way home today. This is the account she gave me today. We have talked about this day once or twice in my life but never in detail. Aunt Jean Everett Beasley was 11 years old when this happened and it is very painful for her to talk about this. I am writing it down while it is still fresh in my mind because I want my family to remember this before all the principle parties are gone on before the present generations of my family.
Aunt Jean said she had just come home from the store and she went in the kitchen to get something to eat. There was a knock on the door just a minute or two later and she looked through the window from the dining room to the front porch when Grandmother answered the door and she heard her crying. Mr. John Hopper was at the door. Grandmother looked at him and said, "Which one of the boys is it." Three were in the service and Uncle DeArmond was in the South Pacific theatre of WWII. Mr. Hopper said, "Mrs. Everett, you don't understand, it is Green not one of the boys."
Mr. Hopper walked with Grandmother and Aunt Jean out to the store. They went into the store. Aunt Jean said feed bags were along the left wall and the tin cans and counter were along the right wall. The cash register was about halfway down the store on the right side counter. She saw Grandaddy bleeding everywhere and Mr. Bob near him. She said that she didn't know what Grandmother thought taking her in there. My guess is Grandmother was thinking at all and was in shock. They had to wait to remove the bodies until the Coroner came.
Aunt Jean said that they had to hold Grandaddy out for eight days because they thought that Uncle DeArmond was going to be sent home from the South Pacific. All the other children got home for the funeral. She said that Grandaddy was laid out in his coffin in the living room and there were people at the house 24 hours a day until he was buried. In those days (and until I was grown) people "set up" with the dead. Grandmother sent Uncle DeArmond a letter and that was how he found out his daddy was dead. He called to say that he couldn't come home and they went ahead with the funeral. The paper was one day wrong. He was buried on the Thursday a week later after he died.
My cousin, Zoa Ann Suddarth, was around four when this happened and Aunt Inus, her husband and children lived in Hollywood. Aunt Inus had driven to the dentist on the day Grandaddy died. Aunt Inus took the train home for the funeral by herself. That was the last time Zoa Ann remembers her mother ever driving a car.
Uncle Barnard got on the first train that he could get from Detroit. He worked in a tire store there. He said he was very quiet on the train and a gentleman asked him if he was alright. He told him, "No, my daddy was shot and I'm on my way to Alabama to bury him."
Uncle Guice was given a hardship discharge from the Army shortly after Grandaddy's death because Grandmother; my mother, Mary, and Aunt Jean were home alone. My mother was 20 years old at the time of Granddaddy's death.
Jack Guice Everett, Abraham Barnard Everett, Edward Peace Everett, DeArmond Everett, Glysco Glossam Everett, Green Bogle Everett. June 3, 1940 at Aunt Edith's house in Valley Head, AL. There is only one more picture of my Grandaddy that I have ever seen and it is in a frame in Uncle Barnard's living room.
This is Greene Bogle Everett's casket at Town Creek Cemetary in May 1945 in Rainsville, Alabama. At that time the neighborhood was called Chavies. Chavies is still a small community across Highway 35 from my grandparent's home on the bank of Town Creek.
Quoted from the paper verbatim:
Shocking Tragedy Takes Lives of Two
The store of Bob Wisner near Plainview School was the scene last Thursday afternoon of one of the most shocking tragedies in the history of DeKalb County. The tragedy took place when Wisner shot and killed a neighbor, Green Everett, and immediatelly turned the weapon on himself and inflicted a mortal wound. A 38-caliber pistol was used for the double killing.
Mr. Snowdon Dupree, an eye-witness to the homicide and suicide, has furnished The Times with the following account of what took place:
"Thursday afternoon at 2:15 Uncle Green Everett came into the store where Uncle Bob (Wisner), his wife and daughter, and myself were sitting. Uncle Bob went around behind the counter. Uncle Green thought that Uncle Bob was busy over behind the counter. Uncle Bob said, 'Something for you, Mr. Everett' the reply was 'Just go ahead' By the time he had finished saying that he was fired upon with three shots. Then Uncle Bob swung around the corner to about where Mr. Everett was standing and turned the gun on himself, firing one time. I ran to the door, hooked the screen and called the law and doctor. About that time three men stopped, Alfred Dupree, Granville Hasting and another man; then came Mr. John Hopper. By that time the patrol drove up and the story was told. May I say right here, that was the most nerve-shocking of anything a man ever witnessed, between two good neighbors that had never had any trouble, that had lived in the same community for years, and still there was not trouble between them. I want to say to the Everett family and to the Wisner family that I am praying that the Lord will bless you all."
Everett was 65 years old: Wisner 53. As stated by Mr. Dupree, they were neighbors and good friends. Their families were friends, and still are. What it was that prompted Mr. Wisner to such a rash and shocking act will probably never be known. It is reported that Wisner had been under the treatment of a physician for some time for severe headache. Many think that he suddenly became demented and in that condition killed his good friend and himself.
Surviving Wisner are his wife, Mrs. Lizzie Wisner; two daughters, Mrs. Gladys Sayre and Miss Ruby Nell Wisner; three brothers, J. A. Wisner, J. H. Wisner and M. C. Wisner; seven sisters, Mrs. Emma Dupree, Mrs. Hattie Lynch, Mrs. Mary Lynch, Mrs. Alice Prewett, Mrs. Ida Gorham, Mrs. Irene Hodge and Mrs. Florence Keith.
Funeral services were held Saturday aftenoon at 2:30 o'clock at Town Creek Church, the Revs. J. B. Ledford, W. D. Sparkes and Ted Dawson, officiating.
Mr. Everett is survived by his wife, Mrs. Lilla Everett; five daughters, Mrs. Eulene Hardeman and Mrs. Edith Hammond, Chattanooga; Mrs. Inus Sudduth, Hollywood, California; Misses Mary Evelyn and Delina Jean Everett, Fort Payne; five sons, Gelisco and Barnard Everett, Detroit, Mich.; Guice Everett, Camp Fannin, Texas; Edward Everett, U. S. Navy Hawthorne, Nevada; DeArmond Everett, 5th Division U. S. Marines, San Francisco, Calif.
He is also survived by ten grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held for Mr. Everett this afternoon (Wednesday) at two o'clock at Town Creek Church, with the Revs. Brown, Taylor, Black and Jones officiating.
Honorary pallbearers: A. O. Murdock, Dave and Walter Jack, Dr. R. F. Elrod, O. V. Case, J. H. McCartney, C. A. Wolfes and Lester Thompson; active pallbearers: Sam Hixon, Leonard Hammond, Edge Tumlin, John Hopper, Frank Davis, Tom Head, Taylor Goza and Ephren Finch.
McBryar Funeral Home in charge of arrangements for both Everett and Wisner.
All the names were spelled correctly in this article except for my Uncle Glysco and my grandmother's name was Lillah.
I went to Aunt Jean's on my way home today. This is the account she gave me today. We have talked about this day once or twice in my life but never in detail. Aunt Jean Everett Beasley was 11 years old when this happened and it is very painful for her to talk about this. I am writing it down while it is still fresh in my mind because I want my family to remember this before all the principle parties are gone on before the present generations of my family.
Aunt Jean said she had just come home from the store and she went in the kitchen to get something to eat. There was a knock on the door just a minute or two later and she looked through the window from the dining room to the front porch when Grandmother answered the door and she heard her crying. Mr. John Hopper was at the door. Grandmother looked at him and said, "Which one of the boys is it." Three were in the service and Uncle DeArmond was in the South Pacific theatre of WWII. Mr. Hopper said, "Mrs. Everett, you don't understand, it is Green not one of the boys."
Mr. Hopper walked with Grandmother and Aunt Jean out to the store. They went into the store. Aunt Jean said feed bags were along the left wall and the tin cans and counter were along the right wall. The cash register was about halfway down the store on the right side counter. She saw Grandaddy bleeding everywhere and Mr. Bob near him. She said that she didn't know what Grandmother thought taking her in there. My guess is Grandmother was thinking at all and was in shock. They had to wait to remove the bodies until the Coroner came.
Aunt Jean said that they had to hold Grandaddy out for eight days because they thought that Uncle DeArmond was going to be sent home from the South Pacific. All the other children got home for the funeral. She said that Grandaddy was laid out in his coffin in the living room and there were people at the house 24 hours a day until he was buried. In those days (and until I was grown) people "set up" with the dead. Grandmother sent Uncle DeArmond a letter and that was how he found out his daddy was dead. He called to say that he couldn't come home and they went ahead with the funeral. The paper was one day wrong. He was buried on the Thursday a week later after he died.
My cousin, Zoa Ann Suddarth, was around four when this happened and Aunt Inus, her husband and children lived in Hollywood. Aunt Inus had driven to the dentist on the day Grandaddy died. Aunt Inus took the train home for the funeral by herself. That was the last time Zoa Ann remembers her mother ever driving a car.
Uncle Barnard got on the first train that he could get from Detroit. He worked in a tire store there. He said he was very quiet on the train and a gentleman asked him if he was alright. He told him, "No, my daddy was shot and I'm on my way to Alabama to bury him."
Uncle Guice was given a hardship discharge from the Army shortly after Grandaddy's death because Grandmother; my mother, Mary, and Aunt Jean were home alone. My mother was 20 years old at the time of Granddaddy's death.
Jack Guice Everett, Abraham Barnard Everett, Edward Peace Everett, DeArmond Everett, Glysco Glossam Everett, Green Bogle Everett. June 3, 1940 at Aunt Edith's house in Valley Head, AL. There is only one more picture of my Grandaddy that I have ever seen and it is in a frame in Uncle Barnard's living room.
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