Marion County GaArchives News.....Georgia Couple is Found Dead February 4, 1926
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Angela Covington aangel4ken@alltel.net September 4, 2006, 5:41 pm

The Butler Herald February 4, 1926
PROMINENT MARION COUNTY YOUNF PEOPLE PARTIES TO DOUBLE TRAGEDY RESULT OF LOVE 
PACT

Columbus,Ga., Feb 10- Prevented from marrying by objections from both 
families, Anna Lee Welch and O. T. Chalkley, both of the Draneville community 
of Marion County, have been joined in death and were buried Tuesday following 
double funeral services at the Union Church.
The bodies of the two young lovers were found Monday morning in the front seat 
of an automobile on the Draneville road, eight miles from Buena Vista. The 
young woman had been shot through the heart, and had apparently dies without a 
struggle. The young man had been wounded just below the heart, where a 38-
caliber pistol ball had passed through his body. The pistol was found in his 
right hand that rested over on the lap of the young woman. A note said to have 
been written by the young man was found in his pocket. It read as 
follows: "Mother, don't lay this on anybody but me. Do what you want to with 
my body and the rest. Please put us side by side for love was the cause of it 
all. Goodbye. Your son, T. C. 
Just under the initials of the young man were those of the girl believed to 
have been in her own handwriting A. L. W. 
It is understood the young couple had been friends for some time past and had 
planned to be married but were prevented by the objections of members of both 
families who were neighbors near Draneville. They lived about a mile apart and 
the two bodies were found midway between the two homes. The young woman had 
recently been employed at the Kress store at Americus.
The young couple were said to have been last seen together in Buena Vista 
Sunday night between 10 and 11 o'clock when they stopped at a cafe there for 
some refreshments.
There are reports to the effect that they had made known their plans to take 
their own lives unless they could be married, though it was not believed they 
would carry out such a pact. Following the finding of the bodies early Monday 
morning by John Hodge, Judge M. B. McCrary was notified and a coroner's 
inquest held. The verdict being to the effect that the young man had evidently 
killed his sweetheart and then himself, in accordance with an understanding 
believed to have been between them.
The car had been driven out by the side of the road, there being every 
physical evidence that the double tragedy was deliberately enacted.
Young Chalkley is the son of Mr. and Mrs. T. T. Chalkley, of the Draneville 
community, and Miss Welch is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Welch, of 
Draneville. Both families are highly respected in the community where the 
young people were reared and where they have other relatives. 

Additional Comments:
WELCH, Anna Lee b. 11/10/1903 d. 01/31/1926
CHALKLEY, O.T. b. 09/09/1907 d. 01/31/1926


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/marion/newspapers/georgiac2588nw.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/gafiles/

File size: 3.4 Kb