Hertford County NcArchives Obituaries.....Purdie, James E. & Doris Goodwin 1943
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SMITHFIELD TIMES, VOL. 26, NO. 22, 08-19-1943
JAMES EDGAR AND DORIS GOODWIN PURDIE

J.E. PURDIE KILLS WIFE WITH PISTOL; THEN KILLS SELF
  Peace and quiet prevailed in the 300 block Hamilton Ave., Norfolk, Friday, 
August 13, at 5:45 p.m. buy approximately three minutes later a pistol blazed 
three times and a young woman lay dying from two bullet wounds inflicted by 
her estranged husband, while the latter lay died of a self-inflicted shot 
through the cheek.
  The husband, James Edgar Purdie, 28 years old welder, died almost instantly 
after turning upon himself a gun with which he had fatally wounded his 24 year 
old wife, Mrs. Doris Goodwin Purdie. The wife was pronounced dead on arrival 
at Norfolk General Hospital.
  The murder-suicide which relatives said grew out of a domestic rift, 
occurred at 345 Hamilton Avenue, where the Purdies had made their home since 
coming to Norfolk in 1938.
  Coroner's Investigator Leon Nowitzky, who examined the bodies in the 
hospital morgue, said the bullet which killed the girl struck in her back 
while a second bullet pierced her left arm and lodged in her left breast. The 
bullet which killed Purdie went through his right temple. Nowitzky held it to 
be a case of murder and suicide and said no inquest would be necessary.
  Details of the preliminary investigation were handled by Patrolman George V. 
Crosby, who lives across the street at 352 Hamilton Avenue. Crosby was off 
duty and was sitting at home with his shoes off when he heard the shots. He 
rushed across the street in his sock feet and called for a police car and an 
ambulance as soon as he saw what had happened.
EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNT
  "It happened quick as a flash" said Mrs. Elizabeth Ayer, of 343 Hamilton 
Aveune, who had been chatting with Mrs. Purdie barely a minute before the 
husband and his wife went inside the front hall where he shot her.
  "Mrs. Purdie came home from work and sat down on the porch to cool off a few 
minutes and talk to her father", said Mrs. Ayer. "I spoke to her and we talked 
a little, and then she asked her father to go to the corner grocery for some 
bread. As her father was leaving the porch, I reached across the narrow space 
between the two porches and handed her a piece of candy."
  "About the time er got out of sight", she continued, "her husband came and 
walked up on the porch. He sat on the railing in front of her, and turned to 
look straight at me. I took the hint and got up to go in the house but before 
I could get in the door Purdie and his wife went inside the hall, closing the 
front door as they went. About the time the door was closed, I heard two 
pistol shots. The door opened and Mrs. Purdie came out on the porch. She 
turned her eyes toward me, gave me an appealing look and then slumped over the 
porch railing with her head turned in my direction. Blood was spurting from 
her mouth and chest, and her eyes were rolling. It was a horrible sight. Then 
I heard another pistol shot inside the house. That was the shot he fired into 
his own head."
  During the five years they had lived in Norfolk Purdie was employed as a 
welder at the Gary Steel Corporation, Hampton boulevard and Twenty-fifth 
Street.  They came from Smithfield. She had worked recently at a grocery store 
on West Olney Road. They had one child, a seven year old daughter, Jacqueline 
DeVaughan Purdie. Three weeks ago they separated, Mrs. Purdie and the child 
remaining at the Hamilton Avenue address with her father, John R. Goodwin, and 
her sister, Mrs. Evelyn Munden. Purdie took a room several blocks away.
  Goodwin said they separated before and he persuaded his daughter to affect a 
reconciliation.
Mrs. Purdie was the former Doris Goodwin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John R. 
Goodwin, of Hertford, N.C.  In addition to her daughter and her parents she is 
survived by three sisters, Mrs. Evelyn Munden of Norfolk; Mrs. Walter G. 
Bateman of Roper, N.C. and Mrs. Owen Jordan of Tyner, N.C. and two brothers 
Percy J. Goodwin of Chuckatuck and Johnnie Lycurtis Goodwin, USN.  Her body 
was removed to the Cox Funeral Home, Westover and Manteo and prepared for 
shipment to the Babb Funeral Home, Hertford, N.C.
  Purdie's body was taken to the Gregory Funeral Home, 3401 Granby Street, 
whence it was forwarded to Roberts and Johnson Funeral Home in Smithfield. 
Purdie was born in Isle of Wight County, where his parents Mr. and Mrs. Lee 
Purdie, still reside.
PURDIE FUNERAL
  Funeral services for James Edgar Purdie, 28, native of Isle of Wight County 
were conducted Sunday afternoon at 4 o'clock at the grave in Whitehead's Grove 
Cemetery with the Rev. J.A. Cales officiating.
  The deceased is survived by a daughter, Jacqueline DeVaughan Purdie; his 
parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. Lee Purdie; two sisters, Mrs. Thelma King Gwaltney of 
Smithfield; Mrs. Hazel Wagner, RFD, Suffolk.
  Active pallbearers were William Allen Johnson, Wilson Chappell, G.W. 
Chapman, Marvin Thomas, Shelby Chapman and Otis Lankford.
  The services were largely attended and there were many beautiful flowers.


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