OBIT: Jacob STEVEY, 1940, of interest in Somerset County, PA

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Meyersdale Library.
Transcribed and proofread by: Richard Boyer.

Copyright 2009.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/somerset/
________________________________________________


BEULAH VIRGINIA STEVEY

Mother of Three Children Shoots Husband in Bed
24-Year-Old Wife Married Man of 44 When She Was Only 13

  GRANTSVILLE, Md., Oct. 27 - Mrs. Beulah Virginia Stevey, 24, is being held in 
the Garrett County jail at Oakland, pending formal charges of first degree 
murder which will be placed against her at a preliminary hearing this week.  
Mrs. Stevey shot her husband, Jacob Stevey, 57, as he lay across the bed at 
their home in Shade Hollow, a short distance west of here.  He died at the 
Miners Hospital, Frostburg, at 1:20 o'clock Thursday afternoon, about an hour 
after being admitted.
  It was at first reported that the fatal wound had been self inflicted.  
Officers who investigated the case became suspicious of the wife however, when 
it was noticed that the shot which struck the man in the left temple and left 
shoulder had also pierced his right hand.  Neither were there any traces of 
powder burns on his clothing or person.  County authorities questioned the woman 
here and later took her to Oakland where she was held for investigation.  After 
several hours' questioning however, she confessed to the slaying of her husband, 
early Friday morning and placed her signed statement in the hands of States 
Attorney Neil C. Fraley.
  Mrs. Stevey told officials that she was glad she had shot her husband and said 
she had been planning the murder for more than a week.  Throughout the entire 
procedure she maintained a calm, cold attitute.  It was reported that she had 
previously attempted to purchase a quantity of poison at a local store, but the 
clerk had refused to sell it to her.
  The shooting occurred about 10 o'clock Thursday morning.  According to the 
wife's statement, Stevey, who was employed at the G. E. Sloan Coal Company mine, 
near Grantsville, had come home about the middle of the morning, after an 
argument with a foreman.  He went into the bedroom without speaking to her, and 
laid down on the bed.  She said he had often threatened to kill her and their 
three small children, and she decided to shoot him for their protection.  He was 
awake, she told officers, when she entered the room and fired the single-
barrelled twenty-gauge shot gun at him.  She then took the three babies and 
walked to the highway where she was picked up by some hunters who brought her to 
Grantsville where she summoned the State Police.
  Troopers Frank Beamer, Jr., and C. D. Mades responded.  They went to the home 
where they found the man unconscious and bleeding profusely from his wounds.  
The gun was found lying near his feet.  The officers took him to the office of 
Dr. N. R. Davis, Grantsville physician, who sent them on to the Frostburg 
Hospital.  He died without regaining consciousness about an hour later.
  Corp. John H. Doud and Corp. Thomas Currie, of the State Police, States 
Attorney Neil C. Fraley, Sheriff William Owens and Deputy James Mitchell, came 
to Grantsville to investigate the affair.  Dr. E. I. Baumgartner, deputy medical 
examiner, performed the autopsy.
  Mrs. Stevey was formerly Beulah Virginia Warnick, of near Vale Summit.  Both 
of her parents died last February.  She said she was married at the age of 13 
and expected another child in March.
  County officials stated Stevey had been arrested on a charge of entering a 
home near here, but had recently been released under bond.  He and his wife had 
quarrelled on numerous occasions they were told.
  Stevey was a son of the late Alex and Hester Stevey.  He came to Grantsville 
from Midlothian, where his family had resided for about forty years.  Besides 
his wife and their three children, Emma Virginia, 6, Leroy, 5, and Ronnie, 2, he 
is survived by a brother, Alex Stevey, Midlothian, and two sisters, Mrs. Nancy 
McManus, Franklin, and Laura Stevey, Wellersburg.  He enlisted in the U.S. Army 
during the World War and served overseas from April 16, until July 22, 1919, 
taking part in several major battles, including St. Mihiel and the Meuse 
Argonne.
  Funeral services were held Sunday from the Hafer Funeral Home in charge of the 
Farrady Post American Legion, Frostburg, of which he was a member.

Meyersdale Republican, October 30, 1941