Isle of Wight County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Newspapers.....Murder-Suicide, 1943 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ "The Smithfield (VA) Times," Vol. 26, No. 22, Aug. 19, 1943, p. 1, col. 3 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. but 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 her 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. Doris Louise (GOODWIN; Mrs. James E.) PURDIE, Model Food Mkt. clerk, b. 25 Aug 1919, Perquimans Co., NC, murdered 13 Aug 1943, at home, Norfolk, interred in the Jacob Perry GOODWIN family cemetery*, Perquimans Co., NC, James Edgar PURDIE, Gary Steel Corp. welder, b. 14 Dec 1913, Smithfield, suicide 13 Aug 1943, at wife's home, Norfolk, interred in Whitehead's Grove Baptist Church Cemetery**, 15 Aug 1943 *Doris' gravestone is pictured with her Find a Grave Memorial, #70642229. **James' gravestone is pictured with his Find a Grave Memorial, #45276692. His parents are also buried at Whitehead's Grove. Isle of Wight County Historical Society {IWCHS} Grave Site Survey Task Force {GSSTF} #73: http://www.iwchs.com/Cemetery-Reports.html Doris' birthdate &c. from D. Cert. #16901. James' birthdate &c. from D. Cert. #16902. Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Carolyn Keen (VAHistoricHouses@aol.com) & Mrs. Bruce Saunders (bs4403@verizon.net), and re-formatted by File Manager. file at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/isleofwight/news/19430819st.txt