Isle of Wight-Chesterfield County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Turner, Richard R., 1901 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ SUDDEN DEATH OF CAPT. TURNER ____________ His Hair Turned White in a Night. Brother of C. Beverly Turner and S. D. Turner. (Special Dispatch to The Times.) SUFFOLK, VA., Dec. 5.- Captain Richard R. Turner, one of the most prominent citizens of Isle of Wight county, Va., and acting keeper of the famous Libby Prison at the evacuation of Richmond, fell dead to-day in the yard of A. S. Holloman*, near McClelland. He was sixty-three years old. Having had family prayers at home, Captain Turner was driving to one of his lumber mills when called by Holloman to look at a horse. Captain Turner was a brother of C. Beverly Turner, who was killed by Gilligan, and of S. D. Turner, who died yesterday near Richmond and whose funeral he expected to attend. Captain Turner was at death Democratic county chairman and a large lumber dealer. Captain Turner's hair turned white in a white. After the evacuation Libby inmates told Northern troops stories of hardships, and Turner was locked up with a promise of being hanged next morning. When sunrise came his hair was almost white as snow. He is survived by one son, Dr. W. D. Turner. ****************************************************************************** J. F. WOOLRIDGE EXPIRES SUDDENLY ____________ He and Captain Turner, of Isle of Wight, Married Sisters - Severe Affliction Upon This Family. Mr. Joseph Flood Woolridge, one of the best known men on Church Hill, died at his residence, No. 2401 M Street, at 6:15 o'clock last evening. His illness was of less than twenty-four hours duration. Thursday evening he was in the grocery store of a friend, apparently as well as ever. He was very low from the moment he was taken with his fatal illness. Dr. C. W. Massie attended him. He had heart disease, the Doctor said. Mr. Woolridge was the general manager of Dill's tobacco factory. He had been connected with the tobacco business since the war. Mr. Woolridge was a gallant Confederate soldier and served until the surrender, having been once wounded in action. He was fifty-six years of age, and leaves a widow and two sons, Joseph and Ryland. He had been a consistent and leading member of Union Station Methodist Church since the war. A peculiar interest is given to the sudden demise of Mr. Woolridge by the fact that he and Captain Richard R. Turner, if [sic; of] Isle of Wight county, whose sudden death was announced in yesterday morning's paper, married sisters. Their families were close relations and very intimate. The Turner and Wollridge [sic] families have the sympathy of the entire community, and this fellow-feeling is made stronger from the fact that the only living sister of Captain Turner- indeed, only remaining child of that set- is also ill in Richmond. The afflictions of this family in brief period have been terrible. Early in the week Mr. Samuel D. Turner, one brother, died here; Thursday Captain Turner died. Not a great while ago the other brother, Mr. C. Beverly Turner, was killed by Gilligan, now in the penitentiary. And now the widow of Captain Turner is plunged yet deeper in sorrow because of the death of her brother-in-law, Mr. Woolridge, and the illness of her sister-in- law. The funeral of Mr. Woolridge will take place to-day at 2:30 o'clock. ______________________ ****************************************************************************** R. R. TURNER'S DEATH. Was County Chairman of Isle of Wight - Smithfield Personals. SMITHFIELD, VA., December 5. - (Special.) - The sudden death of Mr. R.R. Turner, which occurred near here to-day, was quite a shock to everyone. Mr. Turner seemed quite well when he left his home, and rode to the house of a neighbor, Mr. Hollowman, to look at a horse; while there he was taken suddenly sick and dropped dead in the yard. Mr. Turner recently succeeded Mr. C.F. Day as county chairman of the Democratic party of Isle of Wight. He leaves a widow and one son, Dr. Willie Turner. ****************************************************************************** DEATH OF MRS. WOOLDRIDGE [sic; MR. WOOLRIDGE]. The End Came Suddenly at Home, on Church Hill, Last Night. After being ill less than twenty-four hours, Mr. Joseph Flood Wooldrige [sic; Woolridge], a well-known and highly respected citizen of Church Hill, died yesterday evening shortly after 6 o'clock at his home, at the corner of Twenty-fourth and M streets. On Thursday evening, Mr. Wooldrige was taken ill. He grew worse rapidly, and passed quietly away at the time indicated. It is thought that his death was due to a trouble of the heart, which was aggravated by the deaths of two brothers of his wife's during the past week. Mr. Wooldrige was 56 years old, and had been a resident of Richmond since his early boyhood days. He is survived by his wife and two sons - Messrs. J.L. and R.A. Wooldrige - both of this city. During the war between the States Mr. Wooldrige was a gallant Confederate soldier, having been wounded in service. Since he has been old enough to work, Wooldrige had been engaged as a tobacconist. For seventeen years he was connected with the factory of W.T. Hancock, managing the business for a number of years. He remained in that position until the firm of Hikok & Co. was formed. He was the junior member of that firm, and remained with it until the business was sold to J.G. Dill. Mr. Dill, having purchased the best brands made by the company, Mr. Wooldrige accepted a position with him as manager, and for the past three years had successfully held the position. Mr. Wooldrige was an active and zealous member of Union-Station Methodist church, from which place his funeral will take place on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 o'clock. The interment will be at Oakwood. ****************************************************************************** HAD A PEEP AT DEATH. Memorable Incident in the Life of R. R. Turner. A LIBBY PRISON OFFICIAL. Mistaken for the Commandant, He Was About to Be Court-Martialed. HAIR TURNED WHITE IN A NIGHT. Escaped from the Guards After Being Given the Enclosure, and Managed to Reach the House of a Friend - Opportunity Presenting Itself, He Slipped Away from Richmond - Died Last Week. The death of Mr. R.R. Turner, which occurred in Isle of Wight county on Thursday, recalls a memorable incident in his life, which took place in Richmond some thirty-five years ago. During the civil war, and at its close, Mr. Turner was commissary of the famous Libby prison, in this city, where a large number of Union prisoners of war were confined. The commandant of the prison was his cousin, Captain Thomas Turner. By his rigid discipline, which was absolutely necessary under the circumstances, Captain Turner naturally incurred the ill-will of the men in his keeping, who charged him with cruelty and freely circulated this report among their northern relatives and friends. As a matter of fact, the inmates of Libby prison received better treatment than Confederate prisoners in northern prisons. The rations may at times have been scanty, but in this they fared as well as the Confederate soldiers who were guarding them, receiving exactly the same amount and quality of food. [engraving, captioned:] R. R. TURNER, (Who Lived Thirty-Five Years Longer Than He Once Thought He Would.) When Richmond was evacuated, and the Union troops came in, one of the first men they searched for was Captain Thomas Turner. The report that he had been the commandant of the famous Libby prison had gone all over the North. Fortunately, Captain Turner had left the city. WRONG MAN ARRESTED. His cousin, Mr. R.R. Turner, was found however, and the fact that in appearance, he was like his relative; that he had been at Libby prison and that he was certainly named Turner, led to his being mistaken for Captain Thomas Turner. He was placed in the State penitentiary, to be tried by court- martial. With feeling running high, as it did in the days following the evacuation, courts-martial did not make nice distinctions in matters of identity. Captain Wirz, the commandant of the Andersonville prison, was arrested about the same time, and executed, after having been court-martialed, upon the same charge as that preferred against Mr. R.R. Turner. Turner's chances were small indeed. With friends and acquaintances scattered, it was practically impossible for him to at once establish that he was not the Turner wanted. No delay would have been granted him. There was no such thing as appeal to the civil courts. The military authority was supreme and in full control. He had no friends in positions of influence. MADE HIS ESCAPE. For some reason, probably because of the large number of duties devolving upon the recently installed local military authorities, the court-martial was not held for several days. Mr. Turner had been in prison about eight or ten days, when, being given the privilege of the grounds within its walls, he escaped, and made his way to the residence of Mr. John Tyree, a friend, at the corner of Monroe and Marshall streets, where he was concealed for a week or two. Mr. Tyree, a few days later, slipped him out of the lower end of the city. Being well acquainted with all the.roads leading from the city, he soon made his way through the country to the home of his relatives and friends in Isle of Wight, where he remained until the excitement incident to the affair had died out. It is asserted as an undeniable fact by those who were acquainted with the circumstances that so great was Mr. Turner's anxiety concerning the position in which he was placed, that the color of his hair changed from a raven-black into gray in one night. WOULD HAVE BEEN EXECUTED. There was little doubt in the minds of many people at the time that Mr. Turner would have met the same fate that overtook Captain Wirz, the commandant of Andersonville prison, in Georgia, who was legally murdered by court-martial on the same charges that were lodged against Commissary Turner, so bitter was the feeling against anybody by the name of Turner connected with Libby prison. Mr. Turner made occasional visits to the city until he finally took up his residence in Isle of Wight, where he died a few days ago, as stated above. The excellent likeness of Mr. Turner, which the Dispatch prints this morning was obtained from a relative in this city. After the war, Mr. Turner became a useful and influential citizen of Isle of Wight. Capt. Richard Randolph "Dick" TURNER, saw mill owner & lumber dealer, Confederate veteran- acting keeper of Libby Prison when Richmond evacuated, Chesterfield Co. native, d. 5 Dec 1901, near McClelland, age 63, interred in Ivy Hill Cemetery**, Smithfield, "The Times" (Richmond, VA), Fri., Dec. 6, 1901, p. 5, col. 6; "The Times" (Richmond, VA), Sat., Dec. 7, 1901, p. 2, col. 2; "Richmond (VA) Dispatch," Vol. 1901, No. 15803, Dec. 7, 1901, p. 6, col. 4; "Richmond (VA) Dispatch," Vol. 1901, No. 15803, Dec. 7, 1901, p. 10, col. 5; "Richmond (VA) Dispatch," Vol. 1901, No. 15804, Dec. 8, 1901, p. 25, col. 1 **Isle of Wight County Historical Society {IWCHS} Grave Site Survey Task Force {GSSTF} Ivy Hill report {#48}: http://www.iwchs.com/Cemetery-Reports.html Find a Grave Mem. #104166651 gives rank as Major. *should read "Holleman." (1900 Census- Hardy Dist., IoW, sheet 2B #69) His widow's obit ("The Times-Dispatch," Apr. 1, 1903) is posted at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/isleofwight/obits/t656m5ob.txt The death notice obit of Joseph F. Woolridge is posted separately at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/richmondcity/obits/w/woolridg34nob.txt The death notice of Richard's bro Samuel ("The Times," Dec. 5, 1901, p. 10) is posted at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/richmondcity/obits/t/turner33nob.txt A death notice also appeared in "Richmond Dispatch," Dec. 5, 1901, p. 3. S.D. TURNER, Jr., qualified as executor of his father's estate, valued at $8,270. ("The Times," Dec. 12, 1901, p. 9) Both Joseph WOOLRIDGE & Samuel TURNER are buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Richmond - Find A Grave Memorials # 104696773 & 107948142, respectively. An article ("Virginian-Pilot," Dec. 29, 1899, p. 8, col. 2-5) covering the murder of Dick's bro Chas. Beverly Turner, 27 Dec 1899, is posted at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/isleofwight/news/18991229vp.txt Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by File Manager Matt Harris (zoobug64@aol.com). file at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/isleofwight/obits/t656r3ob.txt