Southampton County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Blythe, Margaret E., 1947 

************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm
************************************************

MARGARET ETTA BLYTHE

MARGARET BLYTHE, BOOKKEEPER FOR C.A. CUTCHINS IS SHOT IN HEAD 
SATURDAY BY EX-POLICEMAN; ASSAILANT IS IN SUFFOLK JAIL AWAITING TRIAL

   With a .38 caliber pistol allegedly stolen earlier in the day from the 
Veteran’s Service Station, corner Main Street and Fourth Avenue, Joseph A. 
Gay, 53, of Rocky Mount, N.C., formerly a member of the Franklin police 
force, fired a bullet through the head of Miss Margaret Etta Blythe, 24, while 
the latter was seated at her desk in the office of C.A. Cutchins & Sons, by 
whom she had been employed as a bookkeeper for a number of years.

   The shooting took place about 12:50 p.m. on Saturday, December 27, and the 
victim died in Raiford Memorial Hospital at about 3 o’clock Monday morning 
without having regained consciousness.

   There were no eyewitnesses to the fatal episode, the shooting occurring at 
a time when Samuel B. Cutchins, proprietor of the store, was at lunch, and the 
other employees, J.H. Boyd and Luther E. Barden, were in the rear of the 
building.  They had left Gay in the office talking with Miss Blythe, neither 
suspecting, of course, that a tragedy was soon to be enacted.

   Hearing a sound which they took to be the noise of an exploding firecracker 
set off by some prankster, the two men walked towards the front of the 
building to investigate, Mr. Boyd reaching the doorway in time to see a man 
walking rapidly up Main Street away from the store and mingling with the crowd 
on the sidewalk.  Mr. Barden, however, happened to glance through the window 
opening from the office onto the storeroom proper, and saw Miss Blythe slumped 
over in her chair.  Calling to Mr. Boyd that Miss Blythe had been hurt, Mr. 
Barden went to her assistance, and he and Mr. Boyd placed her unconscious form 
on the floor.

   From the position occupied by Miss Blythe at the time of the shooting and 
the hole made in the wall by the bullet after it had passed through her head, 
it appeared that her assailant had stood behind her at the moment he fired the 
fatal shot.  According to Police Chief W.L. Burrow, who was summoned to the 
scene by Mr. Boyd, the bullet had entered Miss Blythe’s head at the lobe of 
the left ear and without penetrating the brain, had emerged near the right ear 
lobe.  Powder burns on the victim’s face indicated that the weapon had been 
fired from a distance of about three feet.  The bullet was found on the floor 
nearby.

   Unrequited love was probably the motive for the shooting.  The killer, who 
left Franklin police force about three years ago, was separated from his wife, 
who lives in Rocky Mount with their five children.  It is alleged that he and 
Miss Blythe had been on friendly terms until recently, when she insisted that 
he cease his attentions; and according to rumor, he had issued threats against 
her.  Since quitting the police force Gay had resumed his trade as a 
carpenter, working on various jobs here.

   Making his getaway in an automobile, the killer headed for Carolina, where 
he was picked up in Rocky Mount at the request of the local police.  He was 
returned to Franklin on Sunday, and form here he was taken of Suffolk, where 
he was lodged in the Nansemond County jail.  In a statement made to police in 
Rocky Mount and repeated to Chief Burrow of the Franklin force Gay admitted 
the killing, but he declined to sign a confession and refused to make any 
other statement without the advice of a lawyer.  Meanwhile he awaits the 
action of the grand jury.

   The victim of the shooting was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Blythe, 
who reside on the Sedley road.  She is survived by her parents, one sister, 
Mrs. Larry Overby, and one brother, W. Irving Blythe, both of Franklin.  She 
was a member of Union Christian Church.

   Funeral services for Miss Blythe were conducted Tuesday afternoon at 4 
o’clock at Union Church by Rev. B.H. Watkins and Rev. R.E. Brittle, in the 
presence of a large and sorrowing crowd.  Interment was in Poplar Spring 
Cemetery.


Margaret Etta BLYTHE, bookkeeper for C.A. Cutchins & Sons, Franklin, 
Southampton Co. native, shot 27 Dec 1947, d. 29 Dec 1947, Franklin, age 24, 
interred in Poplar Spring Cemetery (Annex 2, Plot 219*), Franklin, 
   30 Dec 1947, 
"The Tidewater News" (Franklin, VA), Jan. 2, 1948, p. 1 

*Southampton County Historical Society {SCHS} Cemetery Project, 
    Poplar Spring list: 
 http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/cemeteries/psanx2.txt 

Additional information: 

Her parents' marriage record: 

FRANK BLYTHE, 27, S, SO.CO., SO.CO., FARMER, 
   S/O WILLIAM DRAKE AND MARGARET ANN ROSE BLYTHE
M. 02-13-1908 SO.CO., VA. BY REV. C.H. ROWLAND
ETTA BLYTHE, 25, S, SO.CO., SO.CO., 
   D/O JESSE JR. AND MARY JANE MUNFORD BLYTHE
(Southampton Co. MB13:159; transcribed & annotated by Bruce Saunders: 
 http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/vitals/mb13pt.txt) 

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by 
Mrs. Bruce Saunders (bs4403@verizon.net), 
and re-formatted by File Manager Matt Harris. 

file at: 
http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/obits/b430m2ob.txt