A Forsyth County coroner’s jury Tuesday night attributed the
tragic death of young Smith Reynolds, 20-year-old heir to the huge fortune of
the late R.J. Reynolds, the tobacco king, to persons unknown.
Young Reynolds died Wednesday July 7 at his home in
Winston-Salem from a bullet wound through his head and the injury was at first
said to be self-inflicted, however, further developments brought to the light
the decision that the shooting was done by other than the victim’s hands.
Principal characters in the case are Mrs. Libby Holman,
widow of the deceased youth, and Albert Walker, his lifelong chum and
secretary. The two have been under guard as material witnesses since Saturday
and they were re-examined Wednesday afternoon.
Highlights of the facts revealed by investigations thus far
in the case are:
That young Reynolds had often threatened to end his life.
That “six or seven times” he had held a pistol to his temple
in the presence of his wife.
That Sunday night before the shooting, which occurred
Wednesday, he had told Libby in an intimate moment that he was unable to
reciprocate her love as he should and she should “have an affair with another
man.”
That Smith on that night had told both Libby and Walker that
he was insane.
That against Libby’s fervid protestations, he had spent
Sunday night away from her with Walker in a Winston-Salem hotel.
That after Reynolds was taken to a hospital fatally wounded
a strange incident occurred in the hospital room where Libby and Walker were
alone.
One or both had fallen from a bed and were found on the
floor by nurses.
That young Reynolds had a fear of kidnapping so deep that he
always kept firearms handy. Once he kept a dummy in his bed for two weeks and
himself slept under the bed as a measure of protection.
Finally it was testified that on the night Reynolds died his
wife had cried out in the hospital, “Oh, my baby, my baby,’ and said she was to
become a mother.
Investigations are being continued by Sheriff Transou Scott
of Forsyth County.
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