Hooded Men Take Turner Blanchard, 32, From Home, Castrate Him, Sept. 14, 1925

Taken from His Home by Mob and Subjected to Operation

Monroe, Sept. 14—A repetition of the Needleman case which set the town of Williamston and the Williamston section in commotion a few months ago, occurred on the Monroe-Charlotte highway, two miles west of Monroe early Sunday morning, when Turner Blanchard, age 32, was taken from his home by a hooded mob and subjected to a criminal operation.

Blanchard has been a cotton mill operative in Monroe for years, but recently moved to a farm west of Monroe on Highway Number 20. Several years ago he was married to Mrs. Julia Griffin, a widow with three children, to their marriage five children have been born, the eight children and Mr. and Mrs. Blanchard live in a farm house about 300 yards from the highway.

Called Out Before Day

A short while before day on Sunday morning, there was a call at the door for Blanchard, and he went into the yard. Immediately an automobile drove away, and his wife went to the door and called but got no reply.

In a short while the machine returned and the occupants put Blanchard out at his home. Thi sis Mrs. Blanchard’s story of the affair and is all that she knows about it.

Blanchard, who has been able to talk but little, says that when he went out the door he was immediately blindfolded and thrown into the car by a party of hooded men, he thinks about four in number. He was then driven out about the highway and the criminal operation was performed. He was returned to his home and told that he would not pay his grocery bills, and the men drove away.

Faints from Loss of Blood

It was about daybreak when Blanchard was returned to his home. He went into the room and he and his wife kept the affair a secret until about noon. About this time the victim fainted from loss of blood and County Physician G.M. Smith was called. On his arrival he notified Sheriff Clifford Fowler and Blanchard was rushed to the Ellen Fitzgerald Hospital at Monroe for treatment.

Hospital reports are to the effect that Blanchard was almost dead from loss of blood when he arrived there. He was given a transfusion and revived. Reports at 8 o’clock tonight say that his condition is serious, but there is some home of his recovery.

Sheriff Clifford Fowler and his deputies have worked all day for a clue as to the assailants. Official reports late in the day are to the effect that they are reasonably certain as to the guilty parties. The officers are being hindered in their work because of the fact that the victim is unable to talk, and also because of the delay in getting on the trial. The belief is expressed that if they had been notified of the crime immediately, they would have already jailed the offenders.

From the front page of The Concord Daily Tribune, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 1925

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