This is information I have wanted to put together for a long time. Thanks to a good friend , Vonell Beach and the research she has done for me I am able to piece together my family and their lives.***Update:Vonell has done it again, she found the newspaper article about the murders of my uncle Raliegh and neice Clara. I intended on scanning the newspaper article but was not real sure it would be readable. Here is how it appeared in the Daily Middlesboro News dated August 13,1937.Thank You Vonell!!!
It made the Headlines which read...
"Wilder,McNutt Child Slain"
HARRY GOODMAN IS CHARGED IN DOUBLE KILLING
Child Hit by S t r a y Slug From Single Shotgun Blast.
By JULIAN HOWARD
Raleigh Wilder, 20-year-old employee of the Hignite Coal Company, and his seven-year-old niece, ,Clara Mae McNutt, only child of Mr. and Mrs. Jake McNutt, are dead as the result of one blast fired early last night from a shotgun in the hands of Harry Goodman, 27, an automobile mechanic. Goodman is being held in the Middlesboro jail charged with the double slaying. According to police, the trouble was the outgrowth of an altercation several days ago between Wilder and Goodman in which Wilder beat Goodman with a blackjack. Last night, the young coal miner returned from his work to his home near the intersection of Exeter Avenue and Twenty-first street, at supper, and started to walk to town. His little niece was playing in the yard of the house occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Wilder, and the McNutt family.As Wilder walked down the street, Goodman was standing on the corner talking to Charley Powers. He raised the twelve gauge shotgun he was carrying and fired. Four slugs from the discharge struck Wilder. One struck him in the left side of the neck with such force that it made a gash three Inches in length where it entered. Another struck him below the left ear, and the third above the ear. The fourth slug took effect in his left shoulder. One slug pierced the body of littie Clara Mae McNut, entering her right breast.Wilder was rushed to a local hospital where he died as surgeons prepared to, operate. The little girl fell on the porch of the house when the shot was fired, but the members of the family did not realize she was wounded. She law screaming, "I'm burning up inside," for several minutes before a neighbor went to her and discovered she was wounded. She died as she was being taken to the hospital. One shot was fired , Two lives were taken
Not a word was spoken between the two men.Goodman fled from the scene of the crime after taking time to remove the other shells from the death weapon. The gun was found unloaded by Patrolman Guy Hartell. Immediately, officers and citizens began scouring the countryside for the man. Police received a tip that Goodman had been taken to Cumberland Gap by a motorist, but a hurried trip in pursuit of the fugitive wus of no avail.About one-thirty this morning, Goodman was brought lo the City Hall, by Chappcll Peace and Hoy Sharp, who had joined the search."When I left" Goodman told officers and a Daily News reporter this morning, "1 walked along the railroad over to the tunnel,took up the mountain, and walked along the pike. I was sitting on the porch of a litte store beyond the Powells River bridge gelling ready to come back when a car drove up and somebody asked how far it is to Middlesboro."I said, 'You going to Middlesboro and they said, 'We're thinking about it, "I said, "How about riding that way a little piece?" and they asked me my name, I told them, and they said, "You're the man we're looking for". "Over at Cumberland Gap," Goodman continued, "they stopped and wanted to call the Middlesboro police to take me across the mountain, but I said, "No ,you take me on to Middlesboro"." Goodman said he was carrying the shotgun at the time of the shooting because he was trying to sell it to Maynard Yoakum. He said he had seen Yoakum on Exeter Avenue a short time before the slaying. Referring to the death of the child Goodman said, "About that little kid ,I didn't know anything That was an accident". Goodman was not inclined to talk freely this morning when interviewed.
He was asked "Did you say anything to Wilder?" he was asked.
"No,!" he replied.
"Did Wilder say anything to you?"
"I'd rather not talk," he replied
He did, however, attempt to exonerate Charley Powers, who was standing on the street corner with him when the slayings occurred.He said he and Powers had been together for about an hour previous to the shooting, but that Powers was innocent.
"Did Powers know what you were going to do " he was asked
"Powers didn't have any idea what I would do," he answered.
Goodman fixed the time of the previous trouble between himself and Wilder as about a week ago or hardly that long. He admitted buying the shells for his shotgun at a local hardware yesterday. Police have been told that he showed a shotgun shell to some friends yesterday, telling them that it was for "Wilder".
The young man is survived by his mother, Mrs. Wary Wilder, his wife, and three brothers, Nelson ,Arthur, and Paris. The little girl is survived by her parents.
Funeral services for the two victims will be held tomorrow morning at ten o'clock at the Yellow Hill Cemetery. The bodies will remain at Cawood Funeral Home, until nine o'clock tomorrow.
I now know the story of what happened that fateful day but now would like to know the ending.
What happened to Harry Goodman? I would like to know more about the trial. If anyone runs onto this story and knows anything more please feel free to e-mail me.
James B. Wilder b. 1835 in Harlan County , Kentucky, died 13 March 1863 in Nashville Davidson County, Tennessee,(military Service: Died in the Civil War) married Rosanna Rossie Wilson b. abt. 1840 in Harlan County ,Kentucky , died abt. 1910 in Bell County , Kentucky , they were married on 24 November 1857 in Harlan , Harlan County, Kentucky, Their Children:
- Levi H. Wilder b. 8 August 1859 in Harlan County , Kentucky
- William Nelson Wilder b. 22 August 1861 in Harlan County , Kentucky , died ??/??/???? , married Mary Ann Lee(Also known as Mary Polly Miracle , married second time to a Miracle) b. abt. 1862 in Bell County , Kentucky , died in 1928 in Bell County , Kentucky; They were married on 2 October 1879 in Bell County , Kentucky.Their children were:
- Garfield "Gar" Wilder (my grandfather)b.15 October 1880 and died on the 2 July , 1919 . He died from Typhoid Fever.He was a coal miner at the Log Mountain Coal Co. in Davisburg Bell County Kentucky. He married Mary Webb b. ?????? and died on ??????.(Mary Webb remarried a Robert Longworth )His death certificate list his parents as unknown and his bith place as unknown.There is no date registered of his marriage to Mary Webb.My dad "Paris" was just a little better than a year old when his father died. Garfield and Mary's children were:
- Nelson Wilder b.Feb 1904 d.7th Apr1l,1942. He died from pneumonia. He was married to a Rosa Cox.
Nelson Wilder's Death Certificate I have no information on Rosa Cox.I have it listed on a census that Nelson was also a coal miner. I have no other information on Nelson Wilder. - Annie Wilder , Is listed but I know nothing about her, she may have died as a young child
- Arthur Wilder b.22nd April 1912 d.11th December 1956 after a long battle with cancer. He was a truck driver for Rural Doxel Bottled Gas in Ludlow,Kentucky. He also lived in Ludlow,KY. at the time of his death. He was married to Myrtle ?. They had adopted a daughter :
- Bessie Regina Wilder b.02/July/1950
- Raliegh(I believe to be the correct spelling) "Roly" or "Roligh" Wilder (The spellings of his name varies so I listed them all),b.22nd May 1917 d.12th August 1937 of a gunshot wound. Roligh Wilder's Death Certificate. He married a Hazel Partin b.??/??/???? d.??/??/???? .I Do not believe there were any children from this marriage as they were not listed at his death.
- Vestia Wilder b. 22/May/1913 d.04/February/1976 married Jake McNutt b.??/??/???? d.1 October 1939 on ??/??/????.He died in a car accident.Jake McNutt's Death Certificate They had one daughter:
- Clara Mae McNutt b.5 January 1930 d.12 August 1937 of a gunshot wound.
Clara McNutt's Death Certificate She was 7 years 7 months and 7 days old. (see Raliegh Wilder for her story) I saw her picture many times that hung on my Aunt Vestia's wall. She was a beautiful little girl. She was posed with her hands in the praying hands position and then they were positioned along side her face. She had coal black hair just like my aunt Vestia. That picture has stayed in my mind for many , many years.
*She was married again to General Lovell b.abt.1906 died 27 May 1967,after a long battle with cancer. They married on ??/??/???? ; They adopted the daughter of Arthur and Myrtle Wilder which was: - Nelson Wilder b.Feb 1904 d.7th Apr1l,1942. He died from pneumonia. He was married to a Rosa Cox.
- Bessie Regina Wilder and became Regina Lovell b. 02/July/1950
- Curtis James Lovell b.31/August/1968 died 06/January/2004; married Sherry Laytart on ??/??/???? and they had 1 son:
- Johnathon Louis Lovell b. 21/March/1993
- Scotty Ray Quinton b.27/September/1976
- Paris Allison Wilder b.18 June 1918 in Bell County , Kentucky , died 18th July 1971 in a car accident coming back from Middlesboro,KY. His car crashed coming down Jelico Mountain.He first married an Irene Christmas on ??/??/???? and divorced on ??/??/????.I have no information on Irene Christmas. I understand this was a very short marriage.There were no children from that marriage. He then married Juanita Jett Schwaller b. 20 May 1918 in Brooksville Bracken County , Kentucky, they married on the 19 January 1946. (Juanita Wilder died 22 January 1974 of a stroke due to diabetes at the St. Elizabeth Hospital in Covington Kenton County, KY.)Paris was first a Truck Driver when he came to Ludlow ,KY and worked for Rural Doxel Bottled Gas Co. in Ludlow ,KY. He then went to Welding school and worked at various jobs before his long term employment at Joseph Honhorst Co. in Cincinnati, Ohio which is where he worked when he died.
- Carl Lynne Schwaller b.13th September 1943 in Covington Kenton County , Kentucky, married Rae JoAnne Brownfield b. ????? d. ???? on ?????.They divorced on ??????. They had one daughter:
- Machelle Schwaller b. 16th November 1962 married ????? and they have 3 children:
- Brittany b. 8 February ????
- Brian b. 24 January ????
- Chris b. 16 May ????
- Danny Vonasek b.24 June ????
- Aaron Vonasek b.29 January ????
- Debbie Anne Schwaller b.?????? has one son:
- ???? Schwaller b.???????????
- Sharon Allison Wilder b.27th November 1946 married Clell Noble b. 21st March 1941 on the 23rd December 1962. They have four daughters:
- Holly Lenora Noble b. 9th February 1965 in Covington Kenton County, Kentucky;has one daughter
( her father is Joder Tinch b.24 August 1956): - Haley Alison Noble b. 18th December 1994 in Edgewood Kenton County, Kentucky
- Brenda Blue Noble b. 9th in Covington Kenton County,Kentucky on 9 March 1966 had one son;
- Clell Jason Noble b. 26 July 1981,in Covington Kenton County , Kentucky; his father is Frank Barnes b. ?????
*note:He was raised by his grandparents Clell and Sharon Noble
She married Bernard Cook b. ???? on ????? and they one son:They divorced on ?????
- Dustin Bernard Cook b. 19th September 1990 in Ft. Thomas Campbell County, Kentucky
- Toni Lynne Noble b. 16th June 1969 married Roy Wade b. ??????? and they married on the 6th day May ???? and they have three boys:
- Jordan Allen Wade b. 18th March 1998
- Joshua Aaron Wade b. 6th November 2000
- Jacob Andrew Wade b. 3 February 2003
- Parisanne Elizabeth Noble b. 25th February 1971
- has one son by Joseph Johnson b. ????? d. ?????
- Joseph Jeremiah Johnson b. 16th June 1990
- David James Isaacs b. 13th September 1994
- Sarah Rose Wilder b. abt. 1883 in Bell County , Kentucky married to William Wesley Partin b. 9 August 1860 in Bell County , Kentucky, their Children:
- James Mart Partin
- Icy Mae Partin
- Jefferson Partin
- Clinton Wilder b. abt. 1884 in Bell County , Kentucky, married Mellie Ann Webb b. abt. 1860 in Bell County , Kentucky; They had one son:
- Chester Wilder
- Amanda Wilder b. abt. 1886 in Bell County , Kentucky,died 15 March 1974 in Bell County , Kentucky; buried at Gibson # 2 cemetery , Clear Creek , Bell County , Kentucky ; marriage #1 to John Robert Webb b. abt. 1880,(The 1880 census has his home in Pineveille,Bell County, Kentucky, he is listed a 1 month old.Others in household are James Webb age 21;Janie Webb age 20;William Webb age 2)Was listed as a farmer on his draft registration; married 3 May 1903 in Bell County ,Kentucky;their children:
- Minnie Webb
- Daisy Webb
- Robert Ewell Webb b.26 May 1910,died 28 August 1952;listed as married on death certificate,Age at death 42; Cause of death is listed a pneumonia, informant on death certificate is Mary Webb.Listed as living in Bell County, Kentucky
- Silas Partin b. 15 July 1915 , died 17 July 1938 ; cause of death listed as T.B. His occupation was listed as a farmer.
- Hazel Partin
- Curtis Partin b. 23 September 1921 in Bell County, Kentucky
- Kelly Partin
- Ansel Partin
- Nancy Wilder b. 8 December 1888 in Bell County,Kentucky, died 24 January 1964 , buried at the Red Hill Cemetery, Claiborne,Tennessee, married Sie Evans b.3 May 1900; their children:
- Carson Evans
- James Evans
- Living Evans,No name available
- Silas Wilder b. abt. 1891 in Bell County , Kentucky , married Florence ? whom he met in World War 1
*Note: Curtis was raised by John and Joan Gregory and they were his parents as far as everybody was concerned even though they never got to adopt him. Curtis died suddenly at home of heart failure. His father John died on 03/January/2004 of cancer just a few days before Curtis.
Juanita's Marriage #1 to Karl Schwaller , they had one son:
Machelle divorced and remarried Mike Vonasek b. ????? on ?????? they have no children together but has two boys by a previous marriage. They are:
She married Donald Isaacs b.?????? on ????? and they divorced ?????. they have a son:
Marriage #2 to William Wesley Partin (*note:Was also married to her sister Sarah Rose Wilder)b. 9 August 1884 in Bell County , Kentucky, married on 26 January 1914;their children:
