Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-30
Fires Fatal Bullets After She
Refuses to Relieve Him
of Payments.
DEAD W0MAN'S SISTER
WITNESSES TRAGEDY
Victim, Shot Twice in Body, Dies
on Way to Emergency
Hospital.

Flying into a rage when his wife
refused to relieve him of alimony pay
ments, Charles r. Craddock, 80 years
old. of Alexandria. shot and killed his
wife and then fired a fatal bullet
through his own heart in an apartment
at 1919 G street this afternoon.
The wife, Mrs. Blanche Craddock,
died on the way to Emergency Hos
pital. She had been shot twice in the
body. The shooting was witnessed by
Miss Frances Marshall, 2s-year-old sis
ter of the slain woman. Miss Marshall
told police the husband came to the
apartment shortly after / o'clock and
Immediately began quarreling with his
estranged wife.
Blanche had been awarded a tenn
porary divorce with alimony from her
husband several weeks ago. Miss
Marshall said. "She was afraid of him
and came to live with me and my sister
Gladys in our apartment several weeks
ago. Her husband had made several
demands, first that she come back to
live with him. and second that she re-
lieve him of alimony payments. She
refused to do either and he came to see
her this afternoon.
Tells About Shooting.
Almost Immediately he started to
quarrel with her and struck her when
she tried to escape. He grabbed her by
the throat, throwing her around
the room and striking her head against
the wall when I tried to force him to
leave her alone. He threw her to the
floor and grabbed me, forcing me out
of the apartment and closing the door
in my face. ran for help, but before
could get down the hallway I heard
two shots and Blanche screaming. She
said in an agonized voice. Oh my God.
don't shoot me again I heard several
street. 1 was mad with fear and hor-
ror and didn't know where was going
or what was doing"
Eye witnesses said they saw Miss
Marshall running madly up Nineteenth
street, her hair streaming in the wind,
crying out that her sister had been
killed.
Alive When Police Arrive.
When police reached the apartment
they found Mrs. Craddock lying in the
front hallway. She was still breathing.
but died as she was being carried
downstairs. where an ambulance was
waiting. The husband was lying across
a davenport in the front room. He
was dead. A .32-caliber black auto
matte pistol was lying by his side.
The apartment was in state of wild
disorder, overturned chairs and tables
indicating that the woman had strug-
gled desperately to escape her enraged
husband. Police found cards in the
mans pocket which indicated that he
was employed as an engineer on the
Southern Railway.
Just at the moment the shots were
fired, 1l-year-old Evelyn Grissett,
whose mother runs a cafeteria in the
apartment house, was descending the
fire escape opposite the apartment in
which the shooting occurred. Her at
tention was attracted by two pistol
shots, and glancing through the win
dow, she saw the man and woman
graphing in death struggle. The
frightened child ran back up the fire
escape to the third floor and out into
the corridor. There she met a man
whose name she did not know She
told him of what she had seen.
The man went to apartment 2l0,
occupied by the Marshall sisters, and
opened the door. He saw the bodies on
the floor but before he could render any
assistance police had arrived.
Hialmer H. Carper, driver of the police
car, was the first to reach the apart
ment where the killing took place. Run
ming to the PROSTATE form of the wom-
en-, he raised the body and as he did so
two bullets fell to the floor.
Plumber Also Hears Shots.
The officers were called to the apart
ment by Mrs. Blanche Gilbur, tele-
phone operator, who received her first
information of the tragedy when Miss
Marshall ran screaming through tho
lobby of the apartment.
The shots were also heard by John
Pinkham, plumber, of 1926 Lawrence
street northeast, who was working IN
the basement of the apartment house
Leaving his work, he ran to Nine
tenth and H streets where he notified
policeman on traffic duty at that
point. Aaron Johnson, 46-year-old
night fireman at the apartment, told
police he heard a man and woman
quarreling in the Marshall apartment
last night. 1t was not known, however
whether Craddock had visited his wife
at that time
The Craddocks have one child, boy,
who is said to be in school at Alex
andria.