Evening star., 1932-07-09
REYNOLDS PROBE
REOPENS SECRETLY
Party Guests Called to Tell
of Shooting Night as
Verdict NearS.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
WINSTON-SALEM, N. c., July ga
secret inquest into the fatal shooting Of
Smith Reynolds, tobacco fortune heir,
was resumed behind the locked gates
Of the palatial Reynolds estate near
here today.
A coroner's jury is probing the cir
cumstanceS surrounding the death Of
the 20-year-old aviator, found fatally
wounded on the sleeping porch Of his
home last Wednesday morning.
Most Of the important witnesses. in
cluding Mrs Libby Holman Reynolds,
former Broadway star, were heard at
last nights session. Today it was ex-
pected the jury would hear the stories
people who attended a dinner party at
the Reynolds estate earlier on the night
of the shooting
Walker Called Again.
Albert Walker, I9-year-old winston
Salem youth, who testified last night
and who later was placed under guard
of a deputy sheriff, was returned to the
estate today from the hotel where he
spent the night
Walker, lifelong friend of young Rey-
nolds, was the first to reach the latter
after he was shot. He is the son of q
retired Winston-Salem business man
and like Reynolds, was keenly inter-
ested in aviation.
1t developed today that the only per-
son attending the inquest other than
the coroner, the sheriff, members of
the jury and the witnesses is Alfred
Holman, Cincinnati attorney and father
of Mrs. Reynolds.
w. N. Reynolds, uncle Of the dead
youth and one Of his guardians. was
invited to be present, but declined.
1t was indicated that Mrs. Reynolds,
who told her story while lying in bed :;
Miss Blanche Yurka, New York actress
and friend and house guest of the for
mer torch singer, and Walker might
be recalled to the stand at today's
hearing
Verdict Possible Today.
Persons connected with the inquiry
said it was possible the inquest might
be completed today and verdict an
nounced.
Lying distraught and i'll in her bed
Mrs. Reynolds told the jury grouped
contained 40-hour blank, broken only
by flash"
In that fash, she said, she awoke
from her strange mental lapse to see
her husband press a pistol to his head.
He called Libby" and pulled the trig-
ger. That was about l am. He died
at 5:25 am.
She swore that she could not re-
member anything else that happened
from IL pm. Monday till Wednesday
afternoon.
She testified, according to a formal
announcement of the inquest proceed
ings, that she had not been drinking,
that she took no medicine and that she
had suffered no accident which might
affect her memory. She was described
as offering no explanation for the
mental lapse.
Weeping bitterly, Miss Holman at
tended her husbands quiet funeral yes
terday. She was clad in black and
was supported by her father After
she returned home she broke down
again. During the inquest she lay
with her eyes closed, the formal state
ment said
Coroner Dalton, Immediately after the
death, called it a suicide, hut Sheriff
Scott, failing to find motive, decided
to drop the investigation.
The only possible suicide motive ad-
vanced so far has been the rumor. ac-
cording to the coroner, that Reynolds
and his wife had a martial rift few
days ago when Reynolds learned she
was OF Jewish extraction.