Evening star., 1932-07-15
REYNOLDS PROBERS
| AWAITING BROTHER
Collier, Expected Next
Week, May Back Thor
ough Death Inquiry.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
WINSTON SALEM, N. c., July IS
All of winston Salem is waiting eagerly
to see what the late Smith Reynolds
elder brother will do when he gets
home
The brother, r. j. Reynolds jr., 2s,
| Is hurrying back by airplane and boat
from Africa and when he gets here
next week is expected to take some
action about the death of Smith, who
Succumbed to bullet would received
, on his sleeping porch July 6.
There Is speculation as to whether
he will finance a new investigation Of
| the shooting. perhaps engage private
detectives. Co-heir with his brother
to the R. j. Reynolds tobacco millions,
he always adopted a big-brother at
titude toward Smith and when word
OF the tragedy reached him he
abandoned yachting trip off the coast
OF Africa and started home.
Denies Gangster Theory.
Sheriff Transou Scott, who insisted
on the investigation which resulted in
! finding that the 20-year-old husband
OF Libby Holman, broadway blues
singer. was shot by parties unknown"
said he expected action of some kind
when the brother arrived
He denied reports that he suspected
a New York gangster of the shooting.
He is still trying to piece together ap-
the sudden appearance of the death
gun on the floor after several searches
had been made for 1t.
Solicitor Carlisle Higgins said today
he had completed his part in the in
yestigation unless developments through
other agencies result in a grand jury
! presentment or a warrant is issued,
making charges against some person or
persons in connection with the tragedy.
He pointed out the State law makes
no provision for the solicitors Office to
make preliminary investigations into
crime.
The widows testimony. and Coroner
w N. Dalton's original ruling indicated
suicide, but the sheriff Is not satisfied
Sheriff Scott yesterday was engaged
as a witness in another caSe-the trial
of Wallace Scales. son of prominent
Greensboro real estate man. for first
degree burglary, capital charge in
North Carolina.
Likewise. engaged in the Scales case
were the two other principal offlclal
figures in the investigation.
They are Solicitor Carlisle Higgins,
who put Mrs. Reynolds through an ex-
animation before the cOrOnerS jury ana
J. Erie McMichael, assistant solicitor,
who helped in questioning the witness.
Hampered by Expense.
Sheriff Scott had nothing to say about
the case. except that his inquiry was
being pressed as hard as available
facilities would permit. He has force
of only seven deputies, none OF them
skilled, professional detective, and, 1t
was said, no funds for any extra
expenditures.
So far as could be aScertained, the
trend Of the inquiry continued to be
the checking of rumors received from
various sources, and efforts to develop
the facts with regard TO various con-
ficts of testimony given by different
witnesses at the inquest
Alb Walker, 19-year-old chum OF the
dead youth. was the only one Of the
central figures in the investigation re-
naming within the jurisdiction OF local
authorities.
The widow, who for a time was held
in technical arrest. as was Walker, as
a material witness, was in Cincinnati,
her home.
Blanche Yurka. New York actress
and house guest of the Reynolds at the
time of the tragedy. returned to New
York a few hours after the coroner's
jury released the material witnesses by
attributing the death to unknown
parties.
Walker continued to keep himself in
seclusion at the home of his father, B.
B. Walker, retired real estate man.