Evening star., 1935-04-04
Rural Folk Bar Doors and
Oil Weapons Following
Coleman Murders.
MUD.STAINED VEHICLE
LOCATED IN RICHMOND
Men Seen Near Gas Station Sus'
pected-Torture Theory
Denied by Coroner.
BY w. H. SHIPPEN, JR.,
STAFF Correspondent Of The Star.

FREDERICKSBURG, Va, April A.
The trail Of the slayers of Mr.. and
Mrs. John Thomas Coleman led to
Richmond today with the discovery
OF their mud-stained automobile,
abandoned in a colored residential
section of that city, as uneasiness grew
in the Virginia farm community where
the murder is the one topic of con-
versation.
Locks long in disuse were bolted on
the doors of rural homes and farmers
took advantage of the damp spell to
oil their rifles and shotguns. All day
neighbors filed into the ample yard
of the Coleman residence to gaze at
the ransacked home and into the
depths of the 40-foot well, where the
bodies were found early yesterday.
Commonwealth Attorney E. r.
GARNER of Spottsylvania County left
Immediately for the Virginia capital
TO obtain an examination of the car
for possible finger prints.
Two colored men who may have
stolen the car were seen by attendants
near a filling station at Thornsburg
miles south of the Coleman farm
where the pair stopped for gasoline
and cigarettes.
In Heart Of Farm Area.
The prosperous farm where the
elderly couple was murdered, pre-
sumably by robbers, is situated in the
heart of the Spotsylvania farming area
IL miles south Of here and about 2
miles from Massaponax.
Coleman had lived his n years on
the productive acres which spread over
gently rolling hills about Hickory Point
the Coleman homestead for five gen.
erations.
He and his 65-year old wife had a
reputation in the community for in
dustry and great thrift. There we're
stories that they secreted large sums
of money about the farm house which
is half mile from nearest neighbors.
Early rumors that the couple had
been deliberately tortured in an effort
to make them hand over their valu-
ables were refuted by the coroner s
examination.
There was every indication that the
elderly pair had been killed in great
haste. Both had fractured skulls from
brutal clubbing and both bodies
contained charges of bird shot, evil
IDENTIFY fired from Coleman's gun,
which was missing from its accustomed
corner beside the door.
Former Murders Recalled.
While local authorities debated the
adviSability of asking in a Washing
ton or Richmond fingerprint expert,
farmers of the community took steps
for their own protection.
The double murder had a disquiet-
ing parallel in the murder and at
tack upon a young couple in Lovers
lane about mile south of Fredericks-
burg last May.
The girl died within a week and
the young man survived with a
blank memory after brutal clubbing.
There was evidence that the Cole
man murder was perpetrated by men
who know the habit of the pair.
Coleman invariably hid his automo-
bile key in a side pocket of the car.
He also had secret gasoline cutoff.
The murderers apparently waited
until the colored hired man had per-
formed his evening chores and gone
home.
Supper Had Been Prepared.
The Colemans had prepared sup
per they never had a chance to eat.
There was food on the stove and the
table set for two.
Strangely, the old farm house where
five generations of Colemans have
lived, and the rain-soaked yard held
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