Evening star., 1937-01-12
AUTOPSY AWAITED
AFTER EXHUM|NG
Virginia Woman's Body Sent
to CharIottesvilIe-Death
Writ Recalled.
BY BEN H. PEARSE,
Stan Correspondent or The Star.


Stan Correspondent OF The Star.
LUaAY, Va, January 1.-THE
death certificate for Mrs. Mamie va
ger, young wife Of John I. Yager, 72,
Blue Ridge Mountain farmer, whose
body was exhumed yesterday upon de-
mand of her father, Ernest Cubbage
of Lucas Hollow, near Stanley. 6 miles
south Of here, was recalled last night
by DR.. B. G. Schuler.
DR.. Schuler of Shenandoah, the
Yager family physician, said he had
not attended Mrs. Yaker during the
illness which resulted in her death
Thursday night and had issued the
certificate after talking with w. O.
Brill. Elkton undertaken. It was only
temporary" he said.
Certificate Recalled.
The certificate was recalled pending
the outcome of an autopsy to be held
in Charlottesville by University of Vir-
ginia Medical School authorities. The
body was sent to Charlottesville last
night.
A group Of about 20 members Of
the Cubbage family gathered at the
Page County court house shortly after
noon yesterday to accompany Sheriff
John w. Ruffner and Commonwealth
Attorney Lynn Walton to the wager
farm in the foothills Of the Blue
Ridge Mountains, about 20 miles south
Of here. En- route. Brill and two grave
diggers joined in the caravan.
Cubbage admitted to Sheriff Ruffner
he had no evidence that his daugh-
ter had met anything but a natural
death, but thought it strange" wager
had not notified him of his daugh-
ter's death and that he had learned
of it only in a roundabout way, after
the funeral Saturday morning.
Eloped 10 Years Ago.
Mrs. Cubbage, step-mother of the
dead woman, and Pearl Cubbage, the
latter's sister, said they had not seen
Mrs. Yager since three years ago last
July. when she had come home for a
visit during her husbands absence.
They had gone to the Wager farm to
see Mamie, couple Of months before
that, Mrs. Cubbage said, but had
been warned away by the elder Yager
with a shotgun, she said.
Miss Cubbage, who works in Alex
andria, revealed that her sister and
Yager eloped almost 10 years ago and
were married in Martinsburg, w. Va.
Yager, formerly employed here as q
machinist, was injured when his car
was wrecked near the Cubbage home
shortly before the elopment. After
being cared for by the Cubbages for
about six weeks. during which Mamie
helped nurse him back to health,
they ran away and were married. He
was 81 and she II. They have two
children, Russell. 7, and Mary Martha,
4. and he is the father of IL other
children by two former marriages.
AS the procession reached the Yager
property, more than a mile from the
highway over muddy roads, Cubbage
decided he would wait until the body
was brought down to the hearse "to
avoid trouble" Mrs. Cubbage, Miss
Cubbage and a score of relatives and
friends climbed up the hill, past the
Wager home and on to the upper cor
ner Of the cornf1eld where two
wreaths Of faded yellow and pink
roses lay on a fresh grave.
Yager Stays Inside.
When the exhumation was begun
Mrs. Cubbage and her stepdaughter
broke down and wept Historically and
were advised by Walton to wait at the
bottom of the hill.
At the insistence Of Dick Yager, the
elder Yager's 40-year-old son, Sheriff
Ruffner ordered newspaper men away
also. Yager. i'll with a leg infection
remained In his house while the
casket. soaked from the recent rains,
was dug up and carried past his front
door to the waiting hearse. He told
Walton his wife had complained Of
a pain in her side several days ago
after fall, but had refused to have
q doctor summoned.