Evening star., 1952-07-20
Shooting
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Shooting
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lapsed. Mr.. Gates hurried over
and tried to stop the flow Of blood
by tieing a bath towel around, the
mans arm. He then called police.
The man was dead when Trooper
Coleman arrived.
Russell's mother, Mrs. Violet
Roberts, 80, carrying a six-weeks-
old baby in her arms, was another
witness. She corroborated his story.
Circuit Court Judge j. Dudley
Digges, who has juvenile court
jurisdiction in Charles County.
has been consulted. At the end Of
the informal hearing. Mr.. Barbour
released the boy in the custody
of Carl Berry. The Roberts family
are growing tobacco on shares on
one of Mr.. Berry's farms.
There was no charge against the
boy, Mr.. Barbour said, and ] it has
not been decided there win be one.
Neighbors Praise Boy.
Neighbors who had lived near
the Roberts family on the various
farms they tenanted were glad
that Russell had been released.
Chester Clark. an employe Of
the Bellevue Naval Laboratory.
and Harry E. Brixey of the Dis
trict Sanitation Department, both
drove to the scene to offer to
testify for the boy. Both lived
near the Roberts family when they
were on the big dairy farm Of w.
Gwynn Gardiner on Route 301
near Waldorf. Mr.. Gardiner is q
Washington attorney.
They stopped in Willard Otis
little store near the entrance to
the Berry farms.
"Just what you'd expect" said
Mr.. Clark.
1.-THE boys finally got so big
that he couldn't get away with it
anymore" said Mr.. Brixey. II
went to his house one Sunday
afternoon to buy a rabbit dog. He
came to the door with a gun in
his hand. He had chased the
whole family out Of the house"
"He was fond Of his children
when he wasn't drinking" said
Mrs. OFT, the storekeeper. HE
used to take the kids fishing and
hunting and he always had a
child in the car with him when he
stopped here. He was here last
night about $3.50 and he seemed
all right" (The tragedy happened
about 11.)
The tenant house the Roberts
live in is two story affair with
imitation brick siding and q one
story kitchen in the rear.
In Charge Of Z Children.
Lester, the 14-year-old. was
in charge of seven younger chill
dren in the house. The fathers
body had been taken to the Hunt
funeral home at Waldorf. The
oldest boy, william, 10. had taken
his mother to La Plata with the
baby in her arms, to see what
they could do for Russell.
Roy, who is 8. was playing OUT
side. There was an automobile at
the door and he was asked about
it.
"That belongs to the person who
was shot," he said.
There we're a lot Of children's
garments on the clothes lines and
a tub filled with clothes and water
under the pump.
Inside the paper was falling
from the ceilings and the walls,
There had been one attempt
to decorate the place. A poster
Iof Lake Louise in the Canadian
Rockies was on the wall of the
living room. Two shotguns were
hanging from the wall of the
down stairs bedroom. One of
them had figured in the tragedy
and had been placed back on the
wall.
Had Enough to Eat.
| Lester said they had one COW.
seven hens, four bantams and
40, 900 tobacco plants. They had
Ibutchered four hogs last winter,
he said. The pork was gone. But
they had enough to eat, he said,
and the babies showed that. They
were healthy enough. The place
was buzzing with flies. Roy, the
eight-year-old, was catching
Ihorsef1ies, then feeding them to
the beagle hounds.
There were six loaves of bread
In the kitchen and IL gallon jars
LOT picked herring on the shelf.
The father and the boys had
caught the fish during the spring
run in the nearby Potomac. The
Kitchen stove had q modern look,
Ut was white enameled and had q