Smyrna times., 1961-09-21
LADIES MONDAY NIGHT
BOWLING LEAGUE
Cfandinn
SHOOTING
tContinued from PaGe onel

Saturday afternoon over some
furniture about to be removed
from the house. Troopers don't
know, and probably never will
know, whether this argument
was the cause of the shootings.
Vaughn said at about 8 a. m,
Sunday, Brantley fired the rifle
at his wife, who was lying on
the couples bed down stairs.
The bullet went through her
left forearm, grazed her stom-
ach, and entered her left thigh.
Mrs. Brantley, who weighed
about 300 pounds and was ex-
pecting another child within a
month, was able to get up, but
collapsed alongside of the bed.
Police said she was heard by
one of the dozen children who
were upstairs to say, I'm not
going to live" An autopsy per-
formed by DR.. Philip ]. G. Quig-
ley, state medical examiner, dis
closed she bled to death-tech-
nically a hemorrhage of the fe-
moral artery in her left leg. DR..
Quigley officially liste d the
deaths as murder and suicide.
Eugene rushed downstairs to
help his mother and was met
by bullet from his fathers
rifle. The boy was wounded
but was able to head outside
into the woods. Vaughn said
Brantley went into his yard and
saw his children leaping from
the second floor window to get
away. He shot Ruth before she
made it into the protection of
the trees. He fired at Julia Ann,
is, but missed. Donald then
leaped out of the window and
was shot in the leg. According
to the police report, Brantley
then climbed up the stairs to
the children's room where the
eight remaining youngsters cow
cred in fear. Vaughn said that
Brantley told his 7-year-old son,
Roy, to shoot him or he would
shoot the children. Brantley re-
portedly pointed the rifle at
himself and Roy pulled the trig-
ger. The recoil from the shot
tumbled Roy onto the floor and
the bullet took off the fathers
ear, police said. Roy and the
older of the remaining children
fled out the window. Ruth
limped for help to the nearest
house, about three quarters OF
a mile away. State police from
the Dover troop were called to
the scene. When the first offic.
er started into the house and
shouted for Brantley to surren-
der, a shot was heard to ring
out and the troopers assumed
Brantley was firing at them. A
call went out for reinforcements
and tear gas. A dozen men,
led by Captain Burrill Mccoy
and Lieutenant Vaughn, sur
rounded the shack and fired
tear gas through the window
After a long wait, during which
no sound was heard from the
house, police moved in and
found Brantley with his head
nearly blown off. They found
Mrs. Brantley dead on the floor
near her husband. Brantley's
rifle had two bullets remain
ing in the l0-cartridge cham
Der. DR.. Quigley pronounced the
Brantleys dead at the scene and
performed a further examina-
tion at the Howard Stevenson
Funeral Home in Dover, Dela-
ware, where the bodies were
taken. Troopers found the
Brantley children hiding in the
woods surrounding the shack.
The three wounded youngsters
were taken by the Smyrna Am
erican Legion Ambulance to
the hospital where surgery was
performed to remove the bull
let's. Troopers cared for the
other children at the police sta
tion until a probation officer for
the Juvenile Court of Kent and