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The Newton Nicholas Jasper Family in 1929.
Place Taken: Home in Casey Co. Ky.
This is my Father's side of the Family, L to R, is Killous, Tom,
Cliff, 4th one in front is my grandfather Charlie, Lewie, Standing is
Ollie, Girls and boy nealing, Bessie, Clellie, Essie, Cranston,
Setting beside my grandfather is my Great Grandmother and Great
Grandfather, Viletta T. Roberts and Newton Nicholas Jasper. Missing
from this pic is Lewis. Standing by the tree is Ollie Jasper a little story.
MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF OLLIE J. JASPER BAFFLES OFFICERS.
Body of County Merchant Found on South Ford Bridge at Burnside Friday.
GRAND JURY INVESTIGATES:
(Jan. 29, 1937)
Ollie J. Jasper, 32, merchant at Cains Store, was found dead on the
South Fork bridge at Burnside at 6 o'clock Friday morning with a
bullet wound in his right temple. Circumstances of his death are
shrouded in mystery, and Pulaski County officers investigating the
case have been unable to establish definitely whether he committed
suicide or was the victim of a hold-up robbery.
All witnesses connected with the case were called to appear before
the grand jury today. Among these were included Mr. Jasper's wife and
other relatives.
Jasper's body was discovered by a ferryman. It was found in the
middle of the bridge on the south side of the pavement. A pool of
blood approximately four feet square was found on the road near the
body. On the ground were found the victim's leather money bag and his
billfold. There was no money in either, although one penny was found
on the road and some cancelled checks and receipts were found in the
billfold. Wire at the top of a four-foot railing along the side of
the bridge was mashed down, causing investigators to believe an
effort was made to throw Jasper's body over the bridge into the South
Fork river.
A handkerchief was found on a wire over the edge of the bridge
railing. It contained three bullet holes and powder burns, and was
evidently used to muffle the report of the fatal shot. The pistol was
not found at the scene.
Physicians said they believed the shot was fired from a .38 caliber
pistol. The bullet entered the right side of Jasper's head just above
the ear and ranged upwards, coming out a little higher on the left
side. Powder burns were found around the wound.
County officers began checking immediately on Jasper's movements up
until Friday morning. They learned that he had started to Somerset
Wednesday afternoon from his home at Cains Store in a truck which he
owned. He wrecked the truck near Nancy, they said, and left it there
in a garage belonging to Glenn Tarter. He was last sen here in a
barber shop in Somerset Wednesday night, officers said.
A letter written by jasper at Chattanooga, Thursday, and mailed by
him to his wife after he left a north-bound train at Burnside at 2:30
o'clock Friday morning, about an hour and a half before he met his
death, added mystery and uncertainty to the case. In the letter
Jasper told his wife in part as follows:
"I will try to get home from Burnside. Some fellow is going to
get off and go with me, but I don't know what about him. I had to
pawn my watch. I am sending slip, please get the watch for brother.
Don't feel like I will get to see you all again. I will try to stop
in Burnside for awhile. I am wondering ow you will feel if I don't
get home. Good bye, Ollie"
A government employee, who handles mail off the early trains at
Burnside, told investigators that a man answering Jasper's
description got off the Chattanooga train there Friday morning and
asked where he could mail a letter. The mail worker said he informed
him that the train he just left was the best place. This witness,
however, told officers that he saw no one else get off the train with
Jasper, and that he was apparently alone.
Friday afternoon the officers arrested Leslie Branumn, 17, of
Burnsideon suspicion. He was unable to give a satisfactory account of
his actions during the early morning hours, Friday. He told his
questioners that he started to cross the bridge sometime after 3
o'clock and saw 'some man wearing a gray coat' run from the bridge.
Branumn said that he then discovered the body and ran away from the
scene himself. Officers said they were unable to find any trace of
tracks in the soft mud along the route which Branumn said was taken
by the man who ran away.
Sim Cundiff, a night watchman stationed on the bridge, told officers
that he had seen nothing un-usual at the bridge all night and said
that no cars passed over the span during the hours in which Jasper
probably died.
Additional evidence found at the scene, which gave doubt to the
theory of suicide, included several buttons torn from Jasper's shirt
which were discovered at the western approach to the bridge several
yards away from the body. A small spot of blood was also found on the
western end of the bridge near where the buttons were picked up.
There were no other evidence of a struggle and the body bore no makrs
of violence besides the single wound.
Followin an investigation by the coroner at the bridge early Friday,
Jasper's body was removed to the funeral home of the Somerset
Undertaking Company and prepared for burial. Funeral services were
held Monday afternoon and burial took place in Casey County. Mr.
Jasper had operated a general store at Cains Store for about six
years and was widely known in the western part of the County. He was
regarded as a good business man and a good citizen. Surviving are his
wife, Mrs. Beatrice Tarter Jasper, two small children, his parents,
Mr. and Mrs. Newt Jasper, and several brothers and sisters. His
father is now ill in a Lexington hospital and was unable to attend
the funeral.
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