1973, The Murder of Virginia Barbaro

Virginia Barbaro murder 8 17 1973When 48 year old, divorcee and mother of two, Virginia Barbaro, failed to show up for work at Tony’s Steak House on Friday, August 17th, 1973, her friends went looking for her. She was discovered to have been murdered at some time in the early hours of that day in her apartment located over Boatright’s Electronics on the public square. Suspicion shifted quickly to an ex-boyfriend, 43 year old, disabled coal miner Boyd Moore, who lived in Christopher. Moore’s body was found that same afternoon not far from his home, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Located near his body was a suicide note confessing to the death of Mrs. Barbaro. Continue reading

1919, Child Falls Down Elevator Shaft

Marion State and Savings Bank ca 1920After seeing images of the old Citadel Building on the Marion Square in a January 2007 issue of Marion Living Magazine, Ms. Sharon DuPont of Johnston City wrote the magazine. She recounted the story about her uncle, Guy D. Hogan, who as a lad of three in 1919, fell down the elevator shaft located in the then active Marion State and Savings Bank building. The incident caused quite a stir in Marion. Continue reading

1927, The Tragedy of Ethel and Lory Price

Ethel and Lory PriceMarion’s bloody history has been the subject of numerous books, articles and documentaries. “Bloody Williamson,” Paul M. Angle’s widely read story of our county, is still in publication after more than half a century. Perhaps one of the reasons for the intense curiosity about our past is the baffling contrast between the genuine warmth and friendliness of the people you meet today and the violent heartlessness of some who lived here just one or two generations ago. No story better illustrates this paradox than the tragedy of Lory and Ethel Price. Continue reading