Gertrude Blanchard
Sept. 23, 1911-Nov. 6, 1954
Niles Daily Star, Monday, November 8, 1954, page 1, col. 3-4, microfilm Niles District Library
Niles Man Waivers Exam on Charge of Murder
Wilbur Blanchard, 47, this morning waived examination on a murder charge and was bound over to Berrien County Circuit Court when arraigned by Niles City police before Justice Thomas W. Cain.
Blanchard is charged with fatally shooting his wife with a 12 gauge shotgun at their home, 116 Howard street, Saturday morning.
No bond was set at the arraignment this morning. Only a circuit judge may set bond in a murder case.
Police Chief Arthur N. Pears this morning related Blanchard's version of the shooting.
He told police he had gotten out the single-shot gun and was thinking of getting a license to go hunting. He asked his wife to get the ramrod for him. She got the ramrod out of the bathroom and set it down near the desk where Blanchard was sitting. She said something would have to be done about Blanchard's nervous condition.
Mrs. Blanchard sat down on the davenport and read a paper for a few minutes. She got up and walked toward the kitchen and Blanchard shot her in the back of the neck.
Blanchard said his wife had threatened to take their daughter and leave him since he suffered a nervous breakdown about six months ago. She also had talked about having him sent to an institution for treatment.
Blanchard told police that he loved his wife but since his breakdown and unemployment she had either nagged him or refused to talk to him.
He gave no reason for the shooting, just said that he had the gun in his hand and the shells nearby and when she walked away he shot her.
Blanchard broke down and sobbed repeatedly whenever police talked to him about the shooting. He daughter, Carol Ann, visited him at the jail on Sunday night.
Dr. Franklyn Rice, Berrien County coroner, performed an autopsy on the body Saturday afternoon. He determined the shot severed the second and third vertebra and came out at the left eye. No inquest will be held.
Beside her husband and daughter, Mrs. Blanchard is survived by her father, Martin Schol of Morrison, Ill.; a brother, Gary Schol, also of Morrison, and three sisters, Mrs. Edward Geerts, Coleta, Ill.; Mrs. George VanKampen, Fulton, Ill., and Mrs. John Boelkins, Mt. Carroll, Ill.
She was born in Patterson, N.J., Sept. 28, 1911, and came to Niles from Morrison 18 years ago. She was a member of the New Apostolic Church.
Friends may call at the Kiger Funeral Home. Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the New Apostolic Church by the Rev. Leo Stebner of South Bend. Burial will be at Silverbrook Cemetery.
Note: Additional news story appeared in Niles Daily Star, Saturday, November 6, 1954, page 1, col. 6, microfilm Niles District Library