Betty June was the daughter of Ralph Gragg and Ruth Story.
She was murdered along with her 7 brothers and sisters. According to newspapers, her father shot his children, set his house on fire, and shot himself. Betty June had just turned four years old.
News article in the Morganton, NC News Herald, May 1951:
"The answer to why and how 34-year-old Ralph Gragg, unemployed sawmill worker, ended the lives of his eight children, set fire to his home near Collettsville and took his own life Wednesday night, was probably buried forever shortly before noon Friday as two gray caskets containing the remains of Gragg were lowered in the Mt. View cemetery.
"Mass funeral rites for the nine persons were conducted at the Mt. View church, which was formerly called Beautiful Baptist church, located on a knoll in the Setzer's Gap Community on the Lenoir-Collettsville Road.
"The children were Katherine, 16; Christine, 13; Jimmie, 10; Peggy, nine; Carolina, seven; Paul Edward, six; Judy, four; and Rebecca, three.
"Prior to the interment of the father and his eight children only two adults and two infants had previously been buried in the new graveyard which was started three years ago when the church was built.
"Hundreds of persons attended the rites. The small cinder black church auditorium was packed and the church yard filled, An amplifying system had been installed in order that the crowds in the church yard could hear the services."
She was murdered along with her 7 brothers and sisters. According to newspapers, her father shot his children, set his house on fire, and shot himself. Betty June had just turned four years old.
News article in the Morganton, NC News Herald, May 1951:
"The answer to why and how 34-year-old Ralph Gragg, unemployed sawmill worker, ended the lives of his eight children, set fire to his home near Collettsville and took his own life Wednesday night, was probably buried forever shortly before noon Friday as two gray caskets containing the remains of Gragg were lowered in the Mt. View cemetery.
"Mass funeral rites for the nine persons were conducted at the Mt. View church, which was formerly called Beautiful Baptist church, located on a knoll in the Setzer's Gap Community on the Lenoir-Collettsville Road.
"The children were Katherine, 16; Christine, 13; Jimmie, 10; Peggy, nine; Carolina, seven; Paul Edward, six; Judy, four; and Rebecca, three.
"Prior to the interment of the father and his eight children only two adults and two infants had previously been buried in the new graveyard which was started three years ago when the church was built.
"Hundreds of persons attended the rites. The small cinder black church auditorium was packed and the church yard filled, An amplifying system had been installed in order that the crowds in the church yard could hear the services."
Betty June was the daughter of Ralph Gragg and Ruth Story.
She was murdered along with her 7 brothers and sisters. According to newspapers, her father shot his children, set his house on fire, and shot himself. Betty June had just turned four years old.
News article in the Morganton, NC News Herald, May 1951:
"The answer to why and how 34-year-old Ralph Gragg, unemployed sawmill worker, ended the lives of his eight children, set fire to his home near Collettsville and took his own life Wednesday night, was probably buried forever shortly before noon Friday as two gray caskets containing the remains of Gragg were lowered in the Mt. View cemetery.
"Mass funeral rites for the nine persons were conducted at the Mt. View church, which was formerly called Beautiful Baptist church, located on a knoll in the Setzer's Gap Community on the Lenoir-Collettsville Road.
"The children were Katherine, 16; Christine, 13; Jimmie, 10; Peggy, nine; Carolina, seven; Paul Edward, six; Judy, four; and Rebecca, three.
"Prior to the interment of the father and his eight children only two adults and two infants had previously been buried in the new graveyard which was started three years ago when the church was built.
"Hundreds of persons attended the rites. The small cinder black church auditorium was packed and the church yard filled, An amplifying system had been installed in order that the crowds in the church yard could hear the services."
She was murdered along with her 7 brothers and sisters. According to newspapers, her father shot his children, set his house on fire, and shot himself. Betty June had just turned four years old.
News article in the Morganton, NC News Herald, May 1951:
"The answer to why and how 34-year-old Ralph Gragg, unemployed sawmill worker, ended the lives of his eight children, set fire to his home near Collettsville and took his own life Wednesday night, was probably buried forever shortly before noon Friday as two gray caskets containing the remains of Gragg were lowered in the Mt. View cemetery.
"Mass funeral rites for the nine persons were conducted at the Mt. View church, which was formerly called Beautiful Baptist church, located on a knoll in the Setzer's Gap Community on the Lenoir-Collettsville Road.
"The children were Katherine, 16; Christine, 13; Jimmie, 10; Peggy, nine; Carolina, seven; Paul Edward, six; Judy, four; and Rebecca, three.
"Prior to the interment of the father and his eight children only two adults and two infants had previously been buried in the new graveyard which was started three years ago when the church was built.
"Hundreds of persons attended the rites. The small cinder black church auditorium was packed and the church yard filled, An amplifying system had been installed in order that the crowds in the church yard could hear the services."
