The Portsmouth Times
Friday, July 24, 1931
ENTIRE FAMILY FOUND SLAIN AT HUNTINGTON
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Financial Worry Is Believed To Have Led To Tragedy.
---
FOUR ARE VICTIMS
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Father Killed Wife And Children, Then Himself, Police Believe.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va., July 24 -- Distraught by financial worries and believed unneerved by a domestic quarrel, Robert Pittinger, 41-year-old barber, shot and killed his wife, young daughter and son and then killed himself at their home, 1220 Twenty-sixth street.
The tragedy is thought to have occurred late Wednesday night. The bodies, in sleeping attire, were found lying in a welter of blood on the first floor of the house by police, who had been summoned by a relative, shortly before 9 o'clock last night.
Victims of the tragedy were:
Robert Pittinger, 41 years old.
Mrs. Flora Pittinger, 38 years old, his wife.
Ardith Pittinger, 14 year old daughter of the couple.
James Pittinger, 10 years old, a son.
Trace Pitiful Story
Discovery of the bodies and a piecing together, by police and the county coroner, Dr. F.X. Schuller, of what must have occurred just before Pittinger murdered his family and killed himself, revealed a pitiful story of domestic tragedy.
Clutching a hammer in her right hand the daughter Ardith authorities believe, was shot by her father when she attempted to protect her mother and little brother from her father's murderous assault.
Her pajama clad body was found sprawled in the entryway leading from the kitchen to the dining room of the house. Nearby, in the dining room, was the body of the 10-year-old brother, James.
Within a few feet of the childrens' bodies were found the bodies of the parents -- the mother, stretched on the floor of the bathroom, the father in the doorway of the bathroom, his head resting on the feet of the wife he had slain.
No sound of the shots or the screams the murdered mother and her children must have uttered when attacked by the father were heard by neighbors. The story of the tragic slaying could only be reconstructed by authorities from what was revealed by an examination of the modest home.
Friday, July 24, 1931
ENTIRE FAMILY FOUND SLAIN AT HUNTINGTON
---
Financial Worry Is Believed To Have Led To Tragedy.
---
FOUR ARE VICTIMS
---
Father Killed Wife And Children, Then Himself, Police Believe.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va., July 24 -- Distraught by financial worries and believed unneerved by a domestic quarrel, Robert Pittinger, 41-year-old barber, shot and killed his wife, young daughter and son and then killed himself at their home, 1220 Twenty-sixth street.
The tragedy is thought to have occurred late Wednesday night. The bodies, in sleeping attire, were found lying in a welter of blood on the first floor of the house by police, who had been summoned by a relative, shortly before 9 o'clock last night.
Victims of the tragedy were:
Robert Pittinger, 41 years old.
Mrs. Flora Pittinger, 38 years old, his wife.
Ardith Pittinger, 14 year old daughter of the couple.
James Pittinger, 10 years old, a son.
Trace Pitiful Story
Discovery of the bodies and a piecing together, by police and the county coroner, Dr. F.X. Schuller, of what must have occurred just before Pittinger murdered his family and killed himself, revealed a pitiful story of domestic tragedy.
Clutching a hammer in her right hand the daughter Ardith authorities believe, was shot by her father when she attempted to protect her mother and little brother from her father's murderous assault.
Her pajama clad body was found sprawled in the entryway leading from the kitchen to the dining room of the house. Nearby, in the dining room, was the body of the 10-year-old brother, James.
Within a few feet of the childrens' bodies were found the bodies of the parents -- the mother, stretched on the floor of the bathroom, the father in the doorway of the bathroom, his head resting on the feet of the wife he had slain.
No sound of the shots or the screams the murdered mother and her children must have uttered when attacked by the father were heard by neighbors. The story of the tragic slaying could only be reconstructed by authorities from what was revealed by an examination of the modest home.
The Portsmouth Times
Friday, July 24, 1931
ENTIRE FAMILY FOUND SLAIN AT HUNTINGTON
---
Financial Worry Is Believed To Have Led To Tragedy.
---
FOUR ARE VICTIMS
---
Father Killed Wife And Children, Then Himself, Police Believe.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va., July 24 -- Distraught by financial worries and believed unneerved by a domestic quarrel, Robert Pittinger, 41-year-old barber, shot and killed his wife, young daughter and son and then killed himself at their home, 1220 Twenty-sixth street.
The tragedy is thought to have occurred late Wednesday night. The bodies, in sleeping attire, were found lying in a welter of blood on the first floor of the house by police, who had been summoned by a relative, shortly before 9 o'clock last night.
Victims of the tragedy were:
Robert Pittinger, 41 years old.
Mrs. Flora Pittinger, 38 years old, his wife.
Ardith Pittinger, 14 year old daughter of the couple.
James Pittinger, 10 years old, a son.
Trace Pitiful Story
Discovery of the bodies and a piecing together, by police and the county coroner, Dr. F.X. Schuller, of what must have occurred just before Pittinger murdered his family and killed himself, revealed a pitiful story of domestic tragedy.
Clutching a hammer in her right hand the daughter Ardith authorities believe, was shot by her father when she attempted to protect her mother and little brother from her father's murderous assault.
Her pajama clad body was found sprawled in the entryway leading from the kitchen to the dining room of the house. Nearby, in the dining room, was the body of the 10-year-old brother, James.
Within a few feet of the childrens' bodies were found the bodies of the parents -- the mother, stretched on the floor of the bathroom, the father in the doorway of the bathroom, his head resting on the feet of the wife he had slain.
No sound of the shots or the screams the murdered mother and her children must have uttered when attacked by the father were heard by neighbors. The story of the tragic slaying could only be reconstructed by authorities from what was revealed by an examination of the modest home.
Friday, July 24, 1931
ENTIRE FAMILY FOUND SLAIN AT HUNTINGTON
---
Financial Worry Is Believed To Have Led To Tragedy.
---
FOUR ARE VICTIMS
---
Father Killed Wife And Children, Then Himself, Police Believe.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va., July 24 -- Distraught by financial worries and believed unneerved by a domestic quarrel, Robert Pittinger, 41-year-old barber, shot and killed his wife, young daughter and son and then killed himself at their home, 1220 Twenty-sixth street.
The tragedy is thought to have occurred late Wednesday night. The bodies, in sleeping attire, were found lying in a welter of blood on the first floor of the house by police, who had been summoned by a relative, shortly before 9 o'clock last night.
Victims of the tragedy were:
Robert Pittinger, 41 years old.
Mrs. Flora Pittinger, 38 years old, his wife.
Ardith Pittinger, 14 year old daughter of the couple.
James Pittinger, 10 years old, a son.
Trace Pitiful Story
Discovery of the bodies and a piecing together, by police and the county coroner, Dr. F.X. Schuller, of what must have occurred just before Pittinger murdered his family and killed himself, revealed a pitiful story of domestic tragedy.
Clutching a hammer in her right hand the daughter Ardith authorities believe, was shot by her father when she attempted to protect her mother and little brother from her father's murderous assault.
Her pajama clad body was found sprawled in the entryway leading from the kitchen to the dining room of the house. Nearby, in the dining room, was the body of the 10-year-old brother, James.
Within a few feet of the childrens' bodies were found the bodies of the parents -- the mother, stretched on the floor of the bathroom, the father in the doorway of the bathroom, his head resting on the feet of the wife he had slain.
No sound of the shots or the screams the murdered mother and her children must have uttered when attacked by the father were heard by neighbors. The story of the tragic slaying could only be reconstructed by authorities from what was revealed by an examination of the modest home.
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