Love looks not with the eyes
but with the mind; And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. (A
Midsummer Night’s Dream 1.1.240-1)
In October of 1935, A Midsummer
Night’s Dream would come to the big screen, enchanting audiences with Shakespeare’s
tale of love and hate. That month would also see another tale of love and hate
played out in front of a Washington D.C. grand jury.
Willie Mae Wood was a vivacious
and pretty twenty-one-year-old newlywed. Marrying Horace Randolph Wood she
thought would stabilize her life and give her the appearance of what was “normal”.
Up to this point her love life hadn’t been so normal, you see she had been
carrying on since she was seventeen with a married man.
William Henry Reaguer was the
town’s funeral director. An upright member of the community in their rural town
of Culpeper, VA. Reaguer was madly in
love with Willie Mae and was ready to give up everything for her. By everything
I mean his very reputation, along with a wife of over 30 years, the long-suffering
Bessie (Compton) Reaguer and two daughters, Helen and Elise.
Willie Mae had tried before to
extricate herself from this affair. Marrying Wood was her latest act and an
attempt to finalize things. Reaguer had become increasingly unpredictable since
the death of his son in August and Willie Mae knew she had to untangle this complicated
web. Reaguer had provided a certain lifestyle for her, lavishing her with
expensive gifts and most recently had promised to buy a car for her mother,
Dolores (O’Bannon) Fletcher.
Dolores had looked the other way
for a long time. Sure, there were whispers around town and she knew about her
daughter and this much older man. He was
56 but she played it off in her mind that he was more of a mentor figure to her
daughter; after all her own husband and Willie Mae’s father was 15 years older
than her. She was torn; she wanted to keep it under wraps and not make too many
waves, lest her own daughter be embroiled in a scandal. She had also benefitted
from Reaguer’s kind gifts from time to time when he was a regular visitor to
the Fletcher home.
Willie Mae had taken this all too
far; she could have broken it off sooner but deep in her heart she had once had
great love for him. Since she was 17, he had doted on her and made her feel
like a sophisticated woman. She could learn to love Herbert the same way.
Herbert Wood was a man of means. Working
for the Virginia Highway Commission as steamroller, he had steamrolled Willie
Mae’s heart with his movie star good looks and quick wit. The two married on
September 26, 1935 and quickly set up house not far from the Stoneleigh mansion
in Stanleytown, VA. Quite a distance from Culpeper and the Reaguer Funeral
Home.
Herbert knew she had a friendship
of sorts with the undertaker. He didn’t give it much thought. He didn’t suspect
his wife would in any way be attracted to that old man. She had once wired him
to send some money while they were on a trip which he did with no issue, but
Herbert didn’t question her about it. When Willie Mae’s cousin Annie O’Bannon
came to visit, taking time off from school and the girls told him that they
were travelling to Culpeper to visit her mother and help her buy a car. He told
them to have a nice time.
Annie was a nervous sort. Always
on the verge of an emotional breakdown. Life seemed to wash over her like a
tsunami. She envied Willie Mae’s carefree and seemingly independent nature.
After spending some time at the
Fletcher home in Culpeper, Annie and Willie Mae were at the bus depot headed to
Fairfax. Reaguer pulled up in his car and began to hassle Willie Mae. The
argument caused them to miss their bus. Reaguer then offered a ride which the
two took. During the trip Reaguer laid it on thick. He told Willie Mae that
they would both go to Reno and get divorced, which she refused. Annie said he
was drinking and became increasingly agitated. He drove passed Fairfax and
insisted they stay in a Washington D.C. Hotel.
The three checked into the Houston
Hotel as Mr. Thomas and family. Reaguer would stay in one room and the girls
another. Around 1 AM, Annie remembered that Willie Mae kissed her goodnight and
went to Reaguer’s room. Annie fell asleep until the commotion started. Annie
would later recount screams that “were so loud they came through my window and
the door”.
The night clerk of the hotel
busted into room 903 to find Willie Mae sprawled on the floor wearing only a
brassiere and covered in blood. Reaguer was in a frenzy, blood pouring down his
arms as he stood in his underwear exclaiming “have mercy on me” and mumbling
about being “double-crossed”.
When the cops arrived Reaguer was
laying beside Willie Mae. Willi Mae was dead, Reaguer incoherent. Taken to the
hospital his wounds treated, he was placed under mental observation and was of
little use to the police who had now charged him with murder.
Annie, on the verge of collapse
wasn’t of much help either. Her story changing a few times. Perhaps to protect
the reputation of her slain cousin. Annie later told the Grand Jury that
Reaguer had forced them into the car at gun point; and the entire trip was
under duress and fear that Herbert Wood would find out.
Speaking of Herbert Wood, he was obviously in shock to hear of his bride’s demise and fainted at the news.
Reaguer declined to take the stand and sat stoically with bandaged wrists while a patrolman, Charles Burnett, revealed that Reaguer had admitted to knifing Willie Mae during in argument in which she threatened him with a pitcher.
Reaguer was indicted for 1st degree murder. His wife, Bessie, took over operations of the funeral home, but died a year later of sudden angina pectoris (a broken heart, perhaps). Reaguer ended up in D.C. workhouse, where he died in 1945 of tuberculosis. He was buried next to Bessie in the Masonic Cemetery in Culpeper.
Herbert Wood eventually remarried
and had children. A World War II veteran, he lived till the ripe old age of 88,
passing away in 2007. His obituary stating that he “was blessed with many great
friends, neighbors, and a loving church family.”
Annie O’Bannon went on to marry
twice, but demons eventually caught up with her when she ended her life with
self-inflicted stab wounds in October of 1982, almost 47 years to the date of
Willie Mae’s murder.
Willie Mae’s modest grave lies
alone in Fairview Cemetery. Resting in peace under a plainly marked stone as
Sarah W. Wood 1913-1935.
For aught that I could ever
read, Could ever hear by tale or history, The course of true love never did run
smooth. (A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 1.1.134-36)
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