Stoddard Vet Ends Own Life After Killing Girl He Loved

         

I  learned that two of my Great Grand Uncles had committed suicide and I set out to see if I could find a story there. These two newspaper headlines certainly caught my attention.

"Stoddard Vet Ends Own Life After Killing Girl He Loved"

"Believed Millicent Jamar Refused to Wed Bert Brannock"

Five days ago, I had never heard the name: Millicent Jamar; five days later it is one I will never forget. 

Millicent Jamar had been courted by my Great Grand Uncle, Bert Brannock, for two years. She was a stenographer for Wammack and Cooper law firm, and he the proprietor of a confectionery store, both in the town of Bloomfield, Missouri where they were born and raised. 

It is believed that Ms. Jamar refused Mr. Brannock's hand in marriage, citing her mother did not approve. Mr. Brannock had sold his confectionery store six months into their relationship citing ill health. He had moved back home with his parents in the Clines Island area of Bloomfield where he slipped deeper and deeper into depression. 

On Saturday, March 7, 1936, he stopped by to see Ms. Jamar and they went for a drive. This drive ended abruptly on a rural road 6 miles northeast of town. Mr. Brannock had borrowed a pistol from a friend, telling him he needed it to kill a dog. It was not a dog he intended to hurt that evening, but his beloved Millicent.  

A 22 year old farmer, Ora Thompson, had been investigating gunshots he heard one hour prior when he found both Mr. Brannock and Ms. Jamar dead of single gunshot wounds to the head. The "smoking gun" with two discharged rounds of ammunition was found between Mr. Brannock's feet. Ms. Jamar had been shot thru the left temple, the bullet had also passed through her palm and exited the back of her right hand. Mr. Brannock had shot himself through his right temple, and the bullet had exited the left side of his head. Both died almost immediately. 

No letter of explanation was found. 

The formal verdict returned by the jury in this case:
"We the jury, find that Ms. Millicent Jamar and Bert Brannock came to their deaths by bullet wounds inflicted by Bert Brannock."