February 4, 2021 / Joanne Yeck

Buckingham County Crimes: The Murder of Meade Hanes, Part IV

Richmond Times-Dispatch, 7 May 1913.

Need to catch up? Click here to begin the series: Buckingham County Crimes: The Murder of Meade Hanes, Part I

By May 7, Richmond’s Times-Dispatch published a much fuller version of the unfolding story under the headline “No Known Motive Except Jealousy: Killing of Young Meade Hanes by Mott R. Glover Stirs Buckingham County.” Sent from Arvonia on May 6, the substantial article began:

The funeral of young Meade Hanes, son of Blackwell Hanes, who was shot dead yesterday by Mott Robertson Glover, was held at the home of his father this afternoon at 4 o’clock, a large number of people flocking to the funeral from various sections of the county to offer sympathy to the stricken parents.

The tragedy was one of the most remarkable ever heard of in the section of Virginia. The whole matter was fully ventilated over the various telephone lines of the county last night, and it appears that the details are about as follows: Young Meade Hanes, though a boy of about fifteen or sixteen years of age, was paying boyish attentions to a young woman, a near neighbor, about his age, or possibly younger. His rival, if he could be said to have a rival, was Mott Robertson Glover, of Well Water, Buckingham County, a man in the neighborhood of thirty years of age. It is told here that Glover had invited the young girl to ride with him in his buggy a few weeks ago, but that she refused, saying she had promised to walk with young Meade Hanes. Later she again showed preference for young Hanes. That is all that can possibly be gathered at this time any difficulty which might have existed between the two men.

Interestingly, it will be some time before the name of the “young woman” was revealed. Was the correspondent protecting the family? After all, this might have been simply a rumor.

Coming Next: Buckingham County Crimes: The Murder of Meade Hanes, Part V