Page 4
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Saturday, July 30, 2016
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www.ourvalley.org
News M....nger, Christiansburg, VA
OPINION
Firearms duels in Christiansburg: part 2
Editor's note: Part 1 appeared in
the July 27 edition.
The front-page headline of
the Roanoke Times of Tuesday,
Oct. 13, 1959 read "Physician Is
Slain in W ild Gun Battle." The
same day, a front-page headline
in the Richmond Times-Dispatch
read "Jealous Husband Kills
Physician." The shooting occurred
in front of Jones score on Route
619 where South Franklin Street
becomes Pilot Road. Thanks to
the AP and UPI news services,
newspapers all around the country
carried reportS of the killing and
subsequent uial.
The physician who died was
Bremo Bluff native Dr. W illiam
Flanagan a 31-year-old 1949
graduate of Washington and Lee
University who received an MD at
(he Medical College of Virginia "in
Richmond in 1953. Flanagan was
a naval medical officer who served
in Korea and Japan before setting
up practice in Christiansburg. He
was divorced from his wife.
The physician's slayer was
Galax native E. Garland Higgins,
a 35-year-old well-to-do owner of
a Christiansburg oil distribution
business and a local bank director.
A Virginia Tech student, Higgins
served as a Marine flyer in World
War II, was a former member of
the Montgomery County School
Board and was currently serving
his first term on Christiansburg
Town Council. Higgins and his
wife were separated at the time of
Jim
Glanville
Local Historian
Hospital at 8: 15 a.m. the next day.
Higgins underwent emergency
surgery at Christiansburg Hospital
and survived, though his small
intestine had been punctured in
five places. Higgins was charged
with murder and placed under a
$10,000 bond.
Thomas S. Word Jr. labels the
murder prosecution that took
place in February and March
1960 Montgomery County's
The WSLS clip shows the crowd in the courtroom, including some
children. Send me an email message [email protected]
ifyou remember this trial and especially ifyou attended it.
the shooting, and she was suing
for divorce.
In the. evening of Sunday
OCt. II, Flanagan and Higgins's
wife were returning home in her
Buick from supper at a drive­
in restaurant on W illiamson
Road in Roanoke. As they drove
along Route 11 through Salem,
Higgins spotted them. Higgins
against Higgins to manslaughter."
Amazingly, a brief black-and-white video
clip of the trial exist£-preserved in the
W SLS-TV News Film Collection at the
University Virginia Library. The voice-over
relates that "A Dublin man testified he had
seen Flanagan and Mrs. Higgins kissing"
increasingly aggressive. Finally,
Higgins swung his car in from
of theirs, stopping them at Jones
store. Flanagan jumped out
carrying a .38-caIiber pistol, and
Higgins jumped out carrying a
.22 automatic.
In the exchange of gunfire,
Flanagan was shot the mouth
and spine and died at Radford
and that defense attorney T. Warren Messick
called Flanagan a "wife-stealer" and said his
client was innocent of murder. The clip is
online at tinyurl.com/wslsl959.
This column is the first time ever that
this local historian has been able to call on
For the WSLS video click:
www.tinyurl.com/wsls1959
"Trial of the Century." Word
is a Christiansburg native who
graduated from Virginia Tech
and the University of Richmond
School of Law, and after five
decades is still practicing law in
Richmond. At the time of the
trial Word was a second-year
law student and attended it as
a volunteer prosecution assistant.
video tor evidence. The WSLS dip shows
the crowd in the counroom, including
some children. Send me an email message
to [email protected] if you remember
this trial, and especially if you attended it.
If there is sufficient interest, I will write a
follow-up column.
Word knew both Flanagan and
Higgins well. Flanagan had been
his family doctor who had bird
hunted on Word's family farm.
Higgins had often invited Word
to his home as a guest.
In the fall 2013 issue of the
Virginia Bar Association Journal,
Word published a nine-page
article titled "The Duel: The
Strange Case of Commonwealth
v. Higgins." Interested readers
can access online it at tinyurl.
comfThel959Duel. According to
Word, no transcript of the trial was
saved, but the Montgomery News
Messenger of March 3, 1960,
published a detailed summary of
the testimony-some of which he
reprints in his article.
On March 2, 1960, the
Washington
POSt
reported:
"Higgins was found innocent ...
the all male Montgomery County
Circuit Court jury deliberated two
and a half hours before acquitting
Higgins. Judge W. Southall Jordan
had reduced the murder charge
See
Glanville,
page 5
Jim Glanvi/k is a retired chnnist living
in Blacksburg. He has been publishing and
lecturing for more than a decade about the
history ofSouthWf:st Virginia.
For the Thomas Word article click:
www.tinyurl.com/The1959Duel