This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Smith, Harlow, King, Castle Classification: Death Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/JW.2ADE/7676 Message Board Post: SMITH HERBERT ROLAND born: 01/17/1917 M OKLAHOMA mother: KING father: SMITH died: KERN 02/18/1951 age: 34 yrs requested by: kiledijon@pacifier.com The Bakersfield Californian, Monday, February 19, 1951 Pg. 17 & 20 Cabbie Jailed in Slaying of Rival for Wife's Love A 28-year-old taxicab driver was held today after sheriff's officers found a man fatally beaten in the home of the suspect's estranged wife. Herbert R. Smith, 34-year-old cook of 2026 Potomac street, died at Kern General Hospital, 3:55 a.m. Sunday of head injuries. Mrs. Emma Jean Harlow, 29, 897 South Mr. Vernon avenue, told sheriff's officers she was a witness to the early Sunday morning attack on the sleeping victim. Deputies arrested her husband Randall F. Harlow of 2328 Eighteenth street at the Yellow Cab Company office, 1301 Eighteenth, about an hour before the victim's death. Married a Month Mrs. Harlow, mother of two small children by a previous marriage, said she married Harlow last December 15. They separated a month later. The arresting deputies, Wilbur Giese and Fred Peterson, lodged Harlow in the county jail for investigation of a murder charge. Mrs. Harlow said she was asleep in a rear bedroom and that Smith was in a front bedroom when she was awakened by noises in the front part of the home. It was about 12:50 a.m. Sunday, she stated. She recounted she first saw her (pg 20): estranged husband in the hallway and saw him return to Smith's room and reappear in the hallway several times. She rushed to a telephone but Mrs Harlow continued, Harlow stopped her from making a call for an ambulance. Beaten Against Floor Smith, she said, was picked up bodily and his head poiunded on the floor after Harlow struck him with fists and feet. "I was forced to look at him," Mrs. Harlow said, "but I covered my face with my hands. He was bleeding very much and it was awful." When it was seen that Smith was seriously hurt, she said her husband helped her nurse the victim and Harlow told a telephone operator to send an ambulance. Deputies Wilbur Giese and David Head were first to arrive. they questioned the Harlows and then left after being told Smith had been hurt in a fight with an unidentified man. Harlow left in a cab for work and was arrested at 2:40 a.m. after investigating officers further questioned the wife. The attack took place in the home of Mrs. Harlow's parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Castle, who left Saturday to visit friends in Oklahoma. Attacked in Sleep Deputy County Coroner Nolan Clay said Smith apparently was struck while asleep and did not regain consciousness during the assault. County Coroner Norman Houze said an autopsy performed by Dr. Robert Huntington, county pathologist, disclosed death was the result of a "subdural hemorrhage due to blows on the head." Smith's auto was parked outside the Castle home. His assailant entered through a window of the locked house, Clay said. Smith had been staying with a brother, Porter and other family members at 2026 Patomac, Porter Smith said he had been employed as a cook at San Rafael and was on a visit here. The body will be sent to Texas for burial after a coroner's inquest. Two sons and a divorced wife of the victim live at Dallas, Texas. Other survivors are his parents, Mr. and Mrs. George M. Smith of Dallas; six brothers, Porter of 2026 Potomac, Durward of Sonoma and Ted, Lester, Glen and Gordon , all of Dallas; and three sisters, Leta, Bobbie and Mae, all of Texas. Sharon Kern Co. Volunteer