WS Chronicle

This first part of this story, Before the Murder – Smith’s Story – Part 1, by Judie Holcomb-Pack, ran in last week’s Chronicle. This two-part series explores the exhibit, Smith & Libby: Two Rings, Seven Months, One Bullet, currently on display at Reynolda House. Every family has its secrets and tragedies. Here is this one.

Initially the death of Reynolds’ heir, Zachary Smith Reynolds, was believed to be a suicide, but the investigation into the shooting proved that wasn’t the case. 

After the news of Reynolds’ death started making national headlines, it was determined by the coroner that the death wasn’t a suicide. And in August of that year, Reynolds’ wife of seven months, Broadway torch singer Libby Holman, and his longtime friend and secretary, Albert “Ab” Walker, were indicted for murder. 

According to Phil Archer, deputy director of Reynolda House Museum of American Art and curator of the Smith & Libby exhibit, contradicting statements from Holman and Walker on what happened the night of Smith’s death made them obvious suspects. Libby was on the porch with Smith when the fatal gunshot was fired. And it was reported that Walker heard the gunshot, but it isn’t clear where he was at the time. Rumors of an affair between Libby and Ab also added fuel to the fire. It was also speculated that Smith and Libby had been fighting. It could have been that Smith had just discovered that his wife was Jewish.

“It was pretty clear that the sheriff wasn’t buying their story at all and I must say there are a lot of contradictions in what they said in the days after it happened,” Archer continued. ”So I can see how an officer of the law would have his doubts that it was a traditional suicide.“

Despite the questions raised by Sheriff Transou Scott and others, less than two months after they were indicted for first degree murder and before even going to trial, the case against Libby and Ab was quietly dropped. 

To this day it’s unclear how Smith died that night on the sleeping porch. 

In January 1933 Libby gave birth to their son, Christopher. After the smoke from the case had died down, Libby returned to the stage but not for long. A few years later Libby became a big supporter of the civil rights and anti-war movements and the push for women’s rights. 

In the 1940s Libby traveled the country with blues singer Josh White, who was Black. Historians believe that Libby and Josh were the first interracial male-female duo in American music. “She did return to the stage a few times on Broadway, but she turned down some really big roles,” Archer explained. 

“She described that some of the allure of those comedic songs she made famous and some of the sultry torch songs that she made famous just really didn’t resonate with her anymore. She wanted to make music that was more true, more authentic. And this was one of her biggest pivots; she became a proto-folk singer.”

She had also formed relationships with Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy. In fact, after her son Christopher died while climbing Mt. Whitney in California when he was only 17 years old, Libby created the Christopher Reynolds Foundation to support economics of disarmament, theories of world government, and racial justice.

One of the foundation’s first grants was to support Dr. King’s trip to India to study the non-violent activism of Mahatma Gandhi. When Dr. King was assassinated in 1968, his wife, Coretta Scott King, moved in with Libby. 

It is believed that after Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 and King’s assassination, combined with the death of her son, Libby fell into a deep depression and on July 18, 1971, Libby Holman was found nearly dead in her car in Stamford, Connecticut. She was rushed to the hospital but died a few hours later. Libby’s death was ruled a suicide due to carbon monoxide poisoning, adding more mystery to the story. 

Epilogue

After major tragedies such as this, we often ask, is there good that can come out of this? The ripple effects of Smith’s death were felt locally in many ways and in fact, are still affecting our community to this day.

The heir to one of the richest men in the United States at the time, Smith’s death had a major impact on the city of Winston-Salem. After long talks on what to do with the $20 million estate (valued at over $300 million in today’s dollars), Smith’s siblings and his uncle, William Neal Reynolds, decided to give 25% of the estate to Libby and their son, Christopher, and divide the rest between Smith’s daughter from his first marriage with Anne Cannon and the remaining siblings, R.J. Reynolds Jr. and Mary Reynolds Babcock. 

In honor of their brother, R.J. Reynolds Jr. and Mary Reynolds Babcock started the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, based here in Winston-Salem for more than 85 years. Today the foundation is committed to improving the quality of life for all North Carolinians. According to their website, the foundation has invested more than $667 million into North Carolina.

One of the first major projects brought on by the foundation was to bring Wake Forest College (now Wake Forest University) to Winston-Salem. “It was more than instrumental, it was really the foundation that invited Wake to move,” Archer said. 

According to Archer there were also talks about changing the name of the school to Smith Reynolds University, but ultimately it was the family who decided against the change, adding even more mystery to the story. 

“Smith & Libby: Two Rings, Seven Months, One Bullet” will be on display at The Reynolda House Museum of American Art until Dec. 31. The exhibit includes archival documents, photos, home movies, newspapers and many other items. Although he has his own theories on what happened, Archer said he wants visitors to view the exhibit and make up their own minds on what happened that night. 

“We’re inviting people to understand the forensics and even bullet ballistics in order to let them come to their own conclusions,” Archer said. 

For more information on the exhibit visit https://reynolda.org/museum/exhibitions/smith-and-libby/ .