Mary Evelyn (Echols) Combs (1921 - 1937)

Born 1921 in Hidalgo, New Mexico

Ancestors

Died 7 Mar 1937 at about age 16 in Virden, Hidalgo, New Mexico, USA

Biography

This is a transcript of two newpaper articles regarding the deaths of Mary Evelyn Echols, Paul Clinton Combs, and Martin Brown Echols on 7 March 1937.

ARIZONA MINER SLAYS TWO, TAKES OWN LIFE PHOENIX GAZETTE, PHOENIX, ARIZONA, Monday Evening, March 8, 1987 Triple Slayer Ends Quarrel with Pistol

Infant Daughter Is Survivor of Tragedy

VIRDEN, N.M. Mar. 7—AP—Sheriff John Cavin said Paul Combs, 23, a copper mine worker, fatally shot his father-in-law and his 17-year-old wife, Evelyn, mother of a three-months old baby girl, today in the tragic climax of a youthful marriage.

Sheriff John Cavin of Lordsburg said only the 68-year-old mother-in-law escaped the pistol fire of the young husband, enraged because the pretty, brunette farm girl, who became his bride a year ago, had left him.

The father-in-law, Martin B. Echols, 73, saying Combs had threatened him previously, swore out a complaint to put Combs under peace bond yesterday at Duncan, Ariz., but the warrant had not been served, Sheriff Cavin said.

Echols then removed his daughter and the Combs furniture from their Duncan home to the Echols ranch near here.

When Combs returned home this morning and found his wife missing, he borrowed an automobile, telling friends he was going to get his wife.

Echols sighted the machine as it approached on the highway and dashed from a nearby field screaming: “Get a gun. This man’s come to kill all of us.”

Combs cornered Echols just as he reached a bedroom and whipping out one of two .38 revolvers, shot him near the heart and through the temple. Death was instantaneous.

Then, Sheriff Cavin said, Combs turned on Mrs. Echols ordering her to back up against the wall, but not otherwise harming her as she escaped through a rear door.

Shoots Wife Three Times Combs’ wife ran screaming toward the front door.

Combs drew the other revolver then and shot her three times in the back of the head just as she reached the door step. Standing beside her, he shot himself in the temple.

Sheriff Cavin said Combs several months ago had fired at Echols when they passed on a highway. Only two days ago, H. V. Payne, attorney at Lordsburg, said Echols sought Payne’s services to arrange a separation because the young mother “wanted to come home.”

Combs was employed at Duncan by the Veta mining company and came there about a year ago from Oklahoma.

FATHER-IN-LAW, WIFE KILLED WHILE FLEEING Arizona Republic, Phoenix, Monday Morning, March 8, 1937

Domestic Trouble Is Blamed for New Mexico Tragedy

VIRDEN, N.M. Mar. 8—AP—A copper miner, his girl wife and her father lay dead here today and a coroner’s jury decided they were victims of a double murder and suicide.

Twenty-three-year-old Paul Combs, the jury found, shot his wife, Evelyn, 17, and his father-in-law, Martin B. Echols, 73, while infuriated over domestic trouble.

Sheriff John Cavin said he learned the shootings occurred a few hours after Combs’ slim brunet wife of a year had taken their three-months old baby girl and returned to her parents’ home near here.

FLEE FROM BULLETS Combs discovered their disappearance when he got off work yesterday morning at Duncan, Ariz. In a borrowed automobile, he drove to the Echols farm.

There, the sheriff said, Combs first cornered and shot Echols who had fled screaming, “Get a gun. He’s come to kill us all.”

While Combs forced Mrs. Echols at gun point against a wall, his wife fled screaming out the front door.

Whipping up his pistol, he shot her three times in the back of the head. As she crumpled dead on the door step, Combs drew a second pistol, pointed it toward his temple, fired, and fell dead beside her.

Sources

• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XCMM-8SK : accessed 4 January 2023), M Evelyn Echols in household of Martin B Echols, Virden, Hidalgo, New Mexico, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 3, sheet 2B, line 70, family 70, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1394; FHL microfilm 2,341,129.
• "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVV2-YMWG : 3 August 2020), Mary Evelyn Echols Combs, ; Burial, Virden, Hidalgo, New Mexico, United States of America, Virden Cemetery; citing record ID 21490136, Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/21490136/mary-evelyn-combs

• Mary Evelyn Echols at FamilySearch