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Zachary Smith Reynolds (November 5, 1911 - July 6, 1932) was an American amateur aviator and youngest son of American businessman and millionaire R. J. Reynolds. The son of one of the richest men in the United States at the time, Reynolds was to inherit twenty-million dollars when he turned twenty-eight, as established in his father's will.

In the early morning of July 6, 1932, Reynolds died under mysterious circumstances of a gunshot wound to the head, following a party on the family estate of the Reynolda House. A series of investigations revealed inconsistent testimony from the party-goers and signs of tampering with the crime scene. The death gained sensational national media coverage after Reynolds's wife of a few months, Broadway singer and actress Libby Holman, along with Reynolds's friend Albert "Ab" Walker, were indicted of first-degree murder charges by a grand jury. However, the case was eventually dropped, due to lack of evidence, and at the request of the Reynolds family. It remains unsolved to this day. Based on the evidence and testimonies, it is unknown if it was a murder or suicide. Multiple films were inspired by the case, including the 1950s classic Written on the Wind.

Reynolds's siblings donated their shares of his estate to form the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation for the benefit of social causes in North Carolina.

Early life

Reynolds (also known as Z. Smith Reynolds, or just Smith) was the youngest child of R. J. Reynolds, founder of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, and Mary Katharine "Katharine" Smith Reynolds.

R.J. Reynolds died in 1918 of pancreatic cancer, and Katherine Reynolds died in 1924. The Reynolds children then went to live with their uncle, William Neal Reynolds, and his wife Kate, who did not have children of their own. Reynolds quit school as a teenager to focus on flying planes, for which he had a talent. He was scheduled to receive $17 million from his father's estate at the age of 21.

Aviation

Reynolds was an avid aviator like his older brother R. J. Reynolds, Jr., also known as "Dick". The brothers would practice takeoffs and landings on the ¾ mile front lawn of the Reynolda bungalow, and perform tricks in the air to terrify their sisters. After the success of Charles Lindbergh’s historic transatlantic flight in 1927, Dick Reynolds took on aviation as a business venture, buying the historic Roosevelt Field and founding airlines Reynolds Aviation and Camel City Flying Service.

Smith Reynolds developed his passion after dropping out of school to work for Reynolds Aviation. He earned a pilot’s license at 16, attested to by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, and personally signed by Orville Wright. He soon became the youngest person in the country to hold a transport pilot’s license. By then, Reynolds was a sort of local hero within Winston-Salem, and one of the state’s most notable aviators at the time.

Reynolds’ biggest achievement in aviation was the longest point-to-point solo circumnavigation at the time, at 17,000 miles over land, lasting from December 1931 to April 1932. The journey began in London and ended in Hong Kong; in between, flying over territories including the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Syrian Desert, and India. Reynolds began preparing for the trip in spring of 1931, buying a Savoia-Marchetti S.56 biplane, built by American Aeronautical Corporation in Port Washington, New York. The aircraft was specially customized to have a single seat and extra fuel capacity for 1,000 miles cruising range. After purchasing the plane, Reynolds met with a childhood friend, Robert “Slick” Shepherd, a reporter for the Winston-Salem Journal. Reynolds and Shepherd created a business arrangement in which Shepard would ghostwrite the story of the flight around the world and syndicate it through a national press agency. Reynolds requested that it be made to sound exciting and unforgettable, in the spirit of other famous aviation exploits of the day. In return, Shepherd would receive half of the selling price for the story. The journey was delayed by several false starts due to negotiations for flying permits, multiple bouts of illness, and mechanical troubles. Reynolds kept a handwritten flight log, “Log of Aeroplane NR-898W,” documenting his impressions and flight data during the journey, to be referenced for future publication by Shepherd. The log reveals the challenging and often dangerous nature of the trip. The plane went through near constant mechanical problems, leading to numerous forced landings. Reynolds had to fix his own equipment, usually completely alone and in a remote area; he records becoming nearly stranded multiple times. Flying over poorly charted land, he often navigated only by following railroads, rivers, coastlines, or landmarks seen on a road map.

The flight was not recorded in aviation history. Reynolds was unable to complete the last 270 miles of the route by plane: When flying between Haiphong to Chanchiang, China, the plane almost ditched. Reynolds was forced to lighten the load by throwing supplies overboard in order to take off again. Landing in Chanchiang revealed engine damage that would prevent the plane from operating without extensive repairs; as such, Reynolds made it to Hong Kong by catching a ride on an oil ship. Dejected, he then cancelled the planned publication of the journey, abandoning the flight log and rescinding the previous offer to Slick Shepherd. Upon returning to the United States, Reynolds settled with his new wife at Reynolda for the remaining summer. He enrolled in NYU’s aeronautical engineering program for the fall of 1932, and hired on a NYU graduate student to tutor him in mathematics in the meantime. Reynolds would die before ever entering into the program.

After Reynolds’ death, his sister Nancy Susan Reynolds had the flight log privately published to honor his memory. The 31 original copies were distributed among family and friends. The pages of the original log have been scanned and digitized for the Southwest Virginia Digital Archive of Virginia Tech.

Reynolds's S.56C aircraft is on display at the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The aircraft is on long-term loan from the Reynolda House in Winston-Salem.

Personal life

Reynolds married Anne Cannon in York, South Carolina at midnight on November 16, 1929 soon after he turned 18. She was the daughter of Joseph Franklin Cannon (July 23, 1876 - June 21, 1939) of the Cannon Mills fortune and Annie Hunt Ludlow (December 9, 1887 - March 10, 1965). They had one child, Anne Cannon Reynolds II (August 23, 1930 - May 11, 2003). Due to Reynolds's affair with singer and actress Libby Holman, the Reynolds were divorced in Reno, Nevada November 23, 1931. After their divorce, Anne Reynolds married and divorced Charlotte, North Carolina realtor Frank Brandon Smith, Jr. (May 21, 1906 - June 25, 1967) in 1934.

Smith Reynolds married Libby Holman on November 29, 1931 in the parlor of Monroe, Michigan Justice of the Peace Fred M. Schoepfer, just six days after his divorce from Cannon was final. Reynolds had asked Holman to marry him while still married to Cannon and had reportedly told her he would kill himself if she refused his offer. Holman, although a celebrated Broadway actress, gave up her career to preside over the Reynolds estate, Reynolda House. They threw many parties there.

After Reynolds' death, Holman gave birth to his son Christopher Smith "Topper" Reynolds three months prematurely on January 11, 1933 in Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the baby weighed 3.5 pounds. Topper Reynolds died in August 1950 at age 17 in a climbing accident on Mount Whitney.

Death

Reynolds died under mysterious circumstances from a shot to his head from a semi-automatic Mauser .32 caliber pistol on the early morning of July 6, 1932, after a 21st birthday party for his friend Charles Gideon Hill, Jr. (July 5, 1911 - October 18, 1960), who was also Anne Cannon Reynolds's first cousin, at his Winston-Salem, North Carolina estate known as Reynolda. His wife Libby Holman Reynolds was pregnant with their child.

Reynolds' boyhood friend and personal assistant Albert Bailey "Ab" Walker had stayed over after the party, and he reported that he heard a gunshot from downstairs and immediately afterwards Holman ran to the balcony and shouted, "Smith's killed himself!" Walker said he found Reynolds bleeding and unconscious upstairs, with a bullet wound in his right temple. With Holman's help, Walker brought Reynolds to North Carolina Baptist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead four hours later at 5:25 am on July 6.

The death was originally ruled a suicide, but a coroner's inquiry subsequently ruled the death a murder. Both Walker and Holman were considered suspects in his death and were both indicted for first-degree murder of Reynolds—Holman for the murder itself and Walker as an accomplice. The murder attracted national attention. Reporters printed allegations that Holman had conducted an affair with Walker. Reynolds' uncle William Neal Reynolds told the district attorney that the family supported dropping the charges; the prosecutor eventually did so for lack of evidence, and no trial was ever held.

Zachary Smith Reynolds is buried in the Salem Cemetery in Winston-Salem.

Legacy

Reynolds' siblings underwent a prolonged fight to receive their share of Reynolds' estate, after which they established a trust in his name that provided for his namesake foundation, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. As a result, many things in the Winston-Salem, NC area are named for Reynolds. The local airport (Smith Reynolds Airport) and the main library at Wake Forest University are named in his honor.

References

1. Bradshaw, Jon (1985). Dreams That Money Can Buy: The Tragic Life of Libby Holman. William Morrow & Co. p. 23. ISBN 978-0688011581.
2. "Death of Z. Smith Reynolds". Reynolda Revealed.
3. "Death was a tale fit for film". Winston-Salem Journal. February 2, 2012.
4. Peters, Mason (Dec 1987). "Smith Reynolds: The man and the mystery" (PDF). Greensboro News & Record.
5. ^ Tursi, Frank (1994). Winston-Salem: A History. John F. Blair, publisher. p. 194.
6. "AVIATION". Reynolda Revealed.
7. Perry, Hamilton Darby (October 1, 1983). Libby Holman: Body and Soul (1st ed.). Little Brown & Co. pp. 36–37.
8. "Zachary Smith Reynolds Log of Aeroplane NR-898W". ArchivesSpace.
9. "Zachary Smith Reynolds Log of Aeroplane NR-898W". ArchivesSpace.
10. Bradshaw, Jon. Dreams That Money Can Buy: The Tragic Life of Libby Holman.
11. "ZACHARY SMITH REYNOLDS LOG OF AEROPLANE NR-898W". Southwest Virginia Digital Archive.
12. "ZACHARY SMITH REYNOLDS LOG OF AEROPLANE NR-898W". Southwest Virginia Digital Archive.
13. Reynolds, Patrick; Shachtman, Tom. The Gilded Leaf: Triumph, Tragedy, and Tobacco: Three Generations of the R. J. Reynolds Family and Fortune. Little Brown & Co. p. 156.
14. Reynolds, Patrick; Shachtman, Tom. The Gilded Leaf: Triumph, Tragedy, and Tobacco: Three Generations of the R. J. Reynolds Family and Fortune. Little Brown & Co. p. 157.
15. "Now leaving for Paris, Rome, Baghdad and points east…". North Carolina Collection.
16. "ZACHARY SMITH REYNOLDS LOG OF AEROPLANE NR-898W". Southwest Virginia Digital Archive.
17. "Savoia Marchetti S.56C". Carolinas Aviation Museum.
18. (December 10, 1909 in Chicago, Illinois - August 2, 1954) who died of lung cancer at North Carolina Baptist Hospital, Winston-Salem, North Carolina)

External links

• Winston-Salem Journal Series Death at Reynolda - Z. Smith Reynolds
• The Z Smith Reynolds Foundation
• Z. Smith Reynolds Airport
• Biography of Libby Holman Reynolds on the official Jane Bowles site
• Zachary Smith Reynolds' grave site
• Kathryn Reynolds (photographer)
• "Reynolds v. Reynolds". Time Magazine. 1933-01-23. Retrieved 2008-08-09.

Further reading

• Bradshaw, Jon. Dreams That Money Can Buy: The Tragic Life of Libby Holman, William Morrow & Co., 1985, ISBN 978-0688011581
• Machlin, Milt, Libby, Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc., 1990, ISBN 0-8439-3028-4
• Reynolds, Patrick and Shachtman, Tom, The Gilded Leaf, iUniverse, Inc., 2006, ISBN 0-595-36658-9

• 1911 births
• 1932 deaths
• 1932 murders in the United States
• Deaths by firearm in North Carolina
• People murdered in North Carolina
• American murder victims
• American aviators
• People from Winston-Salem, North Carolina
• Reynolds family
• 1932 in North Carolina