TOWN OF WESTERN — Late on New Year’s Day in 1969, sheriff’s deputies and state police found a horrific scene in this normally quiet town. Four people had been murdered, including two youngsters, and five others had been wounded, following a domestic dispute.
The man responsible for the murder and mayhem, Ralph MacLachlan, 35, had left the scene, and committed suicide early the next morning, after being pursued by troopers.
This sad story — a tragic part of the area’s history — is a disturbing one. And it’s one of many local domestic disputes that ended violently. While difficult to read, perhaps some lessons can be learned from it, and other such violence can be avoided.
Killed that night were:
Anita Turke MacLachlan, 34, estranged wife of the murderer.
Jane Turke Ringrose, 35, his sister-in-law.
Barbara Jean Ringrose, 12, his niece.
M. James Pepper, 14, a neighbor.
Wounded were: Perry B. Turke, 68, his father-in-law; Margaret Turke, 61, his mother-in-law; Cynthia Anne Ringrose, 10, his niece; Robert Ringrose, 35, his brother-in-law; and Joyce O’Dell Pepper, 36, a neighbor. Pepper and her son were shot at their home. The others were shot at the home of the Turke’s. The MacLachlans were neighbors of the Turkes and the Peppers on Route 46. The Ringroses lived in Tupper Lake, but were visiting for the holiday.
The Rome Daily Sentinel newspaper covered the tragedy extensively, with stories written by police reporter Frank A. Glasso. Following are excerpts from those stories, which are on file at the Rome Historical Society:
MacLachlan was upset by his wife’s plans to divorce him. After watching sports on TV for part of New Year’s Day, at about 10:30 p.m., he marched through the snow over to the home of his in-laws, armed with a seven-shot, semi-automatic .22-caliber rifle. He shot and killed his wife, his sister-in-law, and his young niece, and a young neighbor.
His brother-in-law unsuccessfully attempted to wrestle the gun away from MacLachlan, but he was shot and wounded. His father-in-law was also shot and wounded, as his mother-in-law ran out the front door to get help.
The gunman then made his way to a bedroom, where he killed his young niece Barbara Ringrose and wounded young niece Cynthia Ringrose as she tried to hide under the bed. One of the girls called the Sheriff’s Department, and screamed, “Three people have been shot and I’m going to be shot next!”
MacLachlan found his wife in the other bedroom, where she had hidden the couple’s two young sons in a closet. Steven, 2, and James, 9 months, escaped unharmed. But MacLachlan forced his wife outside and “shot her several times,” according to the news story.
Through a snowstorm and in near-zero temperatures, MacLachlan made his way to the nearby Pepper home, where he knocked on a rear door. Joyce Pepper opened the door, and was shot in the head and spine. Two of her sons tried to come to her rescue, and one of them, James, 14, was shot in the chest and abdomen and later died en route to Rome Hospital. The gunman tried unsuccessfully to steal a car from the family’s garage.
Meanwhile, MacLachlan’s mother-in-law, Margaret Turke, made her way to a neighbor’s trailer. There, she told Air Force Sgt. Robert Johnson, 23, “Don’t let anyone in, because it might be Ralph and he will kill us all!” A “really scared” Johnson said hid her, his wife, and their son, in a room, while he “called the Sheriff’s Department and Rome police and even the Westernville Fire Department to get help.”
“As soon as police arrived, I took Mrs. Turke to Rome Hospital,” Johnson reported, adding that he also delivered his wife and son safely to his mother-in-law’s house in Rome.
Next, MacLachlan stole a Jeep from the nearby Joe Jones Service station. He drove to Boonville, where he broke into a sporting goods store and stole two more rifles and ammunition. He drove to Remsen, where he turned south towards Utica. Along the way, he was spotted by Troopers Dominick DePaola and Thomas Buck. He stopped and opened fire on them, putting four bullets through their windshield; one bullet went through DePaola’s cap.
“The brief battle ended when MacLachlan slipped behind the plow on the Jeep and killed himself,” according to the Sentinel.
MacLachlan, a 1949 Rome Free Academy graduate, had been employed as a meat cutter at Loblaw’s Supermarket in Oneida. His brother reported that the gunman had served communion on New Year’s Eve at St. John’s Lutheran Church, where he was an elder. His brother also reported that MacLachlan had been seen by a psychiatrist about a dozen years ago, for about three months. He said he had spoken by phone with the gunman, shortly before the shooting began, and his brother gave no hint of what was about to happen.
The wounded victims slowly recovered at Rome Hospital. The murder victims were buried and mourned. Young James Pepper had been a ninth grader at Staley Junior High School, and a member of St. Paul’s church, according to his obituary.
This column was written for the Rome Historical Society by Chip Twellman Haley, retired Daily Sentinel news editor. Comments, old photos, suggestions for future columns or guest columns may be e-mailed to:chiphaley@yahoo.com. Copies of the books “Rome Through Our History, Volumes I and II,” collections of some of Haley’s columns, may be purchased at the Rome Historical Society.
The Rome Historical Society, 200 Church St., is closed temporarily, until further notice, due to the coronavirus.Go online at https://ift.tt/2NCH7l2, visit their Facebook page, or call 336-5870 for more information.
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Horrific 1969 crime scene: Four murdered, five wounded in deadly domestic dispute - Rome Sentinel
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