Deadly Relations
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| Charles Cushing Jr. |
Investigators believe that Charles was riding his motorcycle down the road when he hit a hole and lost control of the bike. They estimated that the motorcycle traveled about 125 feet before slamming into a wall and throwing Charles about another 20 feet.
Charles served in the United States Army for about five years. Stationed in Japan, he returned home after being discharged in 1953-4. During his enlistment, Charles reportedly tried committing suicide several times and underwent a psychiatric evaluation in Italy. Charles's neighbors said he was never the same after returning from the Korean War.
In February or March 1954, he asked Dorothy A. Warner to marry him.
Charles and Dorothy married in Ludlow, Massachusetts, on September 18, 1954. Soon after, they welcomed a daughter, Cheryl Ann, into their home at 807 Liberty Street in Springfield, Massachusetts.
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| Dorothy |
Charles and Dorothy attempted to repair their damaged relationship several times to no avail, finally separating on April 30, 1957. Dorothy and her daughter moved in with her sister, Ruth, and her brother-in-law, Donald MacDonald, in Southwick, Massachusetts. (Ruth and Dorothy's brother, Charles Warner, married Charles Cushing's sister, Norma Valentine Cushing.)
Ruth reportedly met Donald while serving in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) during World War II, having been stationed at Lawson General Hospital in Chamblee, Georgia, adjacent to Naval Air Station Atlanta. She enlisted in 1945. Donald was a sergeant in the Army Air Force. They married in the hospital's chapel on August 14, 1945. (A patient served as Donald's best man.)
After the war, Donald and Ruth moved around. They lived in Springfield and Northampton, Massachusetts, before moving to Donald's hometown, East Millinocket, Maine, in 1949. They spent a couple of years in Maine before moving back to Springfield. A few months later, they moved into a six-room gray house with yellow and white trim at 139 Springfield Street (today's Feeding Hills Road) in Southwick. The home had a kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms downstairs. There were two more bedrooms upstairs. (Even though that section of Southwick was newly developed, dense woods surrounded the north and south sides of the house.)
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| Donald and Ruth MacDonald |
Ruth was an active Cub Scout den mother in Southwick Cub Pack 118; Donald worked the night shift at Hamilton Standard.
The MacDonalds were happy to help Dorothy, even caring for her daughter while she went to work. They let Dorothy move into the downstairs bedroom across the hall from theirs; the children used the upstairs bedrooms.
Dorothy filed for divorce from Charles on May 7, 1957, citing cruelty and failure to provide (nonsupport). The court ordered a "cooling-off" period, putting the divorce proceedings on hold indefinitely.
Some folks who worked with Charles at the cab company said he started acting differently following the divorce filing. On May 11, Charles notified the general public that he would no longer "be responsible for any bills contracted by anyone" other than himself.
Charles continued his downward spiral, even finding himself in court on May 14, 1957, to face charges of intoxication, assault, and breaking glass in a building not his own. He pleaded guilty. (The property damage may or may not have been to the MacDonald's house.)
On October 6, 1957, Charles hired a driver to take him from Springfield to Southwick. The cab departed before dawn and arrived at the MacDonald's home around 5:45 a.m. Charles paid the fare and entered the house carrying a shotgun. (It is unclear how he gained entry. It was common for folks in Southwick to leave their homes unlocked.)
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| Michael Coppa |
The MacDonalds' oldest child, eleven-year-old Barbara, called their neighbor Michael Coppa for help.
Michael, who would later tell authorities that he had heard four gunshots, rushed over and found Donald dead on the floor next to his bed with a gaping hole in his chest and stomach; Charles had shot him first as he and Ruth slept. Ruth was lying on the floor on the other side of the bed, bleeding profusely. Dorothy was sitting on the side of the bed holding her abdomen as pellets from the blast that felled Ruth hit her. Dorothy's injuries were not as bad as those of her sister, who was desperately clinging to life.
The MacDonald's son, Paul, recalled hearing five shots. He was the first child to go downstairs. His uncle Charles pushed
him out of the way as he casually walked out the back door of the MacDonald home, gun in hand.
Paul, seeing his father dead, wet some towels and held them on his
mother's abdominal wound until help arrived. Barbara and other sister, Susan, helped Dorothy. Their four-year-old brother, James ("Jimmie"), played on the floor with the spent shells. He lined up four in a row.
Dorothy phoned the Massachusetts State Police. When officers arrived, they found four shell casings in the hallway between the two first-floor bedrooms. They put Ruth and Dorothy into their patrol cars and rushed them to Noble Hospital. The sisters underwent emergency surgery. Ruth had to have part of her intestine removed. She also received multiple blood transfusions.
An intensive manhunt got underway. Officers combed the area with bloodhounds from the Northampton barracks. The dogs picked up Charles's scent on trails in the woods near the MacDonald home. After coming up empty, they thought he may have escaped in a 1952 gray Chevrolet with Massachusetts plate number 837-141. Police put out an all-points bulletin for Charles, describing him as five feet six inches tall, 160 pounds, medium build, dark hair, and hazel eyes.
Meanwhile, the medical examiner arrived at the MacDonald home and viewed Donald's body. He also
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| Ruth |
Word of the shootings spread like wildfire throughout Southwick and the surrounding area. On the same day that the horrific shooting occurred, members of Southwick Cub Pack 118 organized a fund and clothing drive to aid the MacDonald's children and Dorothy's daughter.
At about 9:45 the following morning, a Massachusetts State Police officer from the Russell barracks found Charles in the rain-soaked woods on the opposite side of Route 57. He was about 1/8-mile from the MacDonald's house, his body covered in leaves and critically wounded, suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest following a failed suicide attempt. The officer was about on top of Charles before he noticed him in a makeshift hut of dried leaves and brush. He thought the wanted man was dead because he lay motionless, having gone into shock. Authorities found his shotgun nearby; blood covered the ground.
Because he was critically wounded, Charles did not put up a fight or attempt to escape. The police called for Southwick's town ambulance, which took him to Noble Hospital, where doctors were trying to save Ruth's life and where Dorothy was recovering from less serious wounds.
While being examined at Noble Hospital, Charles, still in a state of shock, mumbled incoherently. Charles had shot himself in his upper left shoulder and chest area; part of the slug exited through his left armpit. X-rays showed that the slug did not hit any vital organs, but Charles did have some nerve damage. Doctors believed that he shot himself a short time before being discovered by the state trooper. Meanwhile, Ruth's condition worsened, and doctors did not expect her to live.
An officer stood guard at the door of Charles's private hospital room. When doctors released him on October 11, police took him directly to the infirmary at the Hampden County Jail (also known as the York Street Jail). He was wearing a sling. (Doctors discharged Ruth from the hospital on November 2.)
During their investigation, police found out that Charles purchased a .410 shotgun the day before the shooting. Dorothy said Charles shot Donald and Ruth because he blamed them, mainly Donald, for the couple's failed attempts at reconciling. Neighbors of the MacDonalds said that Charles would frequently spy on the MacDonald home from the surrounding woods.
A judge granted Dorothy's divorce request on November 6, 1957. However, he revoked the divorce decree in late December.
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| Charles covered in leaves on 10/7/1957 |
Appearing in court on November 21, 1957, Charles sat in the front row between two state troopers. He wore a light brown overcoat, tie, and dark brown pants; the sling he had been wearing was noticeably absent.
The director of Northampton State Hospital's outpatient department happened to be in court that day for a different reason. At the court's request, she evaluated Charles during the court's 30-minute recess. Judge Garvey asked her about her qualifications, including how many mentally ill patients she has examined in her five years at Northampton State Hospital. Her response: "It would be in the thousands." (For additional information on the notorious Northampton State Hospital, see "A Dark Day on Vining Hill.")
When the court came back in session, Charles remained expressionless as Judge Garvey committed him to the state lunatic hospital in Northampton for a 35-day observation period.
On December 20, Northampton State Hospital officials declared Charles insane. They sent their findings to Judge Garvey. Back in court on December 27, Garvey sentenced Charles to the Bridgewater State Hospital for the criminally insane. At some point, authorities transferred him back to Northampton State Hospital, where he died on December 26, 1972.
Charles was buried in Hillcrest Park Cemetery, the same cemetery where Donald was laid to rest.
Dorothy received a new divorce decree on April 1, 1958.
The fifth shot was later discovered when the MacDonalds went to use their vacuum cleaner and dust blew out of a bullet hole in it. Charles may have thought that the vacuum was the MacDonald's dog. (The police did not see the fifth shell because it rolled down the cellar stairs.)
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A special THANK YOU to Paul MacDonald for providing clarity and additional information to this story.
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| York Street Jail |
Edited Out/Author's Additional Research Notes
Working titles: A Family Affair: MacDonald Murder, Deadly Relations: The Southwick Shooting of 1957, Unholy Matrimony
Donald Arthur MacDonald: 4/3/1921 - 10/6/1957.
Ruth Ethel (Warner) (MacDonald) Galetta: - 9/9/1921 - 1/13/2014.
Charles Bartlett Cushing Jr.: 1/24/1929- 12/26/1972.
Dorothy Alice (Warner) Cushing: 1/20/1924 - 8/17/2003.
Michael J. Coppa (neighbor): abt. 1920 - 4/30/2017.
Judge Arthur T. Garvey: 1/6/1903 - 1/2/1986.
Clerk of Courts Richard Charles Morrissey: 4/22/1902 - 1/9/1962.
Det. Sgt. James J. Fitzgibbon: 3/30/1924 - 8/14/1982.
Northampton State Hospital Supt. Dr. J. H. Ferdinan Longpre: 1/22/1899 - 2/16/1984.
Charles Cushing Sr. was a cab driver. He received a safety award from the cab company in 1952 - later that year, he was in an accident involving his cab. The Cushing family moved around a bit. They lived in a trailer camp in Chicopee and various homes in Western Massachusetts. Charles Cushing and Dorothy Warner may or may not have been neighbors in Springfield once.
1949 was an interesting year in the life of Charles Cushing. Charles Cushing Jr. was arrested in 1949 for participating in a street brawl. He was found not guilty and released. He was involved in a head-on collision in January (his sister Raine was in the car) and a motorcycle accident in July.
A defined "cooling-off" period is mandatory under Massachusetts state law, but it's unclear what year it was enacted.
After graduating high school in 1938, Donald attended the Machinist Aircraft School in Springfield. He enlisted in the Air Corps in July 1940. He served in England, Panama, Belgium, France, and Germany. Donald's father died on December 22, 1956. He retired from the Great Northern Paper Company where Donald had also worked. (Donald also worked for Hamilton Standard and Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company.)
Some sources say Donald and Ruth married in 1944. However, 1945 is correct.
Before serving her country, Ruth worked at the New England Greyhound Bus Station. Lawson General Hospital was a cantonment-type hospital, with rows of one-story buildings built from Georgia pine. It may have been named after Surgeon General Thomas Lawson. Ruth eventually went to work at Noble Hospital.
Mandatory retirement forced Judge Garvey from the bench in 1973.
Connecticut State Police may have also arrived on the scene.
Four shots were fired - two into Donald - killing him instantly, one into Ruth, which wounded Dorothy in the process. The fourth shot was directly at Dorothy, she ducked and turned. The first two blasts may or may not have woken Ruth, either way, she immediately recognized her husband's killer. Dorothy, hearing Ruth cry out, woke and went into the MacDonald's bedroom.
Bridgewater State Hospital was established in 1855 as an almshouse.
Norma Valentine (Cushing) Warner died in Southwick in 2017.
The MacDonald's four children and the Cushing's young daughter were all in the house during the shooting.
Ruth married Jerry Galetta on June 30, 1961. Ruth's daughter Barbara was her maid of honor. He died in 1981. Jerry's son, Jerry Jr., was his best man. (Ruth's son, Paul MacDonald, and Jerry's son, Richard Galetta, were ushers; more on Richard later.)
Jerry Sr. found himself in trouble with the law when he was arrested on October 13, 1954, for lewdness and contributing to the delinquency of a minor (a 16-year-old girl). Following the arrest, Jerry's wife left him and later filed for divorce, which was granted on June 12, 1956.
Jerry Jr.'s first wife was granted divorce in February 1975. Jerry Jr.'s home may or may not have been foreclosed on the same year he married his second wife (1983). After Jerry Jr. died in 1999, his wife married his younger brother Richard. (In 1969, Richard was engaged to Sharon Vandomo - mother Sally Case Vandomo. He appears to have gotten engaged at least four times and married three times.)
Jerry Galetta Sr. served during World War II. He married in 1941. He returned home while furloughed in 1942. His wife gave birth to Jerry Jr. on March 27, 1943. Jerry Sr. was sent overseas in September 1943 and was in England by December 1944. He participated in the Battle of the Bulge and went missing in Belgium on January 4, 1945. The War Department later found out that the Nazis were holding him captive in a German prison camp. They only fed him bread and a greasy soup. When the camp was liberated by allied forces, Jerry wasn't there - the Nazis had moved him to a different concentration camp.
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