Death of Granville Bunch, 1922:
Death Penalty
Granville Bunch, Wife Slayer, Executed in State Prison
His Crime was Brutal and Deserved Severest Punishment
Granville Bunch died in the electric chair at Nashville Tuesday morning at 7 o’clock for the murder of his wife. He protested to the last that he could not remember the shooting. Spiritual advisors were with him all night, but he was little interested in their prayers or scripture reading. On Monday afternoon he declared he did not believe in God or the truth of the Bible, and he died without changing this opinion. He said a bad woman was the real cause of his death. He ate a full meal sent him, but did not seem to care whether he had any visitors. No relatives visited him, nor was his body claimed and it will be disposed of by prison officials. It was the opinion of the officials and visitors that his claim of lapse of memory was a fraud.
The opinion of the Supreme Court in denying a new trial is given below:
Granville Bunch, of Anderson county, a white man, about 36 years of age, was sentenced to death by electrocution for the murder of his wife, Mrs. Barzilla Bunch. The proof on which Bunch was convicted of this crime showed that his wife had become estranged from him and had refused to live with him, returning to the home of her father, Joe Dougherty. Sometime before the homicide, Bunch came to the home of his father-in-law and when his wife refused to return to him, demanded that she return certain articles of jewelry and clothing which he had given her, even required her to remove the clothing which she was wearing and deliver it to him. The woman complied with this demand, borrowing clothing from her mother to take the place of that which she surrendered. The defendant then piled her clothing in the yard and burned it. At the time of the homicide Bunch had returned to Dougherty’s home to induce his wife to come back to him. When she persisted in her refusal, he followed her down the road and after a short interview, killed her by shooting her in the back with a pistol. The court found that all of the elements of murder in the first degree existed in this case and affirmed the sentence of death.
Anderson County News, April 15, 1922
[Transcribed from a photocopy of the microfilm in the genealogy vertical files at Lake City Library.]