Youtha Beverly arrived in New Castle from Covington, Virginia, in 1920. He turned eighteen in 1927, the year when a car in which he was a passenger broke the neck of a four-year-old girl who ran out into the street. The following year, he was arrested in connection with a disturbance during a whoopee party at a house in Sciota street that resulted in a man named John Sears being shot in the head. During the thirties, he was arrested on various occasions for the possession of liquor, disorderly conduct and assault and battery.
Youtha’s mug shot was taken in September 1934, after an arrest for drunkenness. He died six years later, in 1940, at the age of thirty-three, from what his obituary called a lingering illness. His only family was his sister’s daughter, Dorthula, who would be hospitalised several times during her married life following unexplained domestic accidents, until the day in 1973 when she shot her husband.
Sources: New Castle News (8 Aug 1927, “Ran Into Auto Of John Fulmore In Rear Of Home”; 25 Nov 1929, “Colored Man Shot In Head”; 1 Feb 1930, “Pleas Are Entered; Sentences Passed”; 19 July 1930, “Charge Withdrawn By Prosecutor”; 26 May 1938, “Arrests Driver After Accident”; 5 Jan 1940, “Deaths Of The Day”; 14 May 1958, “Woman Breaks Arm”; 26 Nov 1960, “Woman Fined”; 1 April 1964, “Hand Hurt”; 8 March 1966, “Patton Service”; 15 Dec 1973, “City man Is Shot In Home”).
Small Town Noir 
You can’t leave us hanging like that! What happened to Dorthula (awesome name) after she shot the ol’ bastard?
There’s no further word on Dorthula. (But, like Johnny says below, I bet she went to hospital a lot less often.)
I’m betting that after Dorthula administered the final dose, she was amazingly cured….
checking out Youtha’s pic, looks like he got an early start on the Hitler mustache.
and what the heck happened to john sears? the fellow at the ‘whoopee’ party who got shot in the head?
The guy who was shot, John Sears, had bullet wounds in his left arm and the left side of his head, just behind the ear. The bullet, fired by a man known as Slim, went through his arm first, before lodging in his skull. (I guess that, when the gun was pointed at him, Sears threw his arm up to protect himself and turned his head to the right — that would put his left bicep up beside his ear.) The bullet was obviously travelling slowly when it entered his head, having gone through a lot of muscle first. He didn’t die, anyway.
Slim — real name William Edward Miller — was arrested a month later. He was not long out of the Ohio penitentiary, where he’d served a sentence for assault and battery. He was sent to the Pennsylvania state penitentiary after he pled guilty to shooting Sears. I can’t find any other mention of him…
What a great project. Thanks for
doing such a wonderful job preserving this notorious history.
The mug shots themselves are amazing… the bent noses, the pock
marks, the scars…all begging for the real story.
And you provide the real story!…My hat is off to you sir.
Thanks, Michael! I do what I can…