Birth: Apr. 19, 1894 Death: Aug. 10, 1954 at Chase City son of James B. Stembridge and Nannie Gregory ********* Runaway Tractor Kills Man ========================= Chase City, Aug. 11 - Silas W. Stembridge, a 60-year-old farmer, was fatally injured last night on his farm near Skipwith when he was knocked down and dragged and pinned against a tree by a runaway tractor. A report said that Stembridge had started the tractor while standing beside it, not knowing the machine was in gear. The tractor bucked, caught him under a wheel and dragged him to a tree, where it stopped and held him fast. He died later in a South Hill Hospital. A funeral service will be held at 3 P. M. Friday at Bethel Baptist Church here, with burial in the church cemetery. Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Bessie Lee Stembridge; four sons, Silas W. Stembridge, Jr of Chase City, and Tom, Robert and Bryant Stembridge, all of Skipwith; two daughters, Mrs. Nannie Lee Homaker, of Richmond and Miss Valera Stembridge of Skipwith; six sisters, Mrs. Theresa Jones, Mrs. Annie Gregory and Mrs. Ethel Seamans, all of Skipwith; Mrs. Mildred Dutcher, of Asheville, N. C.; Mrs. Maude Gregory, of Chase City, and Mrs. Lillian Wooton of Blackstone; three brothers, Charles S. Stembridge, of Skipwith; Finish Skipwith, of Chase City, and J. P. Stembridge, of Oxford, N. C., and six grandchildren. NOTE: the last surviving sibling (his sister, Mildred Stembridge Dutcher) recently celebrated her 50th anniversary.