Zachary Smith Reynolds
Zachary Smith Reynolds was an American amateur aviator and youngest son of millionaire businessman R. J. Reynolds. The son of one of the richest men in the United States at the time, Reynolds was to inherit US$20 million when he turned 28, as established in his father's will.
During the early morning hours of July 6, 1932, Reynolds died of a gunshot wound to the head following a party on the family estate of the Reynolda House. A series of investigations revealed inconsistent testimony from the partygoers and signs of tampering with the crime scene. The death gained sensational media coverage after Reynolds' wife of a few months, Broadway performer Libby Holman, along with Reynolds' friend, Albert "Ab" Walker, were indicted for first-degree murder. The case was eventually dropped due to lack of evidence and at the request of the Reynolds family. Reynolds' death remains unsolved; based on the evidence and testimonies, it is unknown if it was a murder or a suicide.
Multiple films were inspired by the case, including the melodrama film Written on the Wind. Reynolds' siblings donated their shares of his estate to form the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation for the benefit of social causes in North Carolina.
Early life
Zachary Smith Reynoldsalso known as Z. Smith Reynolds or just Smith Reynoldswas born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on November 5, 1911. Smith was the son of R. J. Reynolds, founder of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, and Katharine Smith Reynolds. He was the youngest of four children and was close with his siblings. His sister Nancy remembered him fondly in a 1980 interview: "Smith was my friend. I mean, he was younger than I, but you never felt that way about him because he was so intelligent, and he was so adult in his thinking... He was a very strong character, Smith was."At the time of Smith's birth in 1911, his father was the wealthiest man in the state of North Carolina, and RJR was producing one-fourth of all plug chewing tobacco in the United States. The introduction of the Camel cigarette brand two years later spiked the company's profits. In its first year of production, 425 billion Camel cigarettes were sold, becoming the most popular brand in the U.S. by 1918.
Reynolda Estate
The Reynolds family initially lived in a Queen Anne-style Victorian mansion at 666 West Fifth Street in Winston-Salem, in a neighborhood known as "Millionaire's Row," alongside other members of the family as well as important RJR executives. While living at the mansion, Smith's mother began to design a country estate, the future Reynolda House. Agriculture and country living were very stylish among wealthy Americans during this period; Mrs. Reynolds herself was subscribed to fashionable publications such as Town and Country, Women's Home Companion and Country Life in America.The 1,067-acre estate would be completed in winter of 1917. Its centerpiece was a 64-room mansion, described modestly as a "bungalow" by Smith's parents. The house was four stories tall and divided into a central section with two wings, each attached to the main house at a 20-degree angle. The design and construction of the house took a total of five years: its layout and utilities became complex to meet the needs of the family. The final plan included two kitchens, three dumbwaiters, an elevator, fourteen bathrooms, a telephone in each room and an Aeolian Company pipe organ featuring four keyboards and a pedal footboard. The rugs, curtains and other furnishings were designed and placed to absorb its harsh tones and create a warmer sound. The relatively simple exterior of the "bungalow" betrayed the luxurious interior: the main roomscentral living room, reception hall and dining roomwere decorated with detailed paneling, carved moldings and rosettes, including Corinthian, Doric and Ionic columns, and each public room had a fireplace with a carved-marble mantelpiece.
The main house was complemented by formal gardens, vineyards, a golf course, two tennis courts, an outdoor swimming pool and a man-made lake with a boathouse, called "Lake Katharine." The lake was created by damming the nearby Silas Creek. Its depth was regulated by a spillway that led into an artificial pool with a concrete bottom. Occasionally the lake would be emptied for cleaning by sweeping out the bottom and sides. Adjoining the property was the so-called "Reynolda Village," which was primarily used for housing the estate's staff. The village had its own post office, two churches, two schools and a model farm to exhibit and innovate the latest practices in agriculture, horticulture and livestock production.
The building of the Reynolda estate coincided with the growing wealth of the Reynolds family: RJR experienced a sharp increase in profit after the introduction of the Camel brand, with net profits jumping from US$2.9 million in 1912 to $23.8 million in 1924. In 1922, The Wall Street Journal reported that RJR's net earnings were the highest ever taken in by a tobacco manufacturer in history.
1918-1924
The Reynolds family permanently moved into Reynolda in December 1917. However, R. J. Reynolds had been experiencing illness due to pancreatic cancer earlier in the year. Treatments of the period, including quarantine and the pulling of all his teeth, were unsuccessful. By early 1918, Reynolds was increasingly in pain and bedridden. After a major surgery in Philadelphia, he was brought back to Reynolda and died there on July 29, 1918. Reynolds had written a will beforehand that left each of his four children a trust that they had limited access to until they reached the age of 28.Since its opening, the three youngest children attended the school built for the estate. A year after Reynolds' death, Katharine began courting John Edward Johnston, the school's headmaster, who was about twenty years her junior. On June 11, 1921, Katharine and Johnston married in the living room of the Reynolda House. After honeymooning in Europe, the couple moved to a smaller cabin on the estate, leaving the children in the main bungalow with their governess and other retainers. In early 1924, against doctor's recommendations, Katharine became pregnant at age 44. The pregnancy was difficult, and the couple moved to New York City to have better access to doctors. On May 21, Katharine gave birth to J. Edward Johnston Jr.; however, three days later, she died from complications of the birth when a blood clot traveled to her brain and triggered an embolism.
After Katharine's death, the responsibility of the children's care fell to Johnston and their uncle, William Neal Reynolds. That summer, the two men sent the children on a summer tour of Europe and South America, being something which had already been previously planned by Katharine. Upon returning in the fall, they were each sent to their respective boarding schools, Smith going to Woodberry Forest where his older brother R. J. "Dick" Reynolds, Jr., had previously attended.
Education
Smith spent two years at Woodberry dabbling in various clubs, including the Smokers Club, where he was known as "Camel" Reynolds. While at Woodberry he wrote at least two suicide notes: the notes would be taken out from his papers after his death and shown during the inquest. One note was written as a last will and reads: "LAST WILL. I will my car to Ab , if he finishes it. My money to Dick. My reputation to Virginia. My good looks to Mary P.S. You think I am tite , but I'm not. P.S. Hope you don't feel hurt about this will." The second was written in a scribble on the back of a statement from Finchley, Clothes & Haberdashery, dated June 1927: "My girl has turned me down. Good-bye forever. Give my love to Mary, Virginia, Nancy, Dick, etc. Good-bye cruel world — Smith."Smith's brother Dick dropped out of North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering after two semesters to move to New York City. By this time Smith had switched schools to R. J. Reynolds High School; following lack of success, he followed his brother's lead, dropping out at age 15 to join Dick and work for the newly founded Reynolds Aviation.
Aviation
Smith and his brother Dick were both avid sports aviators. Following the success of Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight in 1927, Dick took on aviation as a business venture, buying the historic Roosevelt Field, along with the nearby Curtiss and Mitchell fields, and founded airlines Reynolds Aviation and Camel City Flying Service. Unofficial family historian W. Noah Reynolds felt that Smith's interest in aviation came from Dick, as "Smith looked up to his older brother and wanted to do what his older brother did." Nancy thought both her brothers "had mechanical, mathematical type of minds." In summer 1926, Smith took his first flying lessons from Lewis S. "Mac" McGinnis, a flying instructor for Curtiss Flying School. The Reynolds brothers would practice takeoffs and landings on the front lawn of the Reynolda bungalow and perform tricks in the air to terrify their sisters Nancy and Mary.Smith eventually dropped out of school to work for Reynolds Aviation and grow as an independent aviator. A classmate at R. J. Reynolds High School, Egbert Davis Jr., recalled that Smith was not interested when Davis invited him to join the local Hi-Y YMCA club: "Smith wanted to spend all his spare time flying." Attesting to his passion, Smith's financial records from 1928 show expenses for a new Waco 10 biplane, pilot's insurance, aviation club memberships, aviation magazines, parachutes and other items. Nancy recalled that Smith and Mary would regularly " a lot of practice barnstorming...They'd go around and have these shows in some farmer's field that he'd mowed up for them." In addition, Smith participated in the local Winston-Salem aviation community: in September 1928, he won an amateur race at the dedication of Winston-Salem's new airport, Miller Field.
On August 1, 1928, at age 16, Smith earned a private pilot's license, attested to by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale and personally signed by Orville Wright. In May 1929 he obtained both his transport pilot's license and mechanic's license; at age 17 he was the youngest person in the country to hold a transport pilot's license. Smith became something of a local hero in Winston-Salem, and was one of North Carolina's most notable sports aviators during the Golden Age of Aviation.