Letha Swisher
Telephone operator at the C. & P. exchange in Berryville, from Capon Bridge, who died in a Richmond hospital in February 1922 after going there for an operation.
What the sources support
The Clarke Courier of January 12, 1922 reports that Miss Letha Swisher, one of Berryville's telephone operators, would go to Richmond for an operation at St. Luke's Hospital. Its issue of February 2, 1922 reports that she, an operator of the C. & P. Telephone exchange at Berryville, had died the day before at a Richmond hospital where she had gone for the removal of a goiter, the message not saying whether before or after the operation, and that she had come to Berryville from Capon Bridge, where her mother lived.
See the source and its limits
The Clarke Courier of January 12, 1922 reports that Miss Letha Swisher, one of Berryville's telephone operators, would go to Richmond for an operation at St. Luke's Hospital. Its issue of February 2, 1922 reports that she, an operator of the C. & P. Telephone exchange at Berryville, had died the day before at a Richmond hospital where she had gone for the removal of a goiter, the message not saying whether before or after the operation, and that she had come to Berryville from Capon Bridge, where her mother lived.
What the source supports
That Letha Swisher, a Berryville telephone operator, died in a Richmond hospital, as reported on February 2, 1922.
Uncertainty
Read from uncorrected OCR, not from the page image. The February item prints her given name "Lcthia." Reading the two items as one woman rests on the matching surname, work and operation. Her mother has no record here.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The January 12, 1922 item.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., January 12, 1922
Clarke Courier · 1922-01-12 (publication)
Locator: Page 4, item "To Be Operated Upon"
Relevant passageTO BE OPERATED UPON Miss Letha Swisher, one of the most popular and* most accommodating of the Berryville “hello’ ^girls, will go to Richmond this week where she will undergo ar [an] operation at St. Luke’s Hospital
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The February 2, 1922 report.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., February 2, 1922
Clarke Courier · 1922-02-02 (publication)
Locator: Page 4, report of the death of a Berryville telephone operator
Relevant passageA message was received in Berryville late yesterday that ;Miss Lcthia Swisher, one of the j operators of the C. & P. Tele j phone exchange at Berryville. had died at 3:15 o’clock at a Ricli i mond [Richmond] hospital wherg, she had 'gone same days ago for opera |tion for the removal of a gortcr [goiter] I on her neck. The message did j not state whether she died after or before the operation. Miss Swisher came to Berry ville from Capon Bridge, where her mother resides.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-16. How this project checks its sources
Also indexed as: Miss Letha Swisher; Miss Lcthia Swisher. Life dates that aren't known aren't guessed at here.
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