SEQUELS: Greek Tragedy

With the clangorous repetition of a pile driver, tragedy has repeatedly battered the family of Dr. Sam Sheppard. Three times in six months the convicted wife killer had followed his relatives to their graves: first his wife Marilyn; then his grandfather-in-law; then his mother, a suicide (TIME. Jan. 17). Last week Dr. Sam, handcuffed to a deputy sheriff, looked on grimly as the body of a fourth relative was lowered into the ground. His father. Dr. Richard A. Sheppard, 64, had died of cancer, virus pneumonia, and a weariness of life.