Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-08
Correspondence of the n. Y, Herald
THE DEATH PENALTY.
Shocking Revelations Of Crime and De-
pravity In North CaroIinn-Thos. Dula
Hanged for the Murder of Laura Foster

Shocking Revelations Of Crinae and De-
pravity In North CaroIinn-Thos. Dula
! Hanged for the Murder of Laura Foster
STATEsvnLE, n. c., May l. 1968.-To-
day took place one of the most singular
executions in the annals of crime and under
the most extraordinary circumstances on
record. A terrible crime was perpetrated
and Il trial that has not Its equal even in
the Burdell trial followed The evidence
was entirely circumstantial but at nearly
half-past two Z. M, Thomas Dula suffered
the death penalty; for the murder of Laura
Foster, in the presence of nearly three thou
sand persons of his own race and color.
On the 28th of May, 1866, foul, inhu-
man murder was committed in the western
portion of Wilkes county, in this State, the
victim being Laura Foster, beautiful,
but frail girl, who was decoyed from her
fathers house in Caldwell county to place
in Wilkes known as the Bates Place, and
here brutally murdered. The body was
then removed about half mile from the
scene of the murder, and was placed in a
grave already prepared for it. Late in
August of the same year the body was dis
covered in state of such decomposition
that it was difficult to identify it. There
was a deep gnash in the left breast just
above Abe heart the wound had evidently
been inflicted with large knife or dagger,
causing death instan taneously. It was also
believed that the murdered woman was
enceinte.
The disappearance of Laura excited no
alarm for several days, as it was supposed
she had gone off to get married or to visit
some acquaintance in Watauga county
but at length the opinion became general
that she had been foully dealt with, and
+o1
cess at the time The community in the
vicinity of this tragedy is divided into two
entirely separate and distinct classes. The
one occupying the fertile lands adjacent to
the Yadkin river and its tributaries is educa-
ted and intelligent, and the other, living
on the spurs and ridges of the mountains,
is ignorant, poor and depraved. A state of
morality unexampled in the history of any
country exists among these people, and
such a general system of free-loveism pre-
walls that it is g q wise child that knows its
father" Thisjs the Bates Place, where
the body was discovered by blood marks,
and where some ten or twelve families are
living in the manner described. 1t is
poor country, covered with thickets and a
dense underground, and an attempt had
been made to conceal the blood by cover
ing it with bushes
Soon suspicion attached to Thomas Du-
la, a returned Confederate soldier, and one
Pauline Foster, an illegitimate cousin of
the deceased, and, like her, also frail, as
the guilty parties Pauline was then SER
want to Mrs. Mellon, and between her and
Dula a criminal intimacy was known to
exist, as also was the case between the de-
ceased and Dula and hence suspicion more
particularly to the culprit because Pauline
had mysteriously disappeared for time
after the murder. Her character was the
most abandoned of all, and under the in.
fuence of brandy she admitted, when ask
ed, that Tom Dula and me killed Laura"
but apparently recollecting herself, would
make no further revelations. A day sub
sequent to this Pauline, when eliminated
by Mrs MELONS, confirmed the above
statement, and she was arrested and con-
fined in the Jail of Wilkes county. Here
she made confession terminating Mrs.
Mellon, who, she alleged, was jealous OF
Laura, and she guided party to the place
where the body was discovered.
Meantime Dula had fed the country, but
was pursued and arrested in Tennessee,
where he was found under an assumed
name. He was then lodged in Jail upon
the evidence Of Pauline, as was also Mrs.
Mellon as accessory before the fact. True
bills were found against both by the Grand
Jury VI HAlhCc, OuU uEOA bLAItafAU VI CAO
prisoners the trial was removed to Iredell
county.
The most intense interest was manifest
ed in this trial, which lasted several days,
by the people here and of the surrounding
counties. Nearly all the people on the
Bates Place were examined, and the most
extraordinary revelations of depraved NOR
atty were developed. Wilson Foster. the
father of the deceased, testified that when
he arose on the morning of Lauras disap-
pearance his horse was also gone; that he
traced the animal to the Bates Place; that
he knew the track by popularity in one
of the hoofs. He never saw his daughter
alive again, but he saw and recognized her
body; knew that Dula had been in the
habit of visiting his daughter, and had seen
them in bed together, and that they had
two private conversations on tho Monday
and Wednesday respectively preceding her
disappearance. Further testimony went
to show that Laura and Dula were both