The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-12-28
The Finding OF the Body.

Especial Dispatch 10 Inc t1llueS.J
NORFOLK, VA, Dec. 27.-The body OF
Miss Ella Maud Cropsey, who disappeared
from the home of her father, Justice
Cropsey, at Elizabeth City, ~. c. at MD
night November 2oth, was found In the
Pasquotanll River in front OIL the Crol'eeS
home this morning.
Two fishermen, Long and Stillman, re-
turning in their boat after a nights nsh-
ing. accidentally discovered the bodyE1or
which hundreds before searched unayal!-
ingly. 1t was floating within ten yards
of the shore quite close to the spot from
which Miss Cropsey was by many pc
lieved to have jumped, and by others pc
lieved to have been thrown into the Pas-
auotank River. The head was floating
highest, and it The fishermen seized, and
making the body fast, towed it ashore.
Coroner Fearing being notified, convened
q; jury of inquest, and for hours the Ju-
rors Investigated the case The body was
but slightly decomposed. and although
the eyes were sunk deep in their sockets
and the face of the once beautiful CIR!
was darkly Drowned. Identification Of the
body as that of the lately-missinG girl
was easy.
NELL WAS DROWNED.
Drs. Wood and Mcmillan, after exam
lining the body, stated to the jury that
death was caused by drowning, and .tha
they found upon the body no mark indi-
eating that violence. used externally or
internally, caused death
Notwithstanding this. Solicitor G. w.
Ward sWore out a warrant for the arrest
of Mr. James Wilcox, Miss Cropsey's ad-
mirer, who was in her company but a
few minutes before she was missed, ana
Deputy Sheriff Reid proceeded to Wilcox $
fathers farm. some ten miles away ar
rested Wilcox and brought him to Eliza
beth City. Wilcox was. at 7:30 O'Clock to-
night. being held to await the result OF
the inquest, which had not then been
announced.
At that hour a great crowd of people
were in front Of the Academy of Music,
and threats of violence toward Wilcox
being made, the Naval Reserves were or
dered out. Excitement ran high in the
town when the body was first discovered,
and in the crowd which gathered about
the body at the water side were hundreds
of women. The excitement increased as
the day passed. and the. people are rag
ing tonight.
LYNCHING FEARED.
It would be no surprise should Wilcox
be lynched. although dispassionate men
say that there has been really no evidence
adduc.ed which connects him with the
girls death. The rubber overshoe Miss
Cronsey wore on the night when she
walked out of her fathers door into in
visibility and silence was upon her foot
when her hodvs was taken from the river.
Stories. magnified in MANY ways. have
emanated from Elizabeth City to-day. but
the conviction that the young woman
after aquarrel with her lover. threw her
self into the river. aprears to be the only
one justified hv to-dav's ssdeve'o-''oents.
IMPENETRABLE MYSTERY.
The mystery so long imneDetra bic. h hoW-
ever. and which 1t was thought the dis
coverv of the hodv would solve, remains
unpierced to this hour.
If Wilcox has a dark secret ne has kent
it. and the river. has not vet divulged it.
Miss &Cropsev's body. has been nlaced in
a vault and will be sent to Brooklyns next
Sunday for interment In Greenwood
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