The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-03-25
I'VE are not here trying Tom Wilcox

are not here trying Tom Wilcox;
he has been my friend for many years.
We are not trying Mrs. Wilcox who has
been i'll in bed: we are not trying jim
Wilcox's beautiful sisters who would per-
haps have given the blood from their
veins to save him."
The speaker referred to Mr.. Bonds al
fusion to the shade of Jim Wilcox and
asked how about the shade Of Nellie Crop
. Sey.
He said Wilcox had too much sense TO
run away because he knew that would be
y strong link when the lead body was
found.
Mr.. Ward took up the Doctors testi-
mony in detail argued that there was no
resisting the conclusion that Nell Crop-
sey was not drowned. He paid an elo-
Guent tribute to DR.. Wood and DR.. Fear
ing.
COMBATS SUICIDE THEORY.
I In combating the suicide theory he
mentioned the fact that Miss Cropsey was
OF joyous temperament; that she was
buOyant that very night in contempla-
ton Of her New York trip; that she
could not get music enough: that she
was dancing about with her sister. with
TO care in her heart. You tell me that
locks like the conduct of a man or wo-
man who contemplated suicide?
Nov if you have come to the concIu-
sion that Miss Crcpsey was murdered.
who did it? ! will answer tina in one
question, who else could have lone it,
who else had the motive, who else had
the opportunity, who else had made a
threat about it, who else could be guilty?''
Mr.. Ward said Ollie Cropsey was the
best witness he had seen on the stand
since he had been practising law. After
describing scenes of the fatal evening
leading up to when Nell was called to the
door, the speaker said:
Nov what became of her after she left
! those steps? Thirty-seven days after Jim
Wilcox called out Nell Cropsey she was
taken from the river seyenty-five feet
from its bank. Who put her there? Only
one man in this court house can tell and
Jim Wilcox is the man. If the trees could
talk, if the wind and the stars could talk
they could tell, but Wilcox is the only
human being who can
The attorney walked over to Wilcox's
chair and shook his long finger in his
face. The lawyer did not name the man
ner in which the deed was done after
Wilcox had gotten the girl alone, but
said the details of the crime were mat
ters OF guess work and opinion. Mr.. Ward
gave a logical review of all the evidence
IN the case.
: He comp1imcnted the people of Eliza
beth City on their actions during all the
celebrated Developments. He threw down
the gauntlet to defense counsel to show
a man in Elizabeth City aside from Will
cox who had not helped with the search.
= The lawyer made q lengthy comparison
between the Wilcox case and CluveriuS
case at Richmond, holding that the evil
depcc is stronger in the Wilcox case than
ia the Cluverius case. And yet he said
this slayer of Lillian Madison was hanged,
and that before he was subjected to a
legal death he had required the minis
ter in attendance to read from the Bible
at a place which indicated a confession.
Mr.. Ward grabbed a Bible near by and
read to the jury the Psalm on whose con
ISOLATION Cluverius had gone to his death.
1t was an impressive scene to see the
prosecuting attorney. with Gods book in
hand standing before the twelve men
who have the keeping of WilcoX's fate
reading from its pages and commenting
on their significance.
ELOQUENT APPEAL TIC CONVICT.
Mr.. Ward made an eloquent appeal for
conviction on the ground that the wo-
tiAIIit' VI bI'iIh Albp &c Io-
tected from the midnight assassin and
said the dere1iction on the part of the
iurieS had lessened proper respect for
courts of justice and had been the cause
of mob violence.
He made a pathetic allusion to one of
the most gratifying features OF the case
by saying the character Of Nell CTopsey
had been pronounced blameless-that she
was as pure as the driven snow OF the
hill top.
Mr.. Wards pcrOration was a plea for a
! Just verdict. He said the daughters %
North Carolina must be protected. He
asked tho jury to inf1ict punishment on
Nell Cropsey's assassin. He told them to
bring a finding Of which it might be said
by the good men of Pasquotank county
and the world, Yours is a righteous YER
diet; you did your duty like men,"
Mr.. Ward spoke about two hours and a
half. The court announced that it was
not adiourning time, but when Mr.. Ayd-
lett said he would prefer not beginning
until after dinner. Judge Jones said a
recess would be had.
POPULAR FEELING SHOWN.
One of the sensations of the trial came
this afternoon in a demonstration Of tie
local feeling against jim Wilcox, and it
was SO pronounced that q blind man
could read the meaning. When Lawyer
Aydlett. leading defense counsel. arose tc
close the case there was much confusion
among the spectators owing to efforts to
vaC2te the court room. Men and women
arose to quit the building and the at
tOrney was forced to pause in his plea
Judge Jones grew stern and his words
caused many to halt AS it was be
tween two hundred and three hundred
) people left the building aud remained
: away during the whole afternoon. This
, is not taken as a d~iScOurtesy to Mr.