Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-03-27

Elizabeth City, n. c., March %
After having been out thirty hours the
jury in the case of James Wilcox,
charged with the murder of Nellie
Cropsey, last night rendered a verdict
of guilty in the first degree. When
the verdict had been received the
Judge said:
1T is sadder for me than you, Will
cox. The jury found the facts; l gave
the law. You have had fair trial A
part of the public was afraid to give
it to you. | am informed that the
movement in the courthouse here Fri
day when the crowd marched out
was pre-arranged. | hope such was
not the case. If it was true, and the
offenders were brought before me
would send every man, woman and
child to Jail for contempt. | hope it
did not influence you, gentlemen, in
the least. The judgment of the court
is that the prisoner be removed to
the Jail and be hanged by the neck
until dead, April 25."
The counsel for the defense will ap-
peal to the supreme court.
Nellie Cropsey's disappearance last
fall created intense excitement all
over the country. 1t was some weeks
later that her body was found in the
river which flows past the home of her
parents. Her sweetheart, James Will
cox, who was the last man seen with
her, apparently took no interest in the
search for her and his Indifference
led to his arrest He has lain in Jail
ever since, and has continued TO mani
fest the same Indifference he showed
on the night of his sweethearts dis
appearance.
Theories innumerable have been ad-
vanced, one being that Nellie commit
ted suicide, and the other that she
was murdered by Wilcox or by some
one he secured to commit the crime.
Wilcox, with others, was at the
Cropsey home on the night Of the dis
appearance. The girl had been
"plaguing" him and seemed to care
little about him. At 1905 he left the
room and called her to follow him.
She did so, and never returned.
At 1880 her sister Olive saw Roy
Crawford to the door expecting to find
Wilcox and Ella there, but as they
were not, Olive says she supposed her
sister had gone to bed, so went up
stairs herself. Not finding Ella there
she concluded that instead of going
onto the veranda with Wilcox, when
she left the dining room at his call she
went with him into the front parlor
She then went to bed. The girls
roomed together, but Olive says she
was not uneasy about her sister until
1870 o'clock, when she arose and call
ing another sister, went downstairs.
Ella was not in the parlor, on the
veranda or anywhere else they could
see, and it was then that the alarm
was given and the search commenced,
just two hours after she left the house
1t was o'clock when the house of
Wilcox was visited by the chief of po-
lice. He said he had been home and
in bed since Ills. 1t later developed
lhdI nc lIcu hoE SpohS1 W HcI
the evening except when calling her to
follow him.
He did not visit the house but once
since Elias disappearance, and then
he was taken there by the chief Or po-
lice to be questioned in the presence
of the family. He did not in any way
join in the search for the girl He
was an associate of several bad charac-
ters, and by no means popular in the
community.
1t is said that although ne lived
under the same roof with his parents
he has not exchanged a word with
his father, the ex-sheriff, in the last
three years. He sreiterates the state
ment that he called Ella to the door
for the purpose of returning to her her
photograph, which she had given him
That after doing this and saying good
night to her she burst into tears, mad
he then left her Tying and went
straight home.