The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-02-04
WITNESS IN NEW YORK
Man in Utica Knows Nell
Cropsey's Murderer.
Sheriff Wilcox Receives Letter Disclosing Facts
if True, Will Establish Jim Wicox's
Innocence.
Innocence.

| The following story appears in tue
New York Journal of February first. 1t
| appears under big head lines and is
| given a conspicuous place on the front
| page
Elizabeth City, n. January. 81
| Ex-Sherif Wilcox believes he will be
| able to establish the innocence of his
| son, James E. Wilcox, who has twice
| been convicted of the murder of Miss
| Nellie Maude Cropsey.
| A new and important witness has been
| discovered in mysterious person il
| Utica N. Y.
Sheriff Wilcox has received a letter
| from this person which declares that
young Wilcox is innocent of the crime
| for which he has once been sentenced to
death and now to thirty years in Tho
| North Carolina State Prison.
TIL letter gives detailed account Of
how the murder was committed and
names and describes the person who COM
| mitted the crime 1t is in substance as
| follows
"Jim Wilcox left Miss Cropsey on the
| front steps crying, they had engaged
| in quarrel and Jim returned her pho
tograph and parasol and had said some
thing which wounded her feelings she
remained on the steps some time crying,
as she did not want to return to the pa"
| lor and let her sisters and cousins know
| she had been crying.
| DOG LED TO HER SLAYER.
| after she had been out some time and
| was starting into the house the dog be-
| gan to bark and she walked out into
| the front yard to see what the dog was
| barking at The dog led her to a popl u
| tree or high shrubbery, and there shH
found man whom she recognized.
"He was disguised. and she threaten
ed to inform her father of his presence
there at that hour of the night. This
| angered him and he struck her with
stick which he held in his hand
! "He did not intend to kill her AMI
thought that he only stunned her, but.
thinking his punishment would be the
more severe when she recovered, he car
ried her to the river and put her in Il
boat He rowed near a mill not far
away and placed her in deep hole.
| When the search began for her she was
removed to a swamp. and then, after the
big reward was offered. she was put n
the river just where she would be found.
1.-THE man you want is -. (The
name follows)
ANOTHER PERSON KNOWS.
''Ths may not be exactly the way his
name is spelled but is the way it would
| sound if spoken. If there is more than
| one of this name notify me and l will
send his first name.
"There is another person who has
| guilty knowledge after the act, and he
| will expect the reward"
| IotI
| is withheld for reasons, but the American
correspondent has the original letter.
The letter is postmarked at Utica, n.
| Y, January q, at p. m.
| After this letter came into the pos
| session of the correspondence he went
| to the scene of the crime and found that
| all the directions given were correct.
| Mr. Cropsey the father of the muir
dered girl. said today that on December
| a. 1901, three days before his daughter
| body was found in the river, he received
letter from this same person in Utica,
| N. Y. accompanied by diagram which
| showed just HON the body was disposed
| of and informing him that his daughters
| body would be found at a certain p lace
| in the rivcer. On the 9th Of December,
| three days after receiving this letter, the
| body of Miss Cropsey was found at the
exact place mentioned in the letter from
| Utica.
| LETTER POINTS TO THIS MAN.
There is a man in this town whose
| name is almost exactly the same as
| that mentioned in the letter received by
| Sheriff Wilcox He left the Cropsey
| residence on the fatal night twenty
minutes after Wilcox and before Misc
Nellie was missed. Some time after he
went out the dog was heard to bark, and
| it was then that Miss Nellie was missed
| and a search begun.
When they failed to find her parties
| were sent to the Wilcox home. Jim
| was found asleep. He said he had left
Nell on the porch crying.
| The other man was not found until the
| next morning at o'clock, when he was
| found in a neighborhood on the edge of
! town far from the part of the city in
| which he lived. Not long after this he
| went to South Carolina. and did not re-
| turn until he was sent for. The District
| Attorney did not put him on the stand,
| but it is understood he swore to facts
| which would have been detrimental to
| Wilcox's conduct on the night of the MUIR
| der
| WILCOX mas only twenty-five minutes %
account for, while the other man, 1t is
| said on good authority, has from the
| time he left the Cropsey home until he
| was found the next day.
| Wilcoxs attorneys will make strong
plea before the Supreme Court, and start
| ling evidence may be looked for, as it
| is said one person will make sn affida-
| vt that he was offered 81 900 to take the
stand and give evidence which would
| have made it necessary for Wilcox to
| account for fifty-five minutes instead CT
| twenty five.