Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1903-02-11
WHO MuaDEaEO NElLle caopsEYa
A Letter from New York Says Another aian
than Wilcox Struck the Fatal Blow.

II
Aspecial to Che Baltimore Sun from
Elizabeth City, N. c., under date of Feb.
ruary list, says:
Ex-Sherif Wilcox believes he will be
able to Establish the innonce of his son,
Jas. E. Wilcox, who has twice been con-
yicted of the murder of Miss Nellie Maud
] Cropsey. 1t is stated that q new and inn
portant witness has been discovered
through mysterious person in Utica,
N. Y. Sheriff Wilcox has received let.
ter from this person which declares that
young Wilcox is innocent cf the crime
for which he has once been sentenced to
death and now to thirty years in the
North Carolina State prison. The letter
gives detailed account of how the MUIR
der was committed and names and de-
scribes the person who committed the
crime. 1t is in substance as follows: s
Jim Wilcox left Miss Cropsey on the
front steps crying, as they had engaged
in a quarrel and Jim returned her photo
graph and parasol and said something
which wounded her feelings. She re-
manned on, the steps some time crying, as
she did not want to return to the parlor
and let her sisters and cousins know she
some time and was starting into the
| house, the dog began to bark, and she
| walked out into the front yard to see
what the dog was barking at. The dog
| led her to a poplar tree or high shrub
berry, and there she found man whom
she recognized. He was disguised and
she threatened to infol m 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,
and thought that he only stunned her,
but thinking his punishment would only
be the more severe when she recovered,
he carried her to the river and put her,
in 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 swamp, and then after>the
big reward was offered she was put in
the river just where she would be found.
"rhe man you want is ---. (The
name follows.)
This may not be exactly the way his
name is spelled, but it is tho way it
would sound if spoken. If there is more
than one of this name, notify me and 1
will send bis first name.
There is another person who has
guilty knowledge after the act, and he
will expect the reward"
The name of the writer of the letter is
withheld. The letter is postmarked at
Utica, N. Y, January 27, at p. m.
Mr.. CrOpsey, the father of the mur-
dered girl, is reported to have said that
on December "a, 1901, three days before
his daughters body was found in the
river, he received letter from this same
person in Utica, N. Y, accompanied by
a diagram which showed just how the
body was disposed of, aud Informing him
that his daughters body would be found
at certain place in the river. On the
9th of December, three days after re-
ceiving this letter, the body of Miss
Cropsey was found at the exact place
mentioned in the letter from Utica.
There is 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 90 minutes
after Wilcox, and before Miss 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.
were sent to the Wilcox home. "Jim"
was found asleep. He said he had left
her on the porch crying.