The daily times., 1921-09-08
WHITLEY WOMAN
CONFESSES KILLING
OF Her HUSBAND
WHILE ASLEEP
Thomas Hayes, Her Lover and
Wright Rouse, a Conjure
Doctor, Are All Implicated.
Woman Bought Automobile
and Refused to Allow Her
Husband to Ride In 1t.

Raleigh, n. c.. Sept S--The wo-
man in the case broke under the
piling weight Of suspicion against
her and the State faces the trial OF
Mrs Sarah Whitley, Thomas Hayes,
her lover, and Wright Rouse, ne
gro conjure doctor, ali of Greene
county, for the murder of Mrs. Whit
ley's husband, Will Whitley. Mrs
Whitley's confession was followed by
that of Hayes and Rouse.
More than a month of silence was
too much for Mrs. Whitley, and at
O'Clock last Saturday morning she
bI oke under the strain and told her
story to the guard that had watched
her in silence for twelve hours The
story of the killing of her husband,
and later the story Of her confession,
has come by piece meal from Greene
county, but yesterday, F. L. Rouse,
the magistrate who committed her to
Jail, brought the full detail of the
tragedy to Raleigh.
Three months Will elapse before
the woman, her alleged lover and
and the old negro con-
jure doctor are brought to judgment,
but in the eyes OF every man in
Greene county, they are already pro-
nounced guilty, declares Mr. Rouse.
She has confessed the conspiracy, her
alleged lover has confessed, and the
old negro has confessed, and their
stories agree in every detail, Mr..
Rouse said.
Whitley was a wealthy and re-
spected farmer, married twenty years
to his first cousin, Sarah Whitley,
years the neighborhood had suspect
ed her of infidelity, and of late she
had been much in the company of
Thomas Hayes, a man of %, with a
is 81 and has three sons, the Oldest
IT. She has lived not happily with
her husband, says Mr.. Rouse, and
last Spring she and Hayes were ar
i raigned in court on a charge of i'm
morality and acquitted.
DOmestic infe1icity was intensified
a few months since when Whitley de-
clined to buy an automobile for his
wife. She bought it anyhow, and
since then she and Hayes are said to
have spent much time riding about
at night. Her husband and oldest
son were never Permitted to ride in
the car. Finally the husband was
shot to death as he lay asleep at his
tobacco barn. The coroner was un-
able to develop a clue, although the
eHSire community suspected the wife
and Hayes of guilty knowledge.
! Suspicion grew, and last Friday af-
ternoon the case was reopened, and
the woman arrested. The Jail was
full, and with deputy to watch ov-
er her, she was closely confined in q
room at the hotel in Snow Hill. AT
ter sleepless night she turned tc
the deputy with What do you reck-
on they'd do to me if l was to tell al
1 know about it?' That was the be.
ginning of full and complete con
fession. Hayes was arrested and the
old negro Confined separately they
confessed, and comparison of Their
stories in magistrates court tailed
them in every detail.
1t was about the middle of July
that the woman, Hayes, and her two
smaller boys drove 5 miles to the
house of old Wright Rouse, negro
conjure doctor, and asked him tt
throw a spelF' over Whitley He de
clined but finally gave her something
which he said would kill her HUSBAND
if she put it in his coffee. Hes too
wise to take tive tried it before,
she is said to have answered
A week past-so ran the three con
; fessions-and the pair returned t.
the old negro, They offered him $50,
; Continued on page 81