The Murder of Nell Cropsey
Episode 6: Off to the Supreme Court
The verdict in March of 1902 was immediately appealed on the grounds that Wilcox did not receive a fair trial. The defense contended that the demonstrations, threats of boycott against jurors if they did not return a guilty verdict, the watching of the jurors by citizens, and other general intimidation tactics unduly influenced the jury to find the defendant guilty of first-degree murder. On August 26, 1902 the Supreme Court of North Carolina heard the appeal. In October their decision was announced, and the justices granted a new one on the grounds that Wilcox did not receive a fair trial.
Within a few days an anonymously penned threat was tacked to the county jail wall. It stated: “Get Jim Wilcox out of this jail by Saturday night if you don’t want trouble” and was signed Vox Populi [the voice of the people].
The defense asked for and received a change of venue. The citizens of Elizabeth City felt strongly that the defendant could receive a fair trial in Pasquotank County, but it was decided that the new trial would take place in Hertford, in Perquimans County. Governor Aycock issued an order for a special term of Perquimans County superior court to convene on January 12, 1902 for this second trial.
As the time dragged on, James Wilcox was beginning to show signs of stress. According to a Tar Heel article, he continued “to control his tongue, as he has always done.” The same article said that “He is stubborn and the more he is hounded the more vicious grows his disposition and the more indifferent he becomes to his fate.” The stress was telling on the Wilcox family, as well, and Tom Wilcox presented a bill to the county commissioners for the feeding of his son, something the family had done since his incarceration. The commissioners refused to honor the bill, in spite of their fears that the former sheriff would bring suit against them.
The second trial took place in January 1903. Another Tar Heel article stated, “The change of scene in this great trial has loaned additional interest and phenomenally large are the crowds in attendance…Seated at Aydlett’s elbow was the prisoner James Wilcox and his parents. It was Mrs. Wilcox’ first appearance at court. She is laboring under greatest mental anguish and scarce dares rest her eyes upon the boy for fear of breaking completely down.”
On January 21, 1903, after twenty hours, the verdict came down as murder in the second degree and Judge Council declared the sentence of thirty years in the state penitentiary. The News and Observer summed the case up, “Now that two trials have been concluded, Wilcox is sentenced to a long term in prison as a result of a strong case of circumstantial evidence made by thirty-one circumstances connected link by link and almost everybody here believes him guilty. There is yet about the whole case an element of mystery which perhaps will never be solved.”
~by Debbi Blake
Coming up next — Episode 7: Jim Wilcox-Guilty or Not?
Previously — Episode 5: Conviction
