Nell Cropsey #15

   The next day, it was Ollie’s turn to tell her side of the story.  She told of how her family came to be there and of their time there, and also of how she fell asleep and woke up to dogs barking and her father yelling finding her sister no longer there.  When Cale Parker testified, all he said was that he saw a man and a woman of about the same height with another man walking behind them in front of the Cropsey house.  However, the man had changed this story so many times, no one quite believed him.  The case seemed to be somewhat unfair because no one had a favorable word about Jim.  The evidence didn’t seem to analyzed enough either because nobody believed Jim’s story and no one thought to see if he was telling the truth.  (pg. 150; Simpson)  When it was Jim’s turn, “…he would not take the stand in his own defense.”  (pg. 151; Simpson)  Jim now thinks of suicide because, in the words of Jim, “People don’t want me around.”  (pg. 151; Simpson) 
   “When lawyer Aydlett gave his defense, three hundred people stood en masse and marched out of the courtroom by design.  The word had been passed—there would be a walkout to break the force of his argument.”  (pg.152; Simpson)  This made the trial especially unfair, however Jim showed no change of expression.  When he got the chance, Aydlett had a strong defense for Jim, but the jury still found him guilty of murder in the first degree.  Jim was never lynched, but instead in 1934, Jim Wilcox committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a shotgun.  Two weeks before Jim shot himself, he told W.O Saunders who killed Nell, but only after he made him promise he would not tell anyone.  W.O. Saunders went to the grave knowing who killed Nell, and never told a soul.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=78417550

Nell Cropsey #14

  W.O. Saunders wanted to write a book about the case with Jim, and when he finally said yes, he changed his mind and did not go to meet Saunders.  After Jim said everyone was waiting for him to say he killed Nell, and he was not going to say that, Saunders left him alone.  The day of the trial, “…the court room was filled to suffocation.”  (pg. 139; Simpson)  Doctor Ike was the first witness, and Jim’s lawyer, Aydlett, objected to almost everything Ike said.  Later, Aydlett questioned Ike and proved against a lot of what Ike had said.  Aydlett attempted to confuse Ike, who had at first said she had drowned, then said she had not, and now Aydlett proved that should not be totally ruled out.  He also said no other coroner would think of making a conclusion about a body that had been in the water as long as Nell’s, trying to discredit his findings.  Saunders said, “About that blow to the temple.  While most of the blood in a dead body decomposes, some blood will always settle in the lowest, most dependent point of the body.  If Nell Cropsey had been lying on the river bottom with her left temple at the lowest point, she would have ended up with a bruise there, exactly like the one she had.”  (pg. 144; Simpson)  They have also said it could be too late to be able to tell if she had drowned or not.  This makes the real cause of death uncertain.

Nell Cropsey #13

   Their father was mad because he thought the report had been too easy on Jim.  “The evidence was strong against him, but it was still hard to believe he would hurt Nell.  That he would kill her.”  (pg. 123; Simpson)  He asked the Committee to take care of her funeral because it would be too hard on them, and he also saved Jim when a group came to tell him they were going to lynch him, as he told them not to.  Jim did not attend the funeral, and when the minister said he believed Jim innocent the crowd disapproved and began whispering about it, however, they never did disrupt the service.  Jim had to remain in jail because if he did not, the town would surely lynch him.  On December 30^th, the Pasquotank Rifles were released to go home after two-and-a-half-days. 
   Judge Andrew Cropsey took Nell’s body back to Brooklyn to bury her among her family; she was buried right next to her baby brother in the reopened grave.  Judge Andrew thinks Nell was held captive until three days before her body was found, and when they tried to return her they could not.  At this, they killed her and threw her into the river.
   W.O. Saunders finally got a job for the paper; covering the Wilcox trial Dispatch.  This trial was set for March to let the town settle down a bit, and Jim was pled not guilty.  The jury was made up of 10 Democrats and 2 black Republicans; Jim was a Republican.

Nell Cropsey #12

   Two more physicians helped Doctor Ike with the autopsy, and there was a six-man jury there as well.  A whole crowd had joined in front of the barn and watched as they stripped her naked for the autopsy.  Adolescent boys and men stood and stared at their first naked woman, even though she was dead.  There were no external injuries except a knot on her temple, and no water in her lungs or stomach.  There was no blood found in either chamber of her heart, and she was also a virgin; this quieted the towns talk about her being pregnant and having the right to be dead. 
   Deputy Reid went to go get Jim, who had been staying with Kelly Tillet and his wife and baby.  He did not want to go back to the city because he knew the town “had it in for him.”  (pg. 115; Simpson) 
After lunch, the coroner came back and opened up her head.  “When his scalpel struck her left temple, about a tablespoon of thick, black blood oozed out.”  (pg. 116; Simpson)  After removing her scalp, they found a bruise slightly larger than a silver dollar. 
   There were so many threats against Jim, the Third Division, Naval Battalion, and North Carolina State Guard were ordered to stand guard at the jail where Jim was (also known as the Pasquotank Rifles).  Many untrue rumors were spreading through the town about Nell Cropsey’s case and what condition her body was in.  The verdict of the jury was announced the morning after her death, and it said that “Ella M. Cropsey came to her death by being stricken a blow on the left temple and by being drowned in the Pasquotank River.”  (pg. 120; Simpson)  They also mentioned Jim’s name in the verdict, which worked up the whole town confirming their thoughts that he murdered Nell.

Nell Cropsey #11

   A man named Cale Parker was by the Cropsey’s house the night Nell disappeared, and claims to have seen a man and a woman of about the same height walking and another man a little way behind them.  This could’ve been around the time of her disappearance, or it may not have been, but this could be an important part in the mystery.  Ollie said Jim was awful acting the day before Carrie and Nell left for New York.  He popped Ollie hard on the back saying how “nice” she was and then rubbed soot on her and Carrie’s face, and then ran out the back door.  He came back around eight or eight-thirty, and Ollie said, “Jim was stiff and cold and gruff all night.”  (pg.101; Simpson)  Carrie finally said something to him, and they had a conversation about death.  Nell said, “Well, I wouldn’t want to drown and have all my hair fall out of its crimps.  I’d want to freeze—that’s about the easiest way to die.”  (pg. 102; Simpson)  Drowning may or may not have been the way Nell died.  At about eleven o’ clock, Jim got up to leave and asked to see Nell outside for a minute.  Around eleven-thirty, Jim met Len Owens on the street.
   On December 27^th, 1901, two fishermen found Nell Cropsey’s body face down in the river.  Poor Ollie half blames herself for Nell’s death because she told Nellie she could go talk with Jim that night.  “She seemed amazingly well preserved, only a bit swollen and her skin slightly tainted from so much time in the dark juniper water.”  (pg. 111; Simpson)  The autopsy was completed in the Cropsey’s barn behind the house.

https://www.dailyadvance.com/features/annual-ghost-walk-celebrates-story-nell-cropsey-708735

Nell Cropsey #10

   One of America’s most famous evangelists, George Rutledge Stuart, came to Elizabeth City and spoke to the people about drinking.  After he left, Nell told Jim she wanted him go to church with her and she wanted him to stop drinking.  Jim was not a drunkard then, and this caused them to fight terribly.  He became a drunkard after he got back from prison and people constantly talked bad about him behind his back.  Regarding church, Jim said, “I tried going once when I come back from prison and people wouldn’t even sit in the same pew with me.  If that’s Christianity I didn’t want none of it.”  (pg. 91; Simpson) 
In October of 1901, a circus came to town, and Jim bought two tickets for Carrie and Nell even though he couldn’t attend.  Their father had bought a ticket for Ollie, and so the three of them went to see the circus. 
   One of the reasons Nell and Jim fought was the prohibition of alcohol; Jim was a Republican and Nell was a Democrat.  Another reason was Nell was simply tired of Jim, and getting attention from the sheriff’s son.  When the circus came, she became a little friendlier with Jim again.  One day in November, Nell told Jim sharply to hurry up as he was leaving.  After that, she never saw him to the door again.  Ollie thinks Jim took Carrie out just to spite Nell.  When they came back, Jim brought them some fruit and Nell asked for an apple.  When she found out Jim bought them, she refused to eat it which made Jim really mad.  They also teased Jim behind his back about being short, and little did they know he heard them. (pg. 97; Simpson)  This happened soon before the night Nell disappeared.

Nell Cropsey #9

   Jim was named after his relative James Wilcox.  Jim’s lawyer for the case with Nell was the same one who defended James in his case.  James killing John Brothers, out of what James said was self-defense, gave Jim a bad name in his case; “People talked about bad blood in a family…”  (pg. 82; Simpson)  According to Ollie, the first Christmas they were in Pasquotank, “…Jim gave Nell a dish with a silver frame and handle.  The second Christmas he gave her a gold pin with a red jewel of some sort set in it.”  (pg. 82; Simpson)  During the summer of 1900, the Cropseys stayed down at the Outer Banks where Jim came to see Nell once a week and gave her a ring that had her initials on the inside; he gave it to her on her birthday.  The book then adds in a couple of pages saying Nell’s father became the largest truck farmer in the Albemarle after moving down and renting sixty-five acres from John Fearing.  When Jim and Nell started becoming sour towards each other, Mrs. Cropsey told Andrew Cropsey, Nell’s uncle, that “…she was becoming fearful of him and that she had forebodings that he would harm Nell someday.”  (pg.  86; Simpson)

Nell Cropsey #8

   The Cropseys moved to Elizabeth City because their father read a pamphlet about the farming and trade there.  Everyone was against the move except Mister Cropsey and their Uncle Andrew.  They moved there and Mister Cropsey became a very successful truck farmer.  Around the time they moved there, Elizabeth City was evolving and becoming a place of trade.  Jim is telling some of his past and said he and Nell met in ’98 soon after they moved there.  They went to all the shows that came through town and went sailing a lot, but only alone twice.  When the Cropseys moved into their house, they all used to go swimming right out in front.  Jim said, “I wish old man Cropsey had come out and told all he knew.  I told Johnny Tuttle I’d like to get the old man out in a boat and tell him if he didn’t explain to me what happened with Nell that night I’d put a blowtorch to his feet.”  (pg. 79; Simpson)  When Will Cropsey, the younger brother, heard Jim was out of prison, he poisoned himself; Roy Crawford went crazy and shot himself while Jim was in prison.

Nell Cropsey #7

   The Cropsey’s are frequently bothered with false sightings of Nell Cropsey.  Many have come to them claiming they have seen or spoken with her, when in fact, they had been wrong.  Nell’s father leaned more towards thinking she was dead, and that if she was dead, Jim’s “..hand or the hand of his hireling is responsible for her death.”  (pg. 61; Simpson)  Jim was becoming tired of being questioned by the towns’ people and reporters.  They questioned by asking “Where you keeping her, Jim?” and “What’ve you done with Nell Cropsey?”  (pg. 65; Simpson)  He answered with remarks like “Ask the Committee.  They seem to know everything.”  It had been a month since Nell first went missing, and while dragging the river they found “a piece of dress goods.”  (pg. 66; Simpson)  This led them to really believe she was dead and in the Pasquotank River.  W.O Saunders wasn’t a reporter for the case yet, but hearing about it interested him, and he kept up with the news.  He heard of a report of a white skiff being in front of the house that could have carried Nell away, but also a second report saying a man saw nothing odd happening that night.  However, another man Len Owens also says he saw a skiff go by the Cropsey house and into the bushes.  “The river dragging was abandoned, the diver was sent home, the reports and letters from hither and yon proved false or inconclusive.”  (pg. 69; Simpson)

Nell Cropsey #6

W.O. Saunders

    Jim goes in for a second hearing and is questioned about why he does not look for her.  He says if he did, and found her, everyone would say it was because he knew where she was all along and would still be blamed.  After not receiving answers from Jim, the Committee called in a spiritualist named Madam Snell Newman.  She told them Nell “...was chloroformed, wrapped in a big blanket, placed in a Dayton wagon, and driven back into the country where she was killed and thrown into a deep well by an old house...” (pg. 49; Simpson)  This was said to have been done by Jim and accomplice, and the committee went out and searched but found nothing.  Then an expert diver by the name of John Edwards was called in to search the Pasquotank River, but again turned up with nothing.  W.O Saunders is an editor who lived in Hertford and had heard all about Nell Cropsey.  He tried to figure it out, but had little luck, and heard about sightings that turned up as nothing as well.

Nell Cropsey #5

   On the night of November 23^rd, they held a town meeting in the theater, or the Academy of Music.  They decide to make a citizens’ committee, with Harry Greenleaf as their leader, and they raised $230 dollars that night to fund it.  (pg. 39 and 40; Simpson)  From this broke off a smaller committee, the Committee of Five, who began investigating Nell Cropsey’s disappearance.  Carrie Cropsey, cousin of Nell, and Nell were supposed to be going north to Carrie’s father’s place.  Judge Andrew Cropsey said, “She’d never consent an elopement, nor would she take her own life.”  (pg. 41; Simpson)  He leans more towards accusing Jim, as do the other Cropsey’s.  They are all afraid of him, including Caroline, a younger sister, who was only a few years old when Jim and Nell courted.  When she heard of Jim being released, Caroline insisted to her husband that they must take their family and move away.  (pg. 44; Simpson)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS6m_WLmhEs

Nell Cropsey #4

The Cropsey House (Seven Pines)

   The book now jumps ahead to 1918 when Jim Wilcox is finally released from the prison farm.  Four newspapermen pester him as soon as he steps foot off the train in Raleigh, asking
-How’s it feel?
–What’d you tell the governor?
-Going home for Christmas?  (pg.  29; Simpson) 

   He had started out at a prison, but with such a perfect record they soon sent him to a prison farm in the mountains.  He was released after overcoming TB; he received help from Captain Peoples, and they both wrote the governor who then sent a pardon.  Jim takes a train back to Elizabeth City on Christmas Eve, where he met his sisters, Sadie and Annie May.  (pg. 34; Simpson)  Deputy Reid is hired by the Wilcox’s to help out Jim.  He and Jim got to the Cropsey home and have Ollie and Jim tell exactly what happened that night, but the Cropseys still don’t believe Jim is innocent.

Nell Cropsey #3

   After the dogs became confused from all the people around and their smells mixing with Nell’s, they quit using them and decided to drag the river.  Jim did not work on the drag boats; instead he stayed ashore with the rest of the town watching and being watched.  Many times things were brought up from the river, but they only brought up trash like “…muck-covered stump or cast off debris from the mills.”   (pg. 28; Simpson)  They also tried to raise her body using percussion, but that didn’t work either.

Nell Cropsey #2

    Jim worked at a shipyard and dry-dock outfits called Hayman’s Marine Railways.  He was only 5’2”, but Hayman said he was a hard worker.  Elizabeth City was booming after the railway was extended and they had more trade.  Chief Dawson had called a detective in who they called Hurricane Branch.  He came in on a train on November 22^nd along with his bloodhounds, and the whole town gathered as they walked “…through the heart of the river town.” (pg.21; Simpson)  Branch let his dogs smell Nell’s shoes and socks, and let them search, starting at the Cropsey house, several times all ending up on the dock reaching out into the Pasquotank River.  Nearly the whole town was there to watch except Jim Wilcox.

Nell Cropsey #1

   The first two chapters of the novel introduce two main characters, Nell Cropsey and her boyfriend, Jim Wilcox.  This true story occurred in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, in November of 1901.  Nell Cropsey has turned up missing, and the cops and Cropsey family are questioning Jim Wilcox because he was the last to see her. (pg. 8; Simpson) The whole town is talking about the mystery.  Some say Jim Wilcox is responsible, some think it might have been a robber who kidnapped her, or she ran away, or maybe she was in trouble and drowned herself.  It turns out Nell had quit talking to Jim, and he left her on her front porch crying the night she went missing.

    Ollie Cropsey, twenty years of age, tells all she knows of what happened the night her younger sister disappeared.  Ollie said that around eleven o’ clock the night of November 20^th, Jim Wilcox was leaving their house and asked to talk to Nell.  Ollie sat in the dining room with her caller, Roy Crawford, and let them have their privacy because Jim and Nell hadn’t been on speaking terms in a while. (pg. 11; Simpson) Around 11:35, Roy left and Ollie didn’t see Jim anymore or Nell, and fell asleep in her bed.  In the middle of the night her father found Nell wasn’t there and Chief Dawson came to help look for Nell.  They did not find her that night, and Jim was arrested and released twice after a hearing and only saying he left her crying on the porch.  (pg. 18; Simpson)