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