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.