The Mysterious Case Of Nell Cropsey

Brief Case

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Transcript

00:08Today we are looking at a case from the start of the 20th century.

00:12So sit back as we go to the USA.

00:18Nell Cropsey was born in New York in 1882.

00:21She was a third of nine children born to William Hardy Cropsey and his wife Mary Louise.

00:27She spent her childhood in the city that was changing rapidly.

00:30New York was crowded and busy with horse-drawn streetcars, wagons and carriages filling the avenues.

00:36While factories and workshops provided employment for thousands of families,

00:41electricity was beginning to appear but gas lamps still provided most of the lighting

00:46and most homes had no modern conveniences.

00:49For working-class children, life could be demanding with household chores expected from an early age

00:54and many leaving school in their early teens to find work.

00:58By the 1890s, New York was becoming an even larger and more modern city.

01:03The elevated railways carried passengers above the streets,

01:06department stores and theatres attracted growing crowds,

01:10and new immigrants continued to arrive from Europe.

01:13Yet life depended greatly on the family's circumstances.

01:16Some children grew up in cramped tenements,

01:19where several families might share limited space,

01:21while others like Nell lived in a comfortable home.

01:24In 1898, however, the family left the busy life in New York

01:29and moved to Elizabeth City in North Carolina.

01:32Elizabeth City was very different to the busy metropolis of New York.

01:36It was a small but busy place of roughly 6,000 people

01:40and stood on the Pasquitank River,

01:42which was central to the city's life,

01:44with steamboats carrying passengers and agricultural produce,

01:47while lumber, tobacco, cotton and other goods were traded through the waterfront.

01:52By now, Nell was 16 years old,

01:54and started to attract attention of some of the young men in the town.

01:58One of them was Jim Wilcox.

02:00He was clearly taken with her,

02:02and before long, the two were spending more and more time together.

02:05Their relationship developed into a proper courtship,

02:08and Jim and Nell were often seen together around Elizabeth City.

02:11By 1901, they had been courting for around three years,

02:15but Jim had still not proposed.

02:17He worked in a mill,

02:19but was mindful of his father's financial downturn,

02:21so was determined to establish himself

02:23through a correspondence law course and hard work,

02:26and was hesitant when anyone spoke of him and Nell getting married.

02:30Nell, however, continued to attract attention from other young men,

02:33and although she never officially became involved with anyone else,

02:37she did allow some of them to believe

02:38that she may consider them as a potential suitor.

02:41This very much annoyed Jim,

02:43and the couple began to argue quite frequently.

02:46Elizabeth City was a small place

02:48where people tended to know one another's business,

02:50and word of Jim and Nell's quarrels began to spread.

02:53Before long, their troubled relationship

02:55had become a topic of local conversation.

02:59On the evening of November 20th, 1901,

03:03Jim visited Nell at her family home.

03:05The Cropsies lived in a large house

03:07on a 65-acre farm beside the Pasquotank River.

03:11Also there that evening was Nell's cousin,

03:14named Carrie Cropsey,

03:15who was visiting from New York,

03:17as well as Nell's sister Ollie,

03:19who was spending the evening with her own suitor,

03:21a young man named Roy Crawford.

03:24Jim had been a regular visitor at the house,

03:26but over the previous few weeks he had not been there.

03:29The evening was an unusual one.

03:31Jim was very quiet,

03:32and he and Nell barely spoke.

03:34Roy Crawford also behaved somewhat strangely,

03:37paying Nell several compliments,

03:39even though Nell's sister Ollie,

03:41who was being courted by Roy,

03:42was in the same room.

03:44Around 11pm,

03:45Jim asked to speak with Nell privately,

03:47and the two stepped out onto the front porch.

03:50Shortly afterwards,

03:52the household began preparing for beds,

03:54and Roy Crawford departed,

03:56passing both Nell and Jim as he left the property.

03:58When Nell's sister Ollie went upstairs to the bedroom they shared,

04:02she noticed Nell's bed was empty.

04:04This however did not concern her,

04:06as she presumed that her sister was still talking with Jim outside.

04:09Around midnight,

04:11a sudden commotion broke out in the backyard.

04:14Fearing that someone was trying to steal his pigs,

04:16Justice William Hardy Cropsey grabbed his rifle,

04:19and rushed towards the door.

04:21Before he could investigate further,

04:23Ollie called out to warn him that Nell had not come back inside,

04:26and might still be out in the yard with Jim,

04:28Justice William Hardy Cropsey searched the immediate grounds,

04:32but neither Nell or Jim could be found,

04:34and the family became quite concerned.

04:36After conducting a thorough search of the premises on their own,

04:40Justice Cropsey contacted the local police,

04:42and at around 3am,

04:44accompanied Police Chief Dawson to the Wilcox home,

04:47where they confronted Jim.

04:48He told the two men that he had left Nell on the porch at around 11.15.

04:52Not convinced by his answers,

04:54Police Chief Dawson took Jim Wilcox back to the Cropsey house,

04:58where the young man repeated his story to Nell's weeping mother.

05:02Despite both Justice Cropsey and Police Chief Dawson

05:06trying to get Jim to give them more answers,

05:08he refused to say any more,

05:10only that Nell was crying when he left.

05:13Unconvinced by his explanation,

05:15Police Chief Dawson placed Jim under arrest.

05:17An extensive and frantic community search immediately followed,

05:20which involved the use of bloodhounds,

05:23dragging the nearby river,

05:24and inspecting over 100 local homes.

05:27Despite these exhaustive efforts,

05:2919-year-old Nell Cropsey remained missing,

05:32and there was no sign of where she had gone.

05:36Over the next few days,

05:38the search continued,

05:39while gossip and rumours spread throughout Elizabeth City.

05:42With no explanation of how she went missing,

05:45people began speculating about what might have happened.

05:48By now,

05:49the news of Nell's disappearance had spread beyond North Carolina,

05:52and somehow seemed to have reached all the nearby states.

05:56Rumours circulated that she had been seen in Plymouth,

05:59Norfolk,

06:00McKay's Ferry,

06:01and Goosenest,

06:02but all proved to be false.

06:04There was even an apparent sighting in Baltimore,

06:07but again it came to nothing.

06:08As the days and weeks passed,

06:10more claimed sightings of Nell surfaced,

06:13and many people in Elizabeth City felt confident she would turn up alive and well.

06:17Mrs Cropsey, however,

06:19did not share this opinion.

06:20Nell had gone missing in just the clothes she was wearing.

06:23If she had run away,

06:25she had taken nothing with her,

06:26so Mrs Cropsey held the view that something untoward had happened to her daughter.

06:31As well as the supposed sightings,

06:33an anonymous letter arrived at the Cropsey house,

06:36in which the writer stated that on the night of her so-called disappearance,

06:40Nell was in the yards,

06:42and saw a man trying to steal the pigs.

06:44Because the man did not want to be recognised,

06:47he killed her,

06:48and disposed of her body in the Pasquotank River.

06:51Despite their best efforts, however,

06:53the police were unable to trace the mysterious person who had written the letter.

06:59On the 28th of December 1901,

07:0137 days since Nell had gone missing,

07:04a body of a young woman was found by a fisherman named Charles Long,

07:07floating in the Pasquotank River,

07:09very close to the Cropsey family home.

07:12He went to the house to speak to Nell's father,

07:15and then went and informed the sheriff.

07:17As word of the discovery spread,

07:19it seemed that the whole city rushed to the shore to see what was happening,

07:22and among the crowd there was an expression of sorrow and pity for the dead girl,

07:27along with threats against the life of Jim Wilcox.

07:30Many people then started to question how the body had been found in the river,

07:34so close to the place where the young girl had gone missing,

07:37when that part of the river had already been searched so many times.

07:41As tension grew,

07:42the police feared that some members of the crowd

07:44might try to take the law into their own hands,

07:47and seek vigilante justice.

07:48The governor therefore ordered that special officers be immediately dispatched

07:53to arrest Jim Wilcox.

07:54They found him working in his father's field,

07:57so he was taken at first to the mayor's office,

08:00but then later moved to a cell in the local jail.

08:03Nell's body was lifted from the water,

08:05wrapped in a sheet,

08:06and placed on a stretcher.

08:08It was then carried into a small barn in the Cropsey home,

08:11where the county coroner,

08:13a man named Dr Fearing,

08:14attempted to undertake an autopsy.

08:16However, with the large crowd and the cramped conditions in the barn,

08:20a second autopsy was ordered,

08:22and the body was transported to the academy hall.

08:25The Cropsey family were devastated.

08:27Nell's mother was particularly overcome by the tragedy.

08:30For weeks she had watched from her window,

08:32each day hoping to see her daughter return alive,

08:35and the strain had left her completely overcome with grief.

08:39A coroner's jury was ordered,

08:40and during the second autopsy,

08:42the doctors found no external signs of violence.

08:45Apart from a bruise on the front of the head,

08:48and slight discoloration on the neck and scalp.

08:51However, beneath the scalp,

08:52they discovered a dark bruise on the bone.

08:54Although there was no fracture of the skull,

08:57the stomach contained about two ounces of dark fluid and undigested food.

09:01The lungs were collapsed,

09:02and contained no water,

09:04and they also found that Nell had died a virgin,

09:07with her virtue still intact.

09:09Following the autopsy,

09:10an inquest began,

09:12which concluded that Nell had died from a bloat of a left temple,

09:15before her body was placed in the river,

09:17and the coroner's jury subsequently returned a verdict,

09:20which implicated Jim Wilcox in the crime,

09:23and recommended that he be held for trial.

09:26Two days later,

09:27the funeral service was held for Nell Cropsey,

09:29before her body was transferred to Brooklyn,

09:32to be buried in the family plots.

09:36As the trial approached,

09:37public sentiment seemed to be overwhelmingly against Jim Wilcox,

09:41and there was a widespread belief in his guilt.

09:44In fact,

09:44a group of local people,

09:46who called themselves the Citizens Committee,

09:48had been formed in order to gather information,

09:50that may help the prosecution in their case.

09:53Inside the prison,

09:54there were many concerns regarding his safety.

09:56There were suspicions that someone had attempted to poison him,

10:00and ground glass had been found in his food.

10:02Due to this,

10:03he refused to eat the prison rations,

10:05and his sister brought him meals from the family home instead.

10:08The whole ordeal was taking a devastating toll on the Wilcox family,

10:13particularly his mother.

10:14The grief and notoriety of the case had worn her down so severely,

10:18that her condition became critical,

10:20leaving her confined to her room for several weeks.

10:23Her husband,

10:24who was a former sheriff,

10:25told the press that her failing health was entirely brought on by the family's deep trouble.

10:30The case eventually came to court in mid-March 1902,

10:33and took place in Elizabeth City in North Carolina.

10:37It soon became one of the state's most anticipated and talked about murder trials.

10:42It was held before Judge Jones,

10:44and the proceedings drew vast crowds,

10:46who filled the gallery,

10:48while the jury remained under constant guard,

10:50housed overnight above the mayor's office.

10:52The prosecution was led by District Attorney Ward,

10:56who opened the case by presenting detailed forensic evidence,

10:59which aimed to establish that 19-year-old Nell Cropsey

11:02had been the victim of a violent murder,

11:05rather than an accidental fall or death by her own hands.

11:08He presented medical experts,

11:11including Dr. Fearing,

11:12who had performed the autopsy,

11:14and Dr. J. E. Woods,

11:16the county health officer.

11:17Both men were able to give a detailed description of the condition of the body,

11:21and agreed that despite 37 days in the water,

11:24the body was remarkably well preserved.

11:27Dr. Wood attributed this

11:28to the cold preservative qualities

11:30of the juniper-tinged Pasquotank River.

11:34Both doctors testified to the absence of water in Nell's lungs and stomach,

11:38which, according to Dr. Fearing,

11:40strongly indicated that Miss Cropsey

11:42was not breathing when she entered the river,

11:44and thus did not die by drowning.

11:46He added that he also found a significant bruise on her left temple,

11:50accompanied by clotted blood beneath the scalp.

11:53Dr. Wood expressed the opinion

11:55that the injury had been produced

11:57by a compact handheld impact weapon,

12:00such as a kosh,

12:01and that the blow had been inflicted with sufficient force

12:04as to cause a fatal bruise

12:06before the body was thrown into the river.

12:08However, when asked if they had found any photographs on her person,

12:11Dr. Wood replied that they had not,

12:13and this was important,

12:15as it directly undermined Mr. Wilcox's claim

12:18that he had handed Nell her picture back

12:20on the night she vanished.

12:21The defence was led by Mr. Adlitz,

12:24who subjected the medical experts

12:26to an aggressive cross-examination,

12:28pressing them on whether drowning could still occur

12:30without fluid in the lungs,

12:31and arguing that a bruise alone was insufficient

12:34to prove the cause of death beyond a reasonable doubt.

12:36But the prosecution then called a number of witnesses

12:39to examine Mr. Wilcox's movements

12:41on the night Nell disappeared,

12:43and to challenge his account of what had happened,

12:46Leonard Owens,

12:47an 18-year-old boat engineer,

12:49testified that he had seen Mr. Wilcox

12:51near the Cropsey residence

12:52at around 11.45pm.

12:55This evidence placed Wilcox in the area

12:57at a time that contradicted the statement

13:00that Jim himself had given.

13:01Mr. G.H. Forbes,

13:03who kept a local livery stable,

13:05gave evidence about the time shown

13:07on Mr. Wilcox's watch,

13:08compared with the town clock.

13:10His testimony was intended to establish

13:13whether Wilcox's account of the night's events

13:15was consistent with the actual time.

13:17Chief Dawson described the investigation

13:20and the measurements taken at the scene,

13:22including the distance between the Cropsey residence,

13:25the summer house,

13:26and the place in the river

13:27where Nell's body was eventually discovered.

13:29He also recalled arresting Mr. Wilcox,

13:32and said that he was found in his bed,

13:35with mud on his trousers,

13:36reaching as high as his knees.

13:38The prosecution, however,

13:40ensured that there would be

13:41an emotional climax to their case.

13:44Through the testimony of Nell's sister,

13:46Olly Cropsey,

13:47she recounted the evening in detail,

13:49testifying that Mr. Wilcox

13:51was visiting their household,

13:53alongside other guests.

13:54She described a tense atmosphere,

13:57and said that Nell and Mr. Wilcox

13:59had been arguing over the previous few weeks,

14:01and that night,

14:02Nell had seemed reluctant

14:03to engage in conversation with him.

14:06According to Olly,

14:07at approximately 11pm,

14:09Mr. Wilcox pulled out his watch,

14:11mentioned his mother wanted him home,

14:13rolled a cigarette,

14:14and asked Nell to step outside

14:16onto the porch for a minute.

14:18She said that Nell complied,

14:20and this was the last time

14:21the family saw her alive.

14:23In an emotional testimony,

14:25Olly further described

14:26the harrowing hours that followed.

14:28She said that she heard the dogs

14:30barking at around midnight,

14:31and told of when she realised

14:33that her sister was missing,

14:34and the search that ensued.

14:36She said that sometime in the early hours,

14:39Mr. Wilcox was brought back to the house.

14:41It was in that moment on the witness stand,

14:44the young Miss Cropsey broke down.

14:46After a few minutes,

14:48she regained her composure,

14:49and continued her testimony.

14:51She said that she could remember

14:52her mother grabbing Mr. Wilcox

14:54by the arm,

14:55and saying,

14:56Jim, for my sake,

14:58and your mother's sake,

14:59tell me where Nell is.

15:01She said that Mr. Wilcox

15:02swore that he did not know,

15:04and claimed that he had left

15:05Nell crying near the porch.

15:07Miss Cropsey added,

15:08that when someone later

15:09falsely reported

15:10that Nell had been found,

15:12Mr. Wilcox's hand shook,

15:14and his arm visibly trembled.

15:16Throughout this intense

15:17courtroom drama,

15:18newspaper dispatches

15:20frequently remarked

15:21on the stark contrast

15:22between the heavy emotional atmosphere

15:24and the prisoner's

15:25unyielding composure,

15:27he sat quietly

15:28beside his father

15:29and legal counsel,

15:30and maintained a calm,

15:31almost emotionless demeanor,

15:33despite the compelling testimony

15:35from the Cropsey family,

15:36the medical experts

15:37and other witnesses

15:38called by the prosecution.

15:39The case faced

15:41one significant hurdle,

15:42the absence of direct

15:43physical or eyewitness evidence

15:45that linked Mr. Wilcox

15:47to the crime itself.

15:49The defense attorneys

15:50repeatedly emphasized

15:51to the jury,

15:52that the prosecution case

15:53rested entirely

15:54on circumstantial deductions.

15:57When all the evidence

15:58had been presented,

15:59both the prosecution

16:00and the defense

16:01rested their cases

16:02and began closing arguments.

16:04For the defense,

16:05Mr. McCullen and Mr. Leary

16:07attacked the medical testimony

16:09regarding whether Nell

16:10had drowned,

16:11and argued that the evidence

16:12pointed squarely

16:13towards her dying

16:14by her own hand

16:15or by an accident,

16:16rather than by foul play.

16:18Mr. Bond then spoke

16:20for the defense

16:20for nearly three hours.

16:21Managing to move

16:23some spectators to tears

16:24by expressing deep sympathy

16:26for the grieving

16:27Cropsey family,

16:28while vigorously maintaining

16:30that there was no

16:30conclusive proof

16:31that Mr. Wilcox

16:32had murdered Nell,

16:33he ended by warning

16:35the jury against being

16:36swayed by popular pressure,

16:37mob mentality,

16:38or intense public prejudice.

16:41For the prosecution,

16:43Mr. Sawyer and Mr. Ward

16:44reviewed the medical evidence,

16:46arguing that a violent

16:47blow to the heads,

16:48not drowning,

16:49had caused the tragic outcome.

16:51They pointed directly

16:52to the defendant,

16:53claiming that he had killed

16:5419-year-old Nell Cropsey,

16:56but when they did,

16:57Mr. Wilcox showed no reaction,

16:59and maintained his usual

17:01cold expression.

17:02Following the closing arguments,

17:04the judge summed up the case,

17:06and the jury was sent out

17:07to deliberate.

17:08They did so for over a day,

17:10before returning to declare

17:12that they found the defendant,

17:14James Jim Wilcox,

17:15guilty of first-degree murder,

17:18and the judge sentenced him to death,

17:20the courtroom fell silent

17:21as the sentence was pronounced.

17:23Before murmurs could be heard

17:24amongst those gathered

17:25in the gallery,

17:26the reality of the punishment

17:28now faced by Jim Wilcox

17:30was clear to everyone

17:31in the courtroom.

17:32However,

17:33his legal battle was not over.

17:37His attorney filed for a mistrial,

17:39claiming that some members

17:41of the jury had been pressured

17:42into finding his client guilty.

17:44The conviction was then overturned,

17:46and a mistrial declared,

17:48meaning that Jim Wilcox

17:49would have another day in court.

17:51The second trial began in March 1903,

17:54this time in Hartford,

17:56as the defense did not believe

17:57that their client would receive

17:58a fair trial in Elizabeth City.

18:00The case proceeded in the same way,

18:03and the witnesses were the same

18:04as those called in the previous trial.

18:06Again, the jury found Jim Wilcox guilty,

18:09but this time of second-degree murder,

18:11and he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

18:14In both trials,

18:16Jim had pleaded not guilty,

18:17and from his prison cell,

18:19he continued to insist

18:20that he was innocent.

18:21In November 1904,

18:23efforts were made to get him pardoned.

18:25However, this petition

18:26was denied by the governor.

18:28Over the next 10 years,

18:30there were further petitions

18:31seeking a pardon for Jim Wilcox,

18:33but each one was denied.

18:35By March 1915, however,

18:38sentiment towards him had changed,

18:39and many people in Elizabeth City

18:41who had previously believed him to be guilty

18:44had since changed their minds,

18:46and were now of the opinion

18:47that Nell Cropsey had died by her own hand.

18:50Another petition containing

18:52thousands of signatures

18:53calling for a pardon

18:54was again presented to the governor,

18:56and there a report

18:57that Wilcox had contracted tuberculosis

19:00while in prison,

19:01and that unless he was released,

19:02he was not expected to live much longer.

19:05However, once again,

19:06after considering the petition,

19:08the governor refused to pardon him.

19:10Another petition was denied in 1917,

19:13but in December 1918,

19:15Governor Burkett finally pardoned Jim Wilcox,

19:19saying that no further good

19:20could come from keeping him in prison.

19:22Following this,

19:24Jim returned to Elizabeth City,

19:25but found little welcome there.

19:28Although there were those

19:29who felt that he had been wrongly convicted,

19:31others did not share that opinion,

19:33believing that if he was innocent,

19:34he would have testified

19:36in his own defence at the trials.

19:38Jim struggled to find work,

19:40and increasingly withdrew

19:42from the people around him.

19:43He was asked by many newspapers

19:45to give his side of the story,

19:47but always declined their offers.

19:49In 1934,

19:51he did agree to meet

19:52a local newspaper owner,

19:54named W.O. Saunders,

19:55to discuss the possibility

19:57of writing a book

19:58about Nell Cropsey's death.

19:59He had met Mr. Saunders

20:01previously while in prison,

20:02and although what was actually said

20:04in the meetings

20:04between the two men

20:05remains unknown,

20:07it was reported

20:07that Mr. Saunders

20:08came away convinced

20:10that Jim Wilcox

20:11had not been responsible

20:12for Nell's murder

20:13on December 4th, 1934,

20:16two weeks after his meeting

20:17with Mr. Saunders.

20:19Jim Wilcox was dead.

20:20He had died by his own hand,

20:22but he was not the only person

20:24connected to the case

20:25whose life ended tragically.

20:27Over the years,

20:28others who had been close to Nell

20:29also met unhappy ends.

20:31Roy Crawford,

20:33who had been

20:33Olly Cropsey's suitor

20:34and was present at the house

20:36on the night Nell disappeared,

20:38died by his own hand in 1908.

20:40Nell's younger brother Will

20:42died the same way in 1913,

20:44and Nell's sister Olly

20:46never married,

20:47and eventually became a recluse,

20:49spending the remainder of her life

20:50largely withdrawn from society.

20:53The tragic aftermath

20:54of Nell Cropsey's disappearance

20:56therefore continued for decades,

20:58and many believe

20:59that Jim Wilcox was innocent.

21:01And the circumstances

21:02surrounding Nell's death

21:03remain a mystery.

21:05Today the case

21:06has not been forgotten,

21:07and the house where Nell lived

21:08has become part of the legend

21:10surrounding her death.

21:11Over the years,

21:12there have been reports

21:13of a ghostly figure

21:14believed to be Nell

21:15appearing inside the property,

21:17with people claiming

21:18to have seen her there.

21:19Whether these sightings

21:20are simply part of the folklore

21:22that has grown around the case,

21:24or something more,

21:25the stories have added

21:26another layer

21:27to the mystery

21:27of Nell Cropsey's death.

21:32Hello everyone,

21:33and thank you so much

21:34for listening.

21:35As usual,

21:36please leave any comments

21:38or feedback you may have,

21:39and I hope to see you all again

21:41in the next

21:42brief

21:43case.

21:44The story of Nellベース,

21:44Let's get started.

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