Foster Parsons Sane.
. . Foster Parsons Restored to Normal Health and Sanity, Dismissed from
Criminal Insane Department of Penitentiary, and Is Now in Jail at Rockingham. .
. Will Probably Submit to Second Degree Murder and Get Life Sentence.
Foster L. Parsons, a young white man of Richmond county,
aged 23, is again in jail at Rockingham, after a sojourn in the criminal insane
department of the penitentiary for over five months. He must now face trial for
the actual murder of the two negro jitney drivers whom he killed near Hamlet
last September, and form whom he stole the cars they were driving.
Clerk of Court J.A. McAulay on last Saturday morning, March
13th, received the following letter from J.R. Collie, superintendent
of the Penitentiary:
Raleigh, March 12th
Clerk of Court
Richmond County,
Rockingham
Dear Sir:
Foster L. Parsons admitted to the hospital for dangerous
insane in this institution on October 11, 1919, from Richmond county, has been
restored to normal health and sanity according to a communication addressed to
me under date of March 8 by physician in charge, Dr. A.W. Knox. Therefore,
under Chapter 1, Section 64 of the Laws of 1899, this is to notify you to cause
the sheriff of Richmond county to remove Foster L. Parsons from the dangerous
insane department of this institution to the jail of the county from which he
was sent.
Yours very truly,
J.R. Collie, Supt.
Copy to Sheriff
Upon receipt of the foregoing letter, Sheriff McDonald on
Saturday morning went to Raleigh and Sunday night brought back Parsons to the
Richmond county jail.
And so opens up another chapter. As the matter now stands,
he must face a trial for murder He would likely put on the same evidence that
was introduced at his sanity hearing in October, to show that he was also
insane at the time of the murders, and if the jury believed this, he would be
acquitted. If the jury finds him sane at the time, then he would face the
electric chair.
But it is likely that his attorneys may offer to submit to a
verdict of second degree murder, without the necessity of a trial, and if
Solicitor Brock should agree to this, he would be sentenced to the Penitentiary
for life. If the Solicitor accepts such a proposition the matter could be
handled at the April 5th term of Court. But if he declines to do so,
and decided to enter upon a regular trial, the case would hardly come up for
trial until the July term of criminal court.
The foregoing in brief is the status of the case, and now a
hurried sketch of the entire case, from beginning to end, may be of interest to
those Post-Dispatch readers who may have forgotten the incidents of the
insanity hearing; the facts of the killing of the two negro jitney drivers last
August are as follows:
On the night of Aug. 7, 1919, Foster Parsons came to Hamlet
from Durham county, where he was at work, and hired a negro jitney driver named
Duck Phillips, to take him up the road towards Hoffman. This was about 10:30 o’clock.
When near Marston the car stopped, the negro got out and started to the front
to crank the car, saying he was going back to Hamlet. Thereupon Parsons shot
him, dragged the body a hundred yards into the woods, and then proceeded by
himself to Durham with the car. He reached Durham Aug. 2nd, and
during the day sold the car for $250.
On Aug. 20th, he again came to Hamlet, spent the
night at the Terminal hotel, and next morning hired another jitney driver, Joe
Wilson, to take him up the road. They left Hamlet about 10 o’clock the morning of
Aug. 21st. When on the main road near Keyser, Parsons (according to
his statement made to Dr. Hall) pulled his pistol and nsapped it several times
at the back of the negro. It then seemed to Parsons that the negro was
suspicious, for the man stopped the car, opened the door and started to get out
Parsons says he thereupon snapped the pistol again and it fired. The body
crumpled forward.. He watched the body for a few minutes, then crawled over to
the front seat, got the steering wheel and started the car forward, taking a
by-road and driving down it some distance in to the woods where he dumped the
body out; he then returned to the main road and started towards Aberdeen; after
going a few miles he stopped the car and went to sleep in it. He says he was
drinking gin. He later went on to Durham, and on the Saturday following was
bringing his wife and wife’s sister from Durham in the stolen car when he was
arrested at Sanford by Chief Braswell. A confession followed later.
A special term of court was ordered by the Governor to try
him. This began Oct. 6th, with Judge W.P. Stacy presiding. When the case
was called at 3:30 of the afternoon of Monday, Oct. 6th, the young
man’s attorney, A.M. Stack, arose and addressed the Court, stated that the defendant
“is not competent to answer to the bill of indictment, and we therefore pray a
preliminary inquiry upon a trial for the actual murders, the case resolved
itself into whether Parsons was sane or insane at the time of the trial and
whether he was competent to stand trial His attorneys were W.R. Jones, Thomas
& Phillips, and A.M. stack. Assisting the Solicitor was H.F. Seawell of
Carthage and L.M. Gibbons of Hamlet.
A jury was not secured until 10:45 next morning, 44 men
having been excused from the jury box. The jurors finally empaneled and who
passed upon the sanity of the defendant, were: W.C. Ellerbe, T.F. Lentz,
Stephen Terry, J.R. Crowson, Henry C. Dawkins, O.D. Parker, E.S. Hart, G. Walt
Smith, A.L. Kendall, John W. Stubbs, Henry Lemore, T.M. Ledbetter.
The defense then introduced many witnesses to show that
Foster Parsons was weak-minded. His mother, Mrs. Allen Parsons, testified that
when a baby he had a fall on the head and later had falls which impaired his
health. The star witness for the defense was Dr. J.K. Hall of the Westbrook
Sanatorium, Richmond. Dr. Hall testified that in his opinion Parsons was not
competent mentally to stand trial—that he was feeble-minded and though 23 years
old, yet he had the mind of a boy of only 12 years. Dr. Albert Anderson testified
that Parsons was feeble-minded and had the mind of a 12-year-old boy. Dr. James
Taylor, on the other hand, testified that he thought the man was sane, though
of an unusually low intellect. Dr. J.E.S. Davidson testified that he believed
him sane.
The evidence was concluded at 3:30 Thursday afternoon,
October 9th. The attorneys then began speaking, the case finally
being given to the jury Friday afternoon at 2:55 o’clock. The issue submitted
to them was “Is Foster Parsons insane at the present time?” Shortly after 4 o’clock
the jury returned to the courtroom and asked for further instructions. They the
stood 7 to 5. At 6:50 the jury again appeared and returned a verdict of “Yes,”
which meant that Parsons was crazy at the time of the trial. Judge Stacy then
made a very plain talk to the jury. He said he would not set the verdict aside,
and yet at the same time he said he felt very strongly that the defendant was
sane and that if he himself had been on the jury he would have so found. He
then committed Parsons to the Criminal Insane Department of the Penitentiary,
there to remain until such time as he should regain his mentality sufficiently
to stand trial for the actual murders. Sheriff McDonald left that night with
the prisoner for Raleigh, driving by auto with him to Aberdeen where the fast Seaboard
train No. 2 was boarded. He was placed in the pen early next morning, October
11th.
And now Dr. Knox of the Insane Department has decided that
Parsons is of normal health and sane, and therefore the State is entitled to a
trial for the murders. And so Sheriff McDonald has brought him back to
Rockingham jail, where he will remain until placed on trial.
At this next trial very likely he will plead that he was insane
at the time of the actual killings; and in this event he would introduce practically
the same evidence that he had at his sanity hearing in October. Should the next
jury find that he was insane when he did the killings, a verdict of acquittal
would be rendered; if sane, a verdict of guilty—and a possibility of the electric
chair. However, as stated at the onset, it may be that his attorneys may offer
to submit to a second degree verdict without going through a trial, and if the
Solicitor should agree to this, he would be sentenced to the Penitentiary for
life.
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