Foster Parsons, Who Killed Two Negro Jitney Drivers, Now Sane After Five Months in Criminal Insane Department of Penitentiary, March 18, 1920

From the Rockingham Post-Dispatch, Thursday afternoon, March 18, 1920. To see a photo of Foster Parsons, go to https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91068736/1920-03-18/ed-1/seq-1/.

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 13^th, received the following letter from J.R. Collie, superintendent of the Penitentiary:

Raleigh, March 12^th

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 5^th 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. 2^nd, and during the day sold the car for $250.

On Aug. 20^th, 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. 21^st. 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. 6^th, with Judge W.P. Stacy presiding. When the case was called at 3:30 of the afternoon of Monday, Oct. 6^th, 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 9^th. 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 11^th.

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.