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Thursday, August 18, 2022

Rape Charges Against Clarence Ware and O.J. Norton Dismissed; Will be Tried for Carnal Knowledge of 13-Year-Old May Rowell, Aug. 18, 1922

Leaksville Girl a Poor Witness

. . . . The next case called was State vs. Clarence Ware and O.J. Norton of Danville, charged with rape on May Rowell, the 13-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Rowell of Leaksville Spray. A special venire of 100 men had been summoned from which to select a jury. The jury was completed late Tuesday afternoon after nearly the whole panel had been exhausted. The defendants were represented by Judge W.P. Bynum of Greensboro, Attorney Ayers of Danville and A.W. Dunn and Ivie & Trotter of Leaksville. Solicitor Graves was assisted by Glidewell & Mayberry.

A large crowd was on hand Wednesday morning to attend the trial.

May Rowell, the alleged victim of the rape charge against Odell, was the only witness placed on the stand. She was questioned by Solicitor Graves and gave her version of the affair. She was then submitted to a most grueling cross examination by Judge Bynum who kept her on the stand over two hours.

From her testimony it appears that she met the defendants, O.J. Norton and Clarence Ware, who were with Nina Spencer, at the Spray post office about 2 o’clock the afternoon of July 25th. The party of four went to a secluded spot near the railway trestle, and the witness claimed that Norton attacked her. She admitted that she made no outcry but asserted that she tried to fight Norton off. After the alleged assault the four returned towards town and were met by May’s parents. She says she told her mother of the assault, and a warrant was sworn out and the two men were arrested. Witnesses identified certain letters of a gushing nature she had written to young men, including one to Norton. She claimed that Norton was a stranger to her when she wrote the letter.

Judge Brock after hearing the girl’s testimony interrupted the trial and stated that he thought it would be a waste of time to proceed with the case under the indictment as drawn—rape—which was a capital offense. His honor stated that even were the jury to find a verdict of guilty, he would promptly set aside the verdict. Solicitor Graves practically agreed with Judge Brock and stated in effect that he had been misled by what the girl had told him when he first questioned her. But the solicitor urged that the defendants be held under heavy bond for their appearance at the next term of criminal court to answer to the charge of having carnal knowledge of a girl under 14 years, the legal age of consent in this State.

Judge Brock thereupon ordered a verdict of not guilty to be recorded in the case and had Odell placed under a bond of $5,000 and Ware and the Spencer woman under bonds of $2,500 for their appearance at the next term of court when the former will be charged with the above stated crime and Ware and Nina Spencer will be charged with conspiracy to bring about the alleged act.

From the front page of The Reidsville Review, Aug. 18, 1922

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