Gatesville, March 23—“I am sorry that they sent it here.”
That is what Charlie Edwards, proprietor of the Gatesville Hotel, told a reporter two weeks ago when the newspaper man casually remarked that he supposed the hotel was looking for a big crowd court week, with the sensational Doxey murder case scheduled for trial in addition to the regular Gates County criminal docket.
The reporter pondered that saying at the time, reflecting soberly on the unmercenary spirit of the hotel man who would rather his town be spared the sordid details of a murder trial than himself to profit by the crowd that the case would be sure to draw to his hostelry.
But today the same newspaper man entertains serious doubt as to whether the idea back in Mr. Edward’s mind when he made his statement was altogether altruistic. For the Gatesville Hotel is already crowded and indications now are that, despite the canvass of the town for beds for court week visitors, the emergency arrangements are not going to take care of the situation. The Gatesville hotel is ordinarily a nice homey, quiet stopping place, with the proprietor and his family doing a large part of the work, and one may well imagine that the outlook for a crowd that would tax to the breaking point his facilities for entertainment would appear in the hotel proprietor’s eye no inviting prospect.
Doxey will be brought here through the county and, despite the fact that as roads are now travelled the distance from Currituck Court House to Gatesville is in the neighborhood of 75 miles, a considerable crowd of Doxey’s friends as well as all his witnesses and those for the State are expected to be in attendance. Witnesses alone number 40, and it is estimated that five times that number from Currituck will attend the trial. By putting two to every available bed, the Gatesville Hotel can furnish lodging for 60.
School committeeman of Poplar Branch High School, the oldest and for long the only State high school in Currituck County. Willis A. Doxey had for 66 years lived a life of a quiet, peaceable and respected citizen, until news flashed over Currituck County Saturday night, January 30, that he had shot, and probably fatally wounded, his nephew, William. H. Doxey. William H. Doxey died in the Elizabeth City Hospital the next day, leaving a dying statement in writing to the effect that he had been treacherously shot by his uncle and that the act was unprovoked.
Since that time Willis A. Doxey has been a prisoner in the Currituck County jail. His case was scheduled for trial for the term of Currituck Supreme Court which convenes the first Monday in March. The grand jury had found a true bill, the prisoner had been arraigned, and the stage was set for the trial when on Thursday, March 5, Solicitor W.L. Small presented a motion to the court that the case be moved to some other county on the ground that sentiment in Doxey’s behalf had been so favorably fanned by the activities of influential friends and by highly colored newspaper reports, that it would be impossible for the State’s side of the case to get a fair hearing in Currituck County.
Here is the text of the affidavit, copies of which were signed by R.S. Walker, former employe of Willis A. Doxey; G.A. Doxey, father of the dead man, and by J.C. Gallop, which along with an affidavit of similar import signed by himself, constituted the basis upon which Solicitor Small asked for change of venue:
The undersigned being duly sworn, deposes and says that he is informed, believes and alleges on behalf of the State of North Carolina that there are probable grounds to believe that a fair and impartial trial cannot be obtained in Currituck County in the above entitled cause; that affiant is informed, believes and alleges that friends of the defendant have been very active in talking to citizens in Currituck County, in distributing and casting about and abroad statements, propaganda and rumors that have prejudiced the cause of the State throughout Currituck County; that affiant has heard divers and numerous persons say that they thought he ought to go scot-free; that the Independent, a paper published in the first Judicial District, and widely circulated throughout Currituck County, under date of February 13, 1925, carried a story of the crime committed in the above entitled cause, and particularly did said paper make the following statement: ‘Willie Doxey, whom she (speaking of Mrs. Willis A. Doxey) had known intimately for years and whose every act and thought was an open book to her, offered what she considered the only kindness she had ever known. Willie Doxey seemed to be pleased with the readiness of his uncle’s wife to accept his expressions of understanding. Her admiration of him flattered him and so fanned his regard for her until he could not stay way from the community long at a time. Time after time he returned to the old home, just to be near the woman he loved, realizing that he loved her as he could live no one else, happy to be able to see her now and then, to see the home where she lived, for love always delights in hearing the voice of its object, in listening to the beautiful voice of the one it favors, in the nearness with promise of sly understanding glances unobserved by others. William Doxey’s parents grew apprehensive of the conduct of the son’s liking for his uncle’s wife. They sold their home at Poplar Branch and moved away, in hope of getting him to leave the community. Said paper, in said issue, further describes and tells prejudiced rumors and hearsays that are prejudicial to the State’s die of the cause that make it very probable that a fair and impartial trial cannot be obtained in Currituck County, because of the publication and distribution of the rumors and hearsays as published in said article, and said article headed and entitled “The Tragic Mating of Mature Age and Youth,” and “Sensational Facts in Currituck Murder Case Growing Out of Jealous Husband’s Long Standing Quarrel With Nephew,” is here by referred to and asked to be made a part of this affidavit as if copied word for word.
The aforesaid paper published another article under date of February 20, 1925, under the heading entitled ’Doxey Case Up to the State’ that said paper and said issue of said article was greatly and widely published and distributed throughout Currituck County and had the effect of creating a great prejudice against the State’s obtaining a fair trial in said cause. That said article in said paper was read and quoted generally throughout the county, and said article is made a part of this affidavit as if copied word for word, and particularly that part which reads as follows: ‘The prosecution of Willis A. Doxey will e left up to the State when the case come sup for trial in Currituck Superior Court the week of March 2. William. H. Doxey, who was shot by his uncle, W.A. Doxey of Poplar Branch, on his death bed begged his father not to prosecute his uncle and there is little possibility that any other people will be sufficiently interested to do so.’
“That the aforesaid quoted paragraph, as affiant is informed, believes and alleges, was a mistake, that deceased never made any such statement; that though it was probably not intended by the writer of such article to prejudice the State’s case, it was nevertheless greatly prejudiced same throughout Currituck County.
In reply to the affidavits and the arguments produced by the solicitor, the defense offered an affidavit signed by Doxey himself and further affidavits from prominent Currituckians and court officials to the effect that a fair trial of the case could be had in Currituck County. Here is Doxey’s affidavit:
W.A. Doxey being duly sworn says: That he is the defendant and resident of the county of Currituck and has been all his life. That he is 66 years of age, that he is limited in means and in acquaintance among the people of Currituck County, and lived and worked in one neighborhood all his life. That he is not engaged in any business except farming in a small way and is employed about half his time as a marsh guard for one of the clubs in a remote section of the county. That the nature of his employment is such as to take him away from his home and the neighborhood in which he lives to an island and withdraws him generally from the people of his section, and during the other part of his time he stays on his small farm and is mingling but little with the people. That upon the afternoon of the shooting of Willie Doxey, he surrendered to the sheriff and since the day of the death of said Willie Doxey, he has been confined in the jail of Currituck County at the Currituck Court House. That he has not talked with anybody regarding this case except his attorneys and a very few of his relatives. That it is untrue so far as he has ever heard that there has been any propaganda or anything else to influence the public towards him or against the State, that he has never heard of any reports being circulated and none has come from him and none has been authorized or approved by him. That thought solicited, he refused to give to a newspaper reporter or any one else any interview of statement regarding the occurrence or regarding anything connected with his case, and that he has authorized none to be made by any one else, and he does not believe that any has been made by his friends. That he has seen the articles referred to in the Independent and that there are a great many things in the articles prejudicial to this defendant none of which were given by him or his friends representing him. The publication was not authorized by him or by any one in his behalf. That he is informed that the Independent is circulating in Currituck and also in Pasquotank and other adjoining counties and that the statements prejudicial to this defendant had the same circulation as those which the solicitor complains, in this and other counties.
That he has also seen a copy of the Independent dated February 27, 1925, in which the statements complained of in the concluding paragraph of the solicitor’s affidavit with reference to the unwillingness of the father of the deceased to prosecute in this cause was corrected, and as this affiant is informed, believes, and alleges, this latter statement to which he refers was given exactly the same circulation as the original one, correcting any prejudice which this affiant denies, may have been excited by the original publication.
This affiant is not only limited in his means, but also in education, and has to depend upon his toil for a livelihood for himself and family.
That with respect to those whose affidavits have been filed by the solicitor of this motion, this affiant says that G.A. Doxey is the father of the deceased and the brother of this defendant; that R.S. Walker is an intimate friend of the deceased with whom deceased was staying at the time of his death and that Solicitor Small lives in Pasquotank County.
(Signed) Willis A. Doxey
And here is the text of the affidavit signed by N.H. Hampton and P.L. Hampton, brothers of Mrs. Willis A. Doxey, as well as by Sheriff Bob Flora, Register od Deeds J.A. Taylor, and by other prominent Currituck officials or citizens:
The undersigned being duly sworn, say: That he is well acquainted with the people of Currituck County, that he has mingled with a large number of them since the trouble occurred in the above entitled cause, and he believes that he knows definitely the attitude of the citizens of said county. That he believes the State and the defendant can each get a fair and impartial trial in this cause in Currituck County. That the matter has been talked of as it would in the case it happened to any other man and so far as this affiant has heard or knows, there has been no effort made to create any sympathy or favor for the defendant and against the State. That as affiant is informed and believes, the defendant is a man of little means and is not connected with business generally in the county, but is employed for a specific purpose for about six months in the year to act as a watchman or marsh guard and is of limited acquaintance in the county.
In addition to the foregoing affidavit, former Solicitor J.C.B. Ehringhaus strongly urged that the constitutional right of a trial by jury contemplated that a man should be tried by a jury of his own peers selected from his own vizorage so that he might have the benefit of the reputation that he bore for truthfulness, honor and integrity among his fellow men.
The William H. Doxey version of the shooting is not generally accepted in Currituck County. In the first place, people who know Willis A. Doxey can not believe that he could ever have been guilty of shooting his nephew except under the strongest sort of provocation.
“I have known Willis Doxey all my life,” said one of Currituck’s most prominent citizens shortly after the shooting, “and I can not conceive of his shooting any one without what seemed to him at the time complete justification.”
It is now pretty well established that the shooting occurred about 100 yards back of the negro Disciple Church, which is on the lower swamp road leading from Bertha to Poplar Branch; and not on the road itself as William H. Doxey’s story seems to imply. Tracks believed to be those of William H. Doxey and of Mrs. Willis Doxey were found at the scene of the shooting, and it is a matter of common knowledge in the Poplar Branch community that Willis Doxey had sought for about eight years to prevent meetings between his nephew and his wife.
From the front page of The Daily Advance, Elizabeth City, N.C., Monday Evening, March 23, 1925
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92074042/1925-03-23/ed-1/seq-1/#words=MARCH+23%2C+1925
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