After 22 Hours of Deliberation, Jury Finds W.B. Cole Not Guilty of Murdering W.W. Ormond, Oct. 12, 1925

Cole Not Guilty; Held for Sanity Hearing. . . Jury Wrestled with Case 22 Hours and Returned Verdict Sunday—Hearing as to Sanity in Wilkesboro Tuesday

By Isaac S. London

Rockingham, Oct. 12—“Not guilty” was the verdict rendered at 10 a.m. Sunday by the Union County jury who since September 30 had sat in judgment upon the case of W.B. Cole, who killed W.W. Ormond here August 15. The jury wrestled with the case 22 hours.

Immediately upon receiving the verdict Judge T.B. Finley ordered Cole back into custody and set 1 p.m. Tuesday at the time for hearing at North Wilkesboro for counsel for the State and defense as to committing Cole to the criminal insane department at Raleigh. That Mr. Cole is perfectly normal and sane now is true beyond the shadow of a doubt, and it is felt here that the Tuesday hearing will be a matter largely of complying with the law.

From the front page of The Robesonian, Lumberton, N.C., Monday, Oct. 12, 1925

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