Raleigh News and Observer
Stripped of its legal verbiage, the plea made by the attorneys for W. B. Cole is the “unwritten law.” They put in the pleas of self-defense and of transitory insanity, but that was merely for the purpose of giving legal form to their plea of the “unwritten law” as the reason for the shooting down of Bill Ormond.
Justification for the shooting down of Ormond by the defense is based upon the allegation that the dead man slandered the good name of a virtuous woman, the daughter of his slayer. There stands the issue, and it is for the jury to say whether or not it is a valid plea in North Carolina. That they will render their verdict as good men, lawful and true, goes without saying. The ”unwritten law” has before been the plea for killings in North Carolina. It has been advanced as justification for the slaying of seducers of women and violators of the sanctity of the home altar. For the first time in the history of North Carolina the “unwritten law” has been the plea as justification for slaying for an alleged slander.
Another chapter has been written into the annals of court trials in this state. No slander chapter has ever been written in this state. None more tragic could hardly be written.
From page 7 of The Concord Daily Tribune, Oct. 9, 1925
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073201/1925-10-09/ed-1/seq-7/
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