After having deliberated for more than 21 hours, the jury in the Wiles murder case, in which Robert Wiles of Columbia, S.C., went on trial Tuesday for the murder of Ralph B. Gordon also of Columbia, in a Chapel Hill street lodging house on the afternoon of Saturday, August 8th, last; returned a verdict on Saturday morning of acquittal.
The jury was given the case at 10:30 o’clock Friday morning and retired at once to deliberate. It was thought at that time that they would be out but a few hours. However, they failed to agree and were locked up for the night.
It was learned that the jury stood 11 to 1 for acquittal from the very first. This lone juror stood out for manslaughter, it was learned. However, Saturday morning having slept over the matter and thought it out to his own satisfaction, he came over to the side of the other 11 men.
In the case in which Wiles was charged with the shooting of his wife, Mrs. Drom Wiles, whose death ensued a short while after being carried to a local hospital by her husband, the state took a nolle pros and Wiles walked out of the court room a free man. It is understood that he will at once return to Columbia.
The verdict of acquittal seems to have met with general approval in Durham.
-=-
Robert Wiles, slayer of Ralph Gordon in a Chapel Hill street room house August 8th, last; acquitted in Durham superior court on Saturday morning by a jury from Alamance County after the latter had deliberated for more than 24 hours, left Durham Saturday afternoon at 4:30 o’clock for his home in South Carolina. He was accompanied by his father who had been with him throughout the trial.
-=-
Case to the Jury
At 10 o’clock Friday morning, just one hour after Judge Grady had convened the day’s session of court, that the case was placed in the hands of the jury and they retired to deliberate and to pass upon the fate of Wiles.
Judge Grady was prepared last night to deliver his charge to the jury but they had set for three hours listening to argument by lieutenant governor Long, who closed for the defense and solicitor L.P. McLendon, who made the final speech for the state, and they were tired out. A poll of the jury was taken and they decided to wait until Friday morning before hearing the charge.
In this, Judge Grady fully covered the evidence as submitted by the state and the defense, called to the attention of the jurors that they could bring in one of four verdicts: murder in the first degree, second degree, manslaughter or acquit the defendant.
He called attention to the fat that there was no such thing as “the unwritten law” and declared that the jury should return a verdict upon the evidence as presented and upon the law as he had defined it to them.
Probably never has a more complete and comprehensive charge been delivered to a jury in a local court room, and it held the immense crowd in the auditorium, the gallery and even out in the lobby almost spellbound.
Trial Started Friday
The trial of Wiles had been set for Tuesday morning. Monday afternoon Solicitor L.P. McLendon stated to Judge Grady that he believed that the best interest of the state would be obtained if a jury from another county than Durham was secured to try the case. Judge Grady agreed with him and a special venire of 100 men from Alamance County was ordered.
Tuesday morning court recessed until afternoon in respect to the memory of James B. Duke. After the court had re-convened, the selection of the jury was started. This was continued until the last man was accepted. The jury consisted of six farmers, three mill workers, a garage operator and a tobacco warehouseman. They were placed in charge of a deputy and spent the night under his care.
Wednesday morning the state began presenting its evidence.
The first witness to do on the stand was Jack Frazier, who is employed by the Perry Transfer Co. of this city.
Frazier said that Gordon came to their place of business on Saturday, August 8, and gave them directions to go to the Southern freight depot and get a box of dishes and then come to 620 West Chapel street and move some household furniture to a place on the North road.
Frazier said that he went to the depot and got the box addressed to Mrs. Wiles, and went on to the Chapel Hill street rooming house. He said that just as he drove up Gordon came up the street walking and went into the house and up to the third floor where Mrs. Wiles was rooming.
Heard Wiles Talk
Frazier said that he followed Gordon up to the room and heard him say, “Well I see you have got back,” and the woman answered to the effect that she was ready to move everything. Frazier said he noticed that the woman was sitting on the bed with her two little girls beside her. He also noticed a table I the room set for four people and a pair of overalls on a chair.
He said that he and W.K. Bobbitt picked up the sewing machine and started down the steps. Just as he got to the foot of the steps he saw a man dressed in working clothes, whom he later identified as Robert H. Wiles. He said that Wiles stepped into a room at the foot of the stairs as he passed. He further stated that just as he and Bobbitt got out into the yard with the sewing machine, he heard five shots fired, three in rapid succession and then a pause and two more. He heard a woman scream and the oldest child came running down the steps with the gun in her hand crying that “papa has killed mama.”
Frazier said he went to the room and found Gordon stretched out on the floor with a bullet hole in his chest and another in his temple. He said that Wiles had his wife in his arms fixing to lay her down on the bed. Upon his asking Wiles what the trouble was, Wiles replied that it was “none of his damn business.” He said that he left the house and went over to Strayhorn’s drug store to telephone the police.
W.K. Bobbitt who accompanied Frazier to the home next took the stand and told practically the same story that Frazier did, except it was longer, he having remained in the room while Frazier when to the phone for the officers.
He said that Wiles asked him to get a doctor for his wife. He and Wiles went out on the street and found a car and put Mrs. Wiles in it and carried her to the hospital.
Bobbitt said that Wiles had the gun, and put it in the foot of the car while they were on the way to the hospital. He got it and gave it to officer King who came out to the hospital and made the arrest. The gun, a 45 colt automatic, was introduced as evidence in court. There were two cartridges in the gun. The witness testified that it would hold seven cartridges.
He stated that Wiles, on the way to the hospital, stated that Gordon started to put his hand in his pocket, but he, Wiles, beat him to it. The witness also said that Wiles stated that he would tell later why he had killed Gordon.
Officer Riggsby told of making the arrest and to getting the pistol from the foot of the auto in which Mrs. Wiles had been taken to the hospital. At the time it was taken over by the officer there were two bullets in it with the five empty chambers, the magazine having capacity of seven bullets.
Ben Cheek next took the stand and told of Wiles coming into the store on the morning of August 8, the day of the double homicide, and asking if a Mrs. Wiles and her two little girls lived across the street. He came in the store twice. The firs time he asked not only about Mrs. Wiles and the two girls but also asked if a man, Gordon and another man named Doyle lived at the boarding house. The second time Wiles came into the store it was a little before 10 o’clock that morning and he carried a package in his hand. Mr. Dixon verified the testimony of young Cheek.
Said He Was Sleuth
Clyde Holt testified that the defendant came into the market shortly after 10 o’clock that day and said he was a detective from South Carolina and that he had warrants for the arrest of two men, one named Gordon and the other named Doyle. He wanted to know if he might stay in the store and watch the boarding house across the street where he had found that Gordon was stopping. And from then on until about 12 o’clock that day he watched from behind a counter near the front show window. During this time Clyde Holt testified Wiles opened a package and took therefrom a pistol which he laid on the counter showcase on a lower shelf. The pistol was unwrapped hen Holt asked the “detective” if he carried a pistol.
Willie Holt said he was working at the fish counter that morning and wore an apron. While the defendant was watching, one of the Wiles girls came into the store to pay Mrs. Wiles’ bill. As she came in, Wiles stooped down behind the counter and behind his apron, until she left the store. She did not see her father. The witness said he saw Wiles take the pistol from the showcase and stick it inside of his coat, and then leave the store in a run when a truck drove up in front of the boarding house and stopped. A little later he heard the five shots fired. Clyde Holt testified that three of the shots were fired in quick succession and then a short interval elapsed, followed by the other two shots in quick succession.
Mr. Wynne testified to the location of the wound sin the dead man’s body, one bullet entered the left breast and came out beneath the right shoulder blade. Another entered the left front of the throat and came out to the right of the back of the neck. A third bullet entered through the lobe of the left ear and came out behind the right ear. The fourth wound was through the fleshy part of the left forearm. From the position of the wounds the state brought out that the man firing the shots at the man killed would have been standing to the left and not in front of the man shot.
Chief Doby, the next witness told of finding three bullets in the death room of the boarding house. One of these was found in a window sash, the window being raised. Another of the bullets were found on the floor near the dead man’s right shoulder and the third bullet was dug from the floor near his head. The course of this bullet was been at an angle with the floor, the state intimating that this bullet had been fired after Gordon had fallen.
Wiles on the Stand
After several other witnesses had been placed on the stand by the state, it rested and Wiles was placed in the witness chair by the defense.
Wiles declared that he was born in Columbia, S.C., 41 years ago next November 2; that he had lived in Columbia for 10 years and 11 months, and that he was an automobile mechanic by profession. Wiles declared that he had worked at his trade for 25 years and that he had worked for several concerns in Columbia, and also was in business for himself from 1915 to 1918.
The defendant declared that he entered the army, and had served as an instructor of mechanics at the University of South Carolina until the war ended. He then worked for 15 months in a Columbia garage, quitting his job to again enter business for himself. Wiles also testified that he married Miss Drom Byrd Moss on November 1, 1911, and that he had two children, Francis Lillian and Lucile Margaret.
In response to numerous questions by Victor Bryant of the following story “I first saw Gordon in August 1923 at Miller’s blacksmith shop in Columbia. A short while later, he brought an automobile to my shop to be repaired. My wife did not know him then. Some time later, I was chairman of a church committee in charge of a barbecue, and I employed Gordon to put up some tables for me. My wife met him at the barbecue.
“The next time I saw Gordon was when he came into my garage and said that he was down and out, I gave him $10 and told him that he might be down but that he was not out, and I offered him a room in my home. That was July of 1921. I was in bad health during the latter part of the year, and in January I entered the hospital, remaining there until March.”
“Was there any relationship between your wife and Gordon after you left the hospital?” Mr. Bryant questioned.
“Yes, he continued to stay at my house and every time I would turn my back, he was there,” Wiles replied. The solicitor objected to the testimony, and it was ordered stricken out for the present time. Wiles, however, declared that he had told Gordon to stay away from his home.
Did Mr. Hayes, Mr. Taylor, or any one tell you anything about a statement made to them by Gordon?” Mr. Bryant asked.
“Mr. Hayes told me that Gordon said he would kill me on sight, while Mr. Taylor asked me if I had a gun or a knife, that Gordon said he was going to kill me. That was 90 days before the homicide,” Wiles replied.
Wiles declared that he left Columbia on August 7, going to Raleigh on the Seaboard, and then coming to Durham on the Southern, arriving here at 2:15 o’clock on the morning of August 8. The defendant declared that he came here to get his wife and children, and planned to leave on the 4:35 train on the afternoon of August 8, to return home. He said that his wife and children had been away two weeks and five days when he came here.
What was your purpose here?” Mr. Bryant questioned.
“To get my wife and children away from Gordon,” Wiles replied.
Wiles declared that after arriving in Durham, he saw Sergeant Broadie Sharpe in front of police headquarters and asked him if the police had located his wife and children. He said the officer informed him that they had not, and that he then went to a local hotel and retired, getting up about 6:30 o’clock Saturday morning. After breakfast he said he went to the telegraph office where he received a telegram telling him that his wife and children were living at 620 West Chapel Hill street.
“I then went to the grocery store on Chapel Hill street, getting there about 9:15 o’clock. I asked those in the store if they knew whether a lady and two girls lived across the street, and they said that they did. I also asked if Doyle and Gordon lived there, and they said they did not known whether they lived there or not.
“I then went to the next door to the meat market, where I talked rather freely with a man in the store about different things. I left the market at 12:15 o’clock and went to the house across the street. I had not seen my wife or Gordon go in and when I saw Mrs. Weaver in the hall, I asked her the way to my wife’s room. She told me, and I started up the steps. When I met two men bringing a sewing machine down the steps, I stepped inside a room on the second floor until they passed, and then went on to the third floor.
“When I reached the door of my wife’s room, I saw her sitting on the bed beside my two little girls. Gordon was standing between the bed and table, and I asked him “what doest is mean?’ he replying, ‘Nothing.’ Gordon then advanced a step toward me, and reached toward his hip pocket. When he did, I pulled my pistol from my hip pocket and shot him. After the first shot, Gordon grabbed my wife with his left arm and attempted to hide behind her. My second shot hit my wife, causing her to drop to the bed, and causing Gordon’s left arm to fall limp. I then fired two other shots and Gordon dropped.
“I picked up my wife with the assistance of a man who cem in the room, and carried her down the stairs and put her in an automobile parked in front of the house. When we reached the hospital, I picked up my wife and carried her into the hospital and laid her on the operating table and told the doctors to give her the very best of treatment.
“I was sitting in the reception room consoling my two children when Officer Riggsbee came in. I heard him ask if the man that killed a man a few minutes before was there, and I walked to him with my hands raised, and told him that I was the man he was after.
“Did you know that Gordon carried a pistol?” Mr. Bryant asked.
“Yes, I had seen it about half a dozen times,” Wiles replied.
Shot to Save Self
“Why did you shoot Gordon?”
“To save myself.”
“How many times did you shoot?”
“Four times.”
“How close together were the shots fired?”
“Two close together, and two a few seconds later.”
“How many bullets will your revolver hold?”
“Seven.”
“How many bullets did your bring to Durham?”
“Six.”
“How many bullets remained in the pistol after the shooting?”
“Two.”
“Did you know Gordon’s reputation as to violence?”
“He was a bad man; he didn’t have any reputation.”
“Do you know when your wife left that he was doing detective work?”
“On Monday morning, July 20. I went to the home that afternoon and my wife and children were gone.”
Wiles was then turned over to the state for cross-examination. In reply to questions by Solicitor McLendon, Wiles declared that he had finished the eighth grade in school, and that he did not go to the police station or to the sheriff’s office when he arrived her to get assistance from the police or the sheriff.
The defendant testified that he purchased his pistol in Columbia the day before he left to come to Durham. Wiles denied that he wrote on the piece of paper in which was wrapped the pistol. When questioned as to why he told the man in the market that he was a detective, Wiles declared that he told him. Solicitor McLendon then fired questions in rapid fire order at the defendant relative to his detective work, Wiles replying that he had done detective work for 50 or more persons during the past eight or nine years.
The solicitor asked Whiles why he did not go to the house to see his wife, or talk with his daughter when she came into the store. The defendant declared that he did not want any trouble.
“As a matter of fat, you shot Gordon as he leaned against the window of your wife’s room, didn’t you?” the solicitor asked.
“No I did not shoot him while he was leaning against the window,” Wiles replied.
Mr. McLendon also asked the defendant if it was not a fact that he shot Gordon the last time as Gordon lay on the floor, and that he told his daughter, “For God’s Sake, don’t tell that he was shot on the floor.” Wiles denied that he shot Gordon after he fell, and that he told his child not to tell anything.”
“Were you afraid of Gordon?”
“Yes,” Wiles replied.
“Then why didn’t you call the police?”
Because,” declared Wiles, “I wanted to go get my family and get out of the town without any publicity.”
Wiles declared that he did not know that Gordon was in the room when he entered, and when questioned by the solicitor as to whether he did not know that an army automatic pistol like the one used by Wiles, would knock a an down the first time. Wiles replied that he did not know it.”
For half an hour more Wiles testified, following which he was excused and left the witness stand, after which court adjourned until Thursday.
More Defense Witnesses
At the opening of Thursday’s session of court, following Wiles’ dramatic story on the previous afternoon of the incidents leading up to the shooting of Gordon, the defense began placing its long string of witnesses on the stand. The majority of these were from South Carolina, the home of the principals in the tragedy. All of these witnesses emphatically declared that Wiles bore a good reputation in his home city and county was known as a hard-working home-loving man.
They told of previous trouble which wiles had with Gordon, of the latter’s threats to kill him and of the attempts and the success of Gordon to breaking up the Wiles home. In a dramatic manner they told of the departure of Wiles for Durham after he had been found that while he had been undergoing treatment in a Columbia hospital, Gordon had induced Mrs. Wiles to leave the city with him, of the fact that he had been warned to “look out for Gordon” and of the receipt of information telling of the killing.
The immense throng which again crowded into the court room listening with rapt attention to each witness as they went into details of the life of the slayer, of the trouble that he had and while they told of his good character and declared that they were in full sympathy with him.
Argument Begins
Shortly before noon the defense rested and the argument begun. Victor Young, assisting Solicitor L.P. McLendon, addressed the jury first. He made a most impassioned appeal to the jurors, pointing out the fact that Wiles had followed Gordon to Durham and had shot him down almost without warning. He asked that the jurors take the evidence which had been presented to them and render a verdict accordingly. He asked them not to let sympathy override them and to do their full duty as they saw it. He ended with a plea for the return of a verdict of guilty.
Following Mr. Young, W.J. Brogden, first of the defense counsel, addressed the jury. The ability of Mr. Brodgen before a jury is well known locally and he was at his best in this case. There was no detail of the evidence that he did not touch upon. He painted a word picture of the life and alleged treachery of Gordon, he called attention to the fact that Wiles was a kind husband and a loving father and a friend to the man he slew before than friend broke up his house. He told the jury that there was not a man who sat before him but who would have done the same thing.
Probably never before has a more impassioned appeal for the life of a prisoner at the bar been made than Mr. Brogden made for the life and acquittal of Wiles and when he concluded there were many damp eyes among the spectators.
At that juncture the court ordered that a recess be taken until 2:30 o’clock.
Article continues at newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073001/1925-10-17/ed-1/seq-2/
. . . .
From the front page of the Carolina Jeffersonian, Raleigh, N.C., Oct. 17, 1925
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073001/1925-10-17/ed-1/seq-1/
No comments:
Post a Comment