W.L Ross has been in Central Prison, Raleigh, since June of 1926. Although the state supreme court orders a new trial, W.L. Ross has been too ill to withstand that trial. Also I would point out that there is absolutely no question that Ross murdered the Odoms and he would have also murdered 15-year-old Sallie Bett, but she was able to escape in the confusion. This is not a case of mistaken identity or the State prosecuting the wrong person. It’s simply a story of justice and prisons in 1926 and 1927. You also need to keep in mind the state of treatment of mental illness in this timeframe.
Calendaring North Carolina Events in Year Just Closed
W.L. Ross appears twice. Prisoners were rushed to State Prison or a jail in another county when the crime had so angered the people that law enforcement feared they could not prevent a lynching. This is also why, when the trial was held, the national guard was called up and men in uniforms with fixed bayonets were in the courtroom.
May 15th: Warrenton—W.L. Ross slays two neighbors; rushed to State penitentiary for safekeeping.
August 6th: Raleigh—W. L. Ross, convicted of murder, attempts suicide on death row.
From page 6 of The Concord Times, Jan. 3, 1927
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn91068271/1927-01-03/ed-1/seq-6/
-=-
W.L. Ross Gets New Trial
W.L. Ross, slayer of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Odom in Warren county last May, gets a new trial. He was convicted of first degree murder.
The Supreme Court sends the case back, after months of wrestling with the case, which from the legal point of view presented more glaring errors in procedure than any tried in a generation, according to Chief Justice Stacey, but Justices Adams and Clarson dissent.
The most glaring errors seems to have been due to the fact that the brutal slaying of the couple, at whose home the step daughter of the defendant was staying, aroused such excitement that little attention was paid at the trial to legal form.
The Chief Justice orders a new trial on the grounds that evidence as to drunkenness of the defendant, which would tend to show lack of felonious intent, was improperly excluded. I tis this point only that will become present in the annals of the court. The other glaring errors are left out of the record, though the Chief Justice reviews them in his opinion.
--News & Observer. 14
From page 5 of The Norlina Headlight, Jan. 14, 1927
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92072926/1927-01-14/ed-1/seq-5/
-=-
Ross Granted a New Trial
By International News Service
Raleigh, Jan. 14—When informed through an Internal News Service correspondent Wednesday night that the Supreme Court had granted him a new lease on life, W.L. Ross, convicted slayer of two, received the news stoically.
The convicted slayer of the aged Warren county couple that had befriended his step-daughter who had run away from home, would not make any comment, and no perceptible sign of emotion played over his countenance.
The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Warren County Superior Court and granted Ross a new trial on the grounds of exclusion of testimony.
Ross is an inmate of death row at State prison. He will remain in solitary confinement until his next trial, which remains to be set.
Points other than the exclusion of testimony were mentioned, but not passed on by the Supreme Court.
From page 6 of the Concord Daily Tribune, Jan. 15, 1926
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073201/1927-01-15/ed-1/seq-6/
-=-
A mention of W.L. Ross in a long story about Otto Wood:
While on “death row” Wood attracted attention to himself by summoning aid to the cell of W.L Ross, Warren county murderer, when Ross attempted to commit suicide by setting fire to his straw mattress and wrapping himself up in it.
From the front page of The Yadkin Ripple, East Bend, N.C., Feb. 17, 1927
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073180/1927-02-17/ed-1/seq-1/
-=-
Another Trial for W.L. Ross, Slayer. . . Since First Convicted He Has Lost Mind and Trial May be Mere Formality
By J.C. Baskervill
Raleigh, May 25—Sentenced to death almost a year ago to the day—on May 23, 1926—W.L Ross today sits in the Warren county jail in Warrenton, awaiting a new trial that is scheduled for this week, unmindful of what has passed, or of what is to come. He does not remember that he killed Mr. and Mrs. Odom in cold blood after his foster daughter had fled to them for safety from his threats.
For W.L. Ross is today stark mad—a maniac.
And his new trial—if one is really held—will be little more than a formality, with a directed verdict of insanity likely.
While no formal announcement to this effect has been made, it is generally understood that this course will be pursued, following a mental examination of Ross made at the Central prison here several days ago.
The examination was made quietly, and newspapermen were not informed that it had been held, or of its results. It was only attended by Dr. Albert Anderson, superintendent of the State Hospital for the Insane at Raleigh, by a number of his staff physicians, and several state officials.
When taken from the cell which he has now occupied for a year, in “death row,” Ross was scarcely able to walk, staggering from side to side, as do insane persons who have lost the power of orientation, and who are no longer able to direct their bodily movements. He stared blankly into space with glassy eyes—indicative of insanity. He was unable to answer even the simplest questions asked him. He was but a mere shadow of a man, the outer shell, with the mind a blank. When taken back to the cell house, instead of attempting to walk, he reverted to the aboriginal, dropped to all furs, and trotted down the runway and into his cell, like an animal into its cage.
When asked what he thought of Ross’s mental condition, Dr. Anderson is said to have stated that he would not hesitate to tell a jury that Ross is unqualifiedly insane, and that he is now in the advanced stages of a form of insanity with which he has probably been suffering for years. Others were of the same opinion.
-=-
A fragment from M.L. Shipman’s “Our Raleigh Newspaper” that mentions W.L. Ross:
W.L. Ross, who killed two friends because they befriended his step-daughter, was taken from death row to Warrenton for his second trial on the murder charge but collapsed and the case had to be continued. He probably will escape the chair on a plea of insanity.
From page 5 of The Franklin Times, Louisburg, N.C., June 3, 1927
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn84020791/1927-06-03/ed-1/seq-5/
-=-
Five Prisoners on Death Row. . . One Is to Die Friday. Smallest Number Awaiting Execution in Some Time
Raleigh, N.C., June 6 (INS)—The population of State Prison’s Death Row has dwindled to five.
The removal of Mose Green to Wilson for a new trial granted him recently by the Supreme Court left the lowest number of inmates along death’s row in many months.
One of the inmates, a white man, W.L. Ross, convicted Warren County slayer of two, is under the observation of experts who will decide his sanity. He collapsed when he was taken to Warrenton for his second trial recently.
Ross is the only white inmate of Death’s Row. The other four are negroes.
Two of the negroes have their doom date set.
Pearl Mitchell, Chatham County slayer, is under sentence of death on June 10.
Joe Anderson, Franklin County, is under sentence to die in the electric chair on July 1.
Mitchell has lost an appeal to the Supreme Court, but Anderson still has time in which to perfect an appeal.
From the front page of The Beaufort News, June 9, 1927
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn91068210/1927-06-09/ed-1/seq-1/
-=-
Few Prisoners in Death Row. . . Only Three Men in Penitentiary Cells Awaiting Electrocution. One Declared Insane
Raleigh, July 2 (INS)—State Prison’s Death Row presented a lonely appearance today, with only three condemned men along the row of strong cells. There were four, but executive clemency whisked Joe Andrews, Franklin county negro, from the jaws of death and placed him in the State Hospital for the Insane C(olored) at Goldsboro.
It now appears that there will be no execution at the prison for the remainder of the summer. The lone white man on Death’s row is W.L. Ross, alleged double slayer of Warren County, but he will get a new trial in September.
The other two inmates, negroes from Gaston County, have appeals before the State Supreme Court. Their execution will be stayed until the high tribunal acts on their cases. The Supreme Court is now having its summer recess, and the cases will not be reached until Fall.
Ross, the white prisoner, was convicted nearly two years ago, for the murder of an aged Warren County the benefactors of his little daughter. [This sentence is typed the way it appeared in the newspaper. I don’t know what was meant. The Odoms were not an aged couple. His little daughter was 15 years old when she witnessed the shooting, and she was 15 and either his adopted daughter, perhaps his wife’s child from before her marriage to Ross, or the sister of Sidney Odom.] Alienists are now examining the doomed man for traces of insanity. They are expected to make a report on his case in the near future.
From page 7 of the Beaufort News, Thursday, July 7, 1927
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn91068210/1927-07-07/ed-1/seq-7/
-=-
Another newspaper printed the above story with garbled sentence now clearly written:
“Ross, the white prisoner, was convicted nearly two years ago for the murder of an aged Warren county couple, the benefactors of his little daughter.”
Only problem with sentence is now it’s incorrect. The Odoms were not an aged couple and they were not benefactors of his little daughter. Ross had a young daughter, unnamed, younger than 10, but the girl who sought shelter with the Odoms was Sallie, who is variously described as Ross’s adopted daughter, step daughter, foster daughter, but she is 15 years old at the time, and Ross attempted to shoot her when he shot and killed the Odoms.
-=-
Slayer of Aged Couple Goes On Trial Again This Week
Raleigh, Sept. 20—W.L. Ross of Warrenton, confessed slayer of an aged couple who befriended his step-daughter, is scheduled to leave “Death Row” at State Prison this week for another trial in Warren County. Mr. and Mrs. Sidney R. Odom were slain by Ross as they sat I their home at Alert on May 16, 1926.
They had befriended the step-daughter of Ross, who had left his roof on account of his persistently intoxicated condition.
He does not want to live, he says.
Taken to the prison immediately after the crime, he pleaded with officers for an immediate execution, denied tis he attempted suicide by wrapping himself in the mattress of his cell and setting fire to it. Repeatedly he has asked for and sought death.
About one week after the crime was committed, he was tried and sentenced to die, but the State which sought his life then closed the door of death. It appeared that Ross was insane—that there was evidence of his insanity which should have been presented at his trial.
The Supreme Cout granted a new trial.
When his second trial was called in May, Ross was brought into the court room in Warrenton in such a weakened condition that the trial was postponed.
He sits in his cell today emaciated and unkept with the blank silent stare of a madman. He has heard the last prayers for almost a dozen doomed men about to receive the punishment he has been denied.
He seems to resent it.
From the front page of The Beaufort News, Sept. 22, 1927
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn91068210/1927-09-22/ed-1/seq-1/
-=-
From page 2 of The Norlina Headlight:
Oct. 5, 1927, a $2 jury tax was levied in the case of W.L. Ross. Page 2 of The Norlina Headlight, Dec. 23, 1927
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92072926/1927-12-23/ed-1/seq-2/
-=-
Editor’s Note: I haven't found the end to W.L. Ross's story yet. The newspapers go silent after 1927,perhaps because they started using his full name instead of initials. That means I haven’t yet located any record of the court's decision on his sanity, or on death his death or burial. I hope to check Ancestry.com soon and will update this post when I find more information on this sad story.
No comments:
Post a Comment