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Nell Cropsey Case Discussed in Latest Museum of the Albemarle Materials!

Thanks to our partner, the Museum of the Albemarle, several batches of materials are now available on DigitalNC! The first batch adds several new titles and issues of older Elizabeth City, N.C. newspapers spanning from the 1800s to 1900s.

The second batch of materials contains two magazines and several newspaper clippings highlighting notable Elizabeth City news. Two of the newspaper clippings present in this batch, one from 1902 and the other 1941, directly deal with the infamous Ella Maude “Nell” Cropsey murder in Elizabeth City. The details of the case are provided below using newspaper articles from this batch along with others in our newspaper collection.

According to Ollie Cropsey, her sister Nell Cropsey and James “Jim” Wilcox met in June 1898, just two months after the family moved to Elizabeth City. In the early days, James would come over to see Nell every Sunday and eventually started to come over almost every afternoon. During their time together the two would go on walks, rides, sail, and see shows. However, in the fall of 1901 the two started getting into arguments and spats. After a period of silence and the arrival of Ollie and Nell’s cousin Carrie, the two began speaking again. The night Nell went missing from her family’s waterfront home in Elizabeth City, she was socializing with her visiting cousin Carrie, sister Ollie, LeRoy Crawford, and James Wilcox.

That evening, on November 20, 1901, around 11:10PM, Nell escorted Wilcox presumptively out of the house. About 15 minutes later, Crawford left as well. After the departure of Crawford, Ollie closed the door and windows and went to the bedroom she shared with her sister. She was surprised to find that her sister was not yet in their room, but figured she was either still talking with Wilcox outside or in the dining room and either went to sleep or stayed awake until 12:30AM depending on which newspaper issue you read. Whether she went to sleep or stayed awake, a commotion on the property had Mr. Cropsey getting his gun to defend his pigs. At that point, Ollie told her father to not shoot as James and Nell were potentially in the yard. Not finding Nell in the near vicinity, they began to search for her. Still unable to find her, the family enlisted the help of the community the following day. The search came to an end on December 27th when her body was found close to her home on the surface of the Pasquotank River. Wilcox was found guilty of second degree murder in 1902 and sentenced to 30 years.

According to the newspaper clipping from the March 13, 1941 issue of The Daily Advance, Wilcox’s father—former sheriff of Pasquotank County, Thomas Wilcox—tried several times to have him pardoned on petitions. The pardons were denied by governors two separate times supposedly as a result of Wilcox’s attitude during the search for Nell and towards the Cropsey family during the trial. In 1918, however, Wilcox was pardoned by Governor Thomas Bickett after writing the governor a “humble letter […] declaring innocence.”

To learn more about the Nell Cropsey case as it was happening, read the March 21, 1902 issue of the Tar Heel (Elizabeth City, N.C.) that provides details of the trial or by searching our newspaper collection here. For a present day look into the case, view The Daily Advance‘s article from October 9, 2021, “Author: Wilcox wrongly convicted of Cropsey murder,” covering author William Dunstan’s talk on the Cropsey case.

To view more materials from the Museum of the Albemarle, visit their contributor page here.

To browse more newspapers from across the state, visit our North Carolina Newspaper Collection linked here.

To learn more about the Museum of the Albemarle, visit their website here.


70 Newspaper Titles Added to DigitalNC

Headmast of July 28, 1916 issue of The Advance from Elizabeth City

This week we have another 70 titles up on DigitalNC including over 1,000 issues of The Robesonian, 1,000 issues of The Western Sentinel, 3,000 issues of The Reidsville Review, 4,000 issues of The News and Observer, and almost 4,000 issues of the Salisbury Evening Post!

In the March 8th, 1914 issue of The News and Observers we have an article detailing a practice game played by the Baltimore Orioles while in Fayetteville. This happens to be the game where a 19 year old George Herman “Babe” Ruth hit his first home run as a professional baseball player. Ruth was also given his iconic nickname “Babe” while in Fayetteville on this trip.

Article from March 8, 1914 issue of The News and Observer where Babe Ruth hit his first home run as a player for the Baltimore Orioles

The News and Observer, March 8th, 1914

Three people standing in front of the sign commemorating Babe Ruth's first home run

Image via The Fayetteville Observer

Over the next year, we’ll be adding millions of newspaper images to DigitalNC. These images were originally digitized a number of years ago in a partnership with Newspapers.com. That project focused on scanning microfilmed papers published before 1923 held by the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Special Collections Library. While you can currently search all of those pre-1923 issues on Newspapers.com, over the next year we will also make them available in our newspaper database as well. This will allow you to search that content alongside the 2 million pages already on our site – all completely open access and free to use.

This week’s additions include:

Asheboro

Asheville

Belhaven

Brevard

Charlotte

Cherryville

Clayton

Concord

Cooleemee

Creedmoor

Durham

East Bend

Elizabeth City

Forest City

Gastonia

Goldsboro

Greenville

Kenly

Leaksville

Lenoir

Lincolnton

Lumberton

Mocksville

Mooresville

Moravian Falls

New Bern

Raleigh

Red Springs

Reidsville

Rocky Mount

Rutherfordton

Salisbury

Selma

Shelby

Smithfield

Spruce Pines & Burnsville

Statesville

Taylorsville

Washington

Waynesville

Wilmington

Windsor

Winston-Salem

If you want to see all of the newspapers we have available on DigitalNC, you can find them here. Thanks to UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries for permission to and support for adding all of this content as well as the content to come. We also thank the North Caroliniana Society for providing funding to support staff working on this project.


Thousands of Newspapers up on DigitalNC!

Headmast for March 24, 1911 issue of Elizabeth City's Tar Heel newspaper

This week we have tens of thousands of issues up on DigitalNC! In this batch we have over 1,000 issues of The High Point Enterprise and Lenoir News-Topic, more than 4,000 issues of The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer, 5,000 issues of the Goldsboro Daily Argus, over 5,500 issues of The Kinston Free Press, 7,000 issues of the Asheville Citizen, and more!

Over the next year, we’ll be adding millions of newspaper images to DigitalNC. These images were originally digitized a number of years ago in a partnership with Newspapers.com. That project focused on scanning microfilmed papers published before 1923 held by the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Special Collections Library. While you can currently search all of those pre-1923 issues on Newspapers.com, over the next year we will also make them available in our newspaper database as well. This will allow you to search that content alongside the 2 million pages already on our site – all completely open access and free to use.

This week’s additions include:

Asheville

Charlotte

Concord

Davidson

Durham

Edenton

Elizabeth City

Elkin

Fayetteville

Gastonia

Goldsboro

Graham

Greensboro

Halifax

Hickory

High Point

Kinston

Lenoir

Raleigh

Shelby

Wilmington

If you want to see all of the newspapers we have available on DigitalNC, you can find them here. Thanks to UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries for permission to and support for adding all of this content as well as the content to come. We also thank the North Caroliniana Society for providing funding to support staff working on this project.

 


40 Newspaper Titles added to DigitalNC

Headmast for August 31, 1899 issue of the Durham Daily Sun

Another 40 newspaper titles up on DigitalNC this week! In this batch are many titles from all over the state (including nine from Rutherfordton) and a little local baseball history.

Featured in the May 5, 1902 issue of the Durham Daily Sun is the very first game of the Durham Tobacconists, the baseball team that would go on to become the Durham Bulls in 1913. While they lost their inaugural match to the Charlotte team 12-2, the author is optimistic and writes that “everything may soon be going their way.” They dropped out of the season two months later.

Article from May 5, 1902 issue of the Durham Daily Sun introducing the first game of baseball team the Durham Tobacconists

Durham Daily Sun, May 5, 1902

Article from May 6, 1902 issue of the Durham Daily Sun detailing the Durham Tobacconists 12-2 loss to the Charlotte team

Durham Daily Sun, May 6, 1902

Over the next year, we’ll be adding millions of newspaper images to DigitalNC. These images were originally digitized a number of years ago in a partnership with Newspapers.com. That project focused on scanning microfilmed papers published before 1923 held by the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Special Collections Library. While you can currently search all of those pre-1923 issues on Newspapers.com, over the next year we will also make them available in our newspaper database as well. This will allow you to search that content alongside the 2 million pages already on our site – all completely open access and free to use.

This week’s additions include:

Charlotte

Durham

Elizabeth City

Fayetteville

Gastonia

High Point

Kinson

Oxford

Plymouth

Raleigh

Roanoke Rapids

Rockingham

Rutherford College

Rutherfordton

Southern Pines

Southport

Troy

Wilmington

If you want to see all of the newspapers we have available on DigitalNC, you can find them here. Thanks to UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries for permission to and support for adding all of this content as well as the content to come. We also thank the North Caroliniana Society for providing funding to support staff working on this project.


The Daily Advance, Newspaper from Elizabeth City, Now Online

The headline in The Daily Advance announcing the sudden death of the 29th President of the United States.

Over 1300 issues of Elizabeth City’s daily newspaper–The Daily Advance, provided by our partner, Pasquotank County Library, are now digitized. These issues span the time period from 1923-1927, and as indicated by the paper’s name, were published every day except Sundays. The Daily Advance was founded in 1911 and continues to be published online and in print. Elizabeth City is located in Pasquotank County on the North Carolina coast. Currently the paper also covers Currituck, Camden, Perquimans, and Chowan counties.

During the 1920s The Daily Advance covered both national and local news including politics, the economy, and other stories of note. The paper provides a lens to see the nation during the roaring ’20s through the view of coastal North Carolinians. The introduction of new products and industries, dramatic political events, shifts cultural norms, and changing role of the media can be seen in this local paper.

To browse through issues of The Daily Advance, click here. To see more materials from Pasquotank County Library, take a look at their partner page or visit their website.

New women’s fashion trends discussed in the September 14, 1925 issue of The Daily Advance


Newspapers Selected for Digitization, 2016

The following microfilmed newspapers have been selected for digitization in 2016-2017. Around 70 reels were chosen from over 1,100 nominated reels, according to our Criteria for Selecting Newspapers to Digitize from Microfilm.

Title Years Nominating Institution
Carolina Indian Voice (Pembroke, N.C.) 1996-2005 UNC-Chapel Hill
The Cherokee Scout (Murphy, N.C.) 1923-1943 Murphy Public Library
The Daily Advance (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1923-1927 Pasquotank County Public Library
Farmville Enterprise (Farmville, N.C.) 1914-1941 Farmville Public Library
The Franklin Times (Louisburg, N.C.)  1909-1924 Louisburg College
The Future Outlook (Greensboro, N.C.) 1941-1972 UNC-Greensboro
The Roxboro Courier (Roxboro, N.C.) 1922-1929 Person County Public Library
State Port Pilot (Southport, N.C.) 1935-1949 Margaret and James Harper Jr. Library
Washington Daily News (Washington, N.C.) 1909-1916 George H. and Laura E. Brown Library

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