A Mysterious Death on Noland Creek

When I was a child living on Sherrill Gap, we were less than a mile from the Lakeshore Drive (Road to Nowhere) entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. On many a hot summer day, Mom and Dad would load us kids up and take us to Noland Creek to cool off in its cold, refreshing waters. Ever since those early days, Noland Creek has held a very special place in my heart and I still routinely hike there. Finding the newspaper article that inspired this blog only added to my intrigue with the creek. 

Regrettably, there was no solution to this mystery - but I hope you'll find the story interesting nonetheless.

Noland Creek, 04 September 2020
Source: Wendy Meyers

My brothers and I, first bridge on Noland Creek downstream from the parking area (20 May 1984) (Source: Margy Trehern)

__________________________________________________________

On a late October day in 1911, Jeff Woody, a resident of Noland Creek, went traipsing through the woods near Sassafras Knob on a search for chestnuts and instead stumbled across a scene that must have haunted him for the rest of his life.

For Jeff Woody found a body.

On November 2nd, 1911, the Asheville Gazette-News reported the following:

"Information has come here from Bryson City of the finding of a decomposed body of a man at Noland creek in Swain county the first of the week, by Jeff Woody, who was hunting chestnuts. The body was behind a log and was concealed by boards. Coroner Davis (Note: this would have been Dr. Robert Lee Davis) visited the place and gave it as his opinion that the man had been dead about a year. One of the arm bones was broken in two places. The theory of death is that he must have been murdered and boards placed over the body to conceal it. The clothing is said to be of good material, corduroy cap and trousers. In the pockets were found 65 cents, a key, and a razor."

USGS Mount Guyot Quad (1912), showing the Upper Noland Creek area.
Source: usgs.gov

The next day, the Asheville Citizen-Times further reported that:

"....It is believed that he was a mineralogist and was slain by someone who hid the body in such a manner that he believed it would be concealed forever. The place in the woods was not near a public road although the woods are hunted in quite frequently......It is recalled that about eight months ago a person clothed similarly to the body which has caused so much excitement here was a guest at one of the local hotels. He stated that he was in search of mineral lands and many people here believed that he came to his death immediately after leaving here. His name cannot be recalled. 
The fact that the clothes of the person who was found dead contained several gravels (NOTE: these were later determined to be quartz) would strengthen the belief that the dead man was a miner or mineralogist. The stranger who was here several months ago is remembered to have enquired about the way to the head of Noland's Creek.
The indications are that the man was camping in the woods in which he was found and the opinion is freely expressed that he was slain by his campmate, although no idea is entertained as to who committed the murder." - Asheville Citizen-Times, 03 November 1911

Picture of men in 1910 - the clothing the deceased individual was wearing was probably similar. (Source: gentlemansgazette.com)

As no local citizens were determined to be missing, the identity of the man was a mystery. Individuals in the Buncombe County area felt that the remains might belong to a former Confederate soldier by the name of John C. Hunter, who had disappeared from his home on Avery's Creek in May 1909. Various acquaintances indicated that he'd had his arm amputated above the elbow (and the skeleton found had broken arm bones), he'd last been seen in a corduroy coat, and he'd been carrying small stones in his pocket, which he said he'd picked up in some of the "western counties" on the chance that they might hold value. However, it made little sense as to why Mr. Hunter, then about 74 years of age, would be near this remote area of Swain County, a great distance from his home....particularly in 1911. 

Investigation into the presumed murder continued, and on January 28, 1912, Henry Dailey was arrested in Cherokee County in connection with it, after officials there had received instructions a few days earlier from an officer (presumably from Swain County) to arrest him on sight. After that, the trail of this mystery goes abruptly cold..... 

Asheville Gazette-News, 30 January 1912.
Source: newspapers.com

There are no further newspaper accounts of what happened after that, and no death certificate to indicate the manner of death. Our mysterious victim's final resting place is likewise unknown, but if his body was brought to Bryson City for autopsy, he may have been buried in one of the unmarked graves in the Bryson City Cemetery. Hope remains that some data regarding this case may reside in the NC State Archives, and if I'm ever able to locate any, I will update this article. 

The next time you're up on Noland Creek hiking, horseback riding, or attending Decoration Day, consider taking a moment as you travel the road to ponder the sad fate of a nameless stranger who walked that same peaceful road in 1910, likely in search of his fortune, and instead met a violent and untimely end in the surrounding woods. It's a tragic story.

Noland Creek Road, 04 September 2020
Source: Wendy Meyers

Postscript: Interestingly, another skeleton was found in Swain County less than a year later high up on Hazel Creek. This man was not believed to have been murdered but was felt to have died of hypothermia while crossing the mountains, going from Tennessee to Proctor, likely to work for Ritter Lumber (reported by The Raleigh Times on 20 July 1912).

_____________________________________________________________________

Sources:

Asheville Citizen-Times, 03 November 1911
Asheville Gazette-News, 02 November 1911
Asheville Gazette-News, 30 January 1912
Margy Trehern
The Raleigh Times, 20 July 1912
www.ancestry.com
www.gentlemansgazette.com
www.newspapers.com
www.usgs.gov

 

The Killing of Willie DeLozier (13 October 1888)

William L. "Willie" DeLozier (center) with sister Lillie Ivalee (on left) and brother John Cleveland
(on right). The picture was taken circa 1885.
Source: Elise DeLozier Palmer (daughter of J.C. DeLozier)

Early on in my research, I came across this fascinating little article in a North Carolina newspaper about the shooting death of an 18 year-old young man in Swain County. 

Source: The Daily Evening Patriot (Greensboro, NC)
16 October 1888

Various iterations of this article appeared in other North Carolina newspapers. I was intrigued, as I knew that the DeLozier family had lived in the Judson area and so attempted a great deal of additional research to see what else I could find out about this young man's death - and came up empty-handed. Then a couple of years later, I picked up the book, "Ash, Ashe, Stillwell: A Genealogy", a genealogical history of some of the families who had lived in the Judson and Almond areas of Swain County.  Hidden among the book's 425 pages documenting family members and their progeny, I came across exactly what I had been looking for. As it turns out, a relative of the author, John Reid Ashe, had written to him while he was authoring the book and wanted to share an old family story with him. 

It was on the death of Willie DeLozier. I'd hit the proverbial jackpot. 

I hope you will enjoy Choice Stillwell Parker's letter (below) as much as I did. 

___________________________________

"I've heard my Daddy speak of his Aunt Emmoline Delosier many, many times. Also of how her son, Willie, met his death at an early age. He told us that Willie had dated a Sandlin girl a few times, while at the same time some other boy was dating her. He said that someone gift wrapped a pocket knife and mailed it to the Sandlin girl. Now in those days this was considered an insult, so her brother Matt, carried the knife back to Willie Delosier. Willie assured Matt that he had not mailed the knife to the girl, that it was not his knife and he had never seen it before. Matt carried the knife back down to the general store and left it there. A few days later the knife was received through the mail by the Sandlin girl again, all gift wrapped as before.

On a Saturday afternoon, shortly thereafter, Matt Sandlin showed up at the general store, sat around and talked for a while, and was heard to say he was going over to spend the night with Willie and would kill him while he was there. Matt arrived at Willie's late in the afternoon and after supper they were sitting around talking and Matt asked Willie to go hunting with him the next morning. Willie agreed. Willie did not know the girl had received the knife a second time and no idea what was going on in Matt's mind.

When morning came, Willie fixed breakfast. His mother was in bed sick with mumps, I believe it was. Willie went up to see about his mother and found her with a headache. He tied a handkerchief around his mother's head and told her of his plans to go hunting with Matt. His mother didn't want him to go, she said she didn't 'feel right about it'. Willie assured her he would be alright and would be back in a little while.

Mary Rebecca Emaline (nee' Stillwell) DeLozier, 
mother of Willie DeLozier.
Source: "Ash, Ashe, Stillwell"

Matt borrowed a gun from Willie and they set out for the field below the house. They said when Aunt Emmoline heard the shotgun blast a little later she said 'Oh, Lord! He's killed my son.' In a short while Matt came back to the house and said there had been an accident. Said he accidentally shot and killed Willie.

Willie was brought to the house and friends and neighbors came in, bathed, dressed, and 'laid Willie out'. In the evening when the community gathered to visit with the Delosiers, Matt was among the crowd but for some reason he would not go in to look at Willie as other friends were doing. When someone asked him why, he said he would rather not see Willie dead. Now, some of the men and boys who suspected what had happened on that hunting trip got together and decided they would make Matt go in and look at Willie. When they forced Matt to look at Willie, blood started oozing out through Willie's white shirt at the spot where the heart is (Willie was shot through the heart). This, they said, was proof that Matt had murdered Willie.

They carried Matt to jail and had a sort of trial, but since no one saw what happened in that field, he came clear. But my Daddy always said, he and everyone else around there, knew Matt Sandlin had made his threat good and killed Willie Delosier."

                 Choice Stillwell Parker in "Ash, Ashe, Stillwell", by John Ashe

Documentation of the inquest for Willie DeLozier
Source: Swain County Herald, 14 February 1889

______________________________________________

In a sad twist of fate, Willie was killed exactly three years (to the day) after the death of his father, Jesse Ridings DeLozier. Willie, his parents, and many other of his family members, are buried in the Judson section of the Lauada Cemetery. 

Note: The Matt Sandlin referred to in the tale of Willie's death was almost certainly Matison W. Sandlin (alternately recorded as Madison B Sandlin) (1869 - 30 July 1894), who was related to the DeLoziers by marriage (his brother, Will, was married to Nancy Caroline DeLozier). The Sandlin girl referred to would have likely been one of Matt's sisters: Mary (born in 1873) or Rachel Annie (born in 1874). He married Mary Lawing in Cherokee County, North Carolina, in 1891. In early November 1893, Sandlin, who was then living in Clay County, engaged in a quarrel with a neighbor and drew his gun to shoot the neighbor but instead struck the neighbor's 5 year-old son, killing him. He fled and was captured in Chester County, Tennessee, in June 1894 and was brought back to Murphy. He died of typhoid fever in the Cherokee County jail on July 30, 1894, while awaiting trial for the child's death.

________________________

Willie DeLozier Headstone, Lauada Cemetery
Source: John L Mathis for findagrave.com

_____________________________________________________

Sources:

Ancestry.com
"Ash, Ashe, Stillwell: A Genealogy" by John Reid Ashe; published 1977.
Asheville Weekly Citizen, 09 November 1893
Asheville Citizen-Times, 19 June 1894
Elise DeLozier Palmer and Amy Palmer Evans
Marion Record, 17 August 1894
Newspapers.com
Swain County Herald, 14 February 1889
The Daily Evening Patriot, 16 October 1888
Wilmington Morning Star, 07 August 1894

The Flu and a Murder

Note to the reader: some of the text is appearing in different fonts and sizes. I did not wish to hold up publication for this issue, but am trying to rectify the issue. Hopefully it will not be too distracting.

Flu season is in full swing now, and it seems to be a particularly deadly one. Swain County had its fair share of flu deaths over the years, particularly during the 'Spanish flu' epidemic of 1918.

According to death certificates filed with the state of North Carolina, influenza claimed the lives of 14 people (7 adults and 7 children) in Swain County during the 1919 - 1920 flu season (which I have arbitrarily defined as November 1919 through May 1920). This represents possibly one third to one half of the actual deaths due to the flu, as many deaths were not registered on actual death certificates in those early days. The most remarkable death associated with this flu season, however, was that of a nurse taking care of a flu-afflicted family.

___________________________________________________________________

Columbus Lafayette Wiggins (October 1880 - February 25, 1920) was the son of Abraham and Clara (nee' Whiteside) Wiggins and grew up in Swain County. In 1906, he married Laura Alice Weeks (June 28, 1885 - Dec 31, 1964) and settled in the Qualla area (later moving to Deep Creek) to raise his family. On January 19, 1920, the census taker visited and recorded Columbus as being employed as a carpenter, married to Laura, and the father of 5 children (Ralph, Ila, Glen, Grady, and Millard).

Abraham and Clara Wiggins Family (Columbus is in the back row, second from the left)
Source: Ancestry.com user maryberrong

That year, the Needmore area was said to have been especially hard-hit with the flu. One of the afflicted families was that of James William 'Willie' Wikle (1878 - 1923), consisting of Willie, his wife Pearl (nee' Potts) (1885 - 1971), and their children Everett, Nancy, Earl, Mae, and Maude. They lived on Hightower Road in a home close to where Wikle Branch crosses under the road. Their  children attended the Hightower School.

Family of Thomas and Louisa (nee' Breedlove) Wikle, circa 1885.
Willie is on the far left.
Photo provided by Fran Rogers.

Willie Wikle with son Everett in his lap, circa 1907
Photo provided by Fran Rogers

Such was the apparent need in the Needmore area that it seems volunteers were recruited from around the county by the Red Cross to help provide care to those families affected by the flu. One of these volunteers was Columbus, who was paired with a girl whose name was only given as "Dehart", to provide care for the Wikles. It is unclear how many days he had been helping to care for the family, but newspaper accounts state that he had helped them "day and night". 

On February 26th, Columbus took a brief walk outside the Wikle home. Just prior to his return to the home, Willie asked Pearl, who was one of the family members afflicted with the flu, to turn her head to the wall. Newspaper accounts vary as to whether Columbus went to tend to Pearl or to two of the children upon his return, but all accounts agree that when he did, Willie attacked him with a knife and inflicted between eight and ten ghastly wounds, including four to the throat - killing him.

Probable site of the Wiggins murder, on Hightower Road past Wikle Branch

Photo taken by Wendy Meyers

The other possible location of the murder - in a home just across the road.
Pearl Wikle is recalled as having lived here after Will Wikle's death.
Photo taken by Wendy Meyers

Wikle was arrested within hours of the murder by Sheriff Rollins Thomasson and two deputies, and held at the Swain County jail pending a grand jury hearing. Two days later, he attempted suicide by slashing his own throat but failed to inflict enough damage to kill himself. What we would today likely term an "emergency hearing" was then convened at which Judge Thaddeus Dillard Bryson II rendered an insanity determination and remanded Will to the insane ward for criminals at the state prison in Raleigh.

Various theories were advanced for the murder, including:

• Jealousy or anger on Willie's part over a supposed romantic relationship between Columbus and the "DeHart girl" (note: according to the 1920 census, the nearest DeHart girls living in proximity to the Wikles were Will's nieces Mary Jane and Delsie);
• Religious differences, in that Columbus was a member of the Pilgrim Holiness Church (what we now know today as the Wesleyan Church) and the Wikles were not. Willie was infuriated when Columbus prayed over his family in the manner of his church; and
• Willie had become ill with flu and was so febrile that he had 'gone mad'. This is certainly what his brother believed, as shown in the brief letter below.

Letter to the editor of the Union Republican (Winston-Salem) newspaper, written
by Willie Wikle's brother John Riece Wikle from Duvall, NC
 (a small community in rural Macon County).
Published March 18, 1920.

At the time of his death, Columbus left behind his wife Laura, his 5 living children (the oldest of whom was 12 at the time of the murder), his unborn child, Ruby (born in June 1920), and his father. He was buried in the Deep Creek Cemetery.

In July of that year, Willie was reported to have returned from Raleigh to Swain County to stand trial. What happened after that time is unclear, as he does not appear to have gone to prison and presumably was sent home. Regrettably, no newspapers from the 1920's in Swain County are available to tell us the rest of his story. One of Columbus's grandchildren with whom I spoke said that Laura's attitude toward Willie Wikle's prosecution was, "If Columbus were here, he would say, 'Let the Lord deal with him'." 

NC Central Prison (year unknown)
Source: newraleigh.com

Willie and Pearl Wikle had no other children after the murder, and Willie died not too many years afterward, on April 26th, 1923. His presumed cause of death was a stroke (his death certificate records that his right side was paralyzed). He is buried in the Grave Gap (also known as Windy Gap) Cemetery along with many of his kin. Shortly thereafter, Pearl Wikle married Charlie Dehart (a neighbor in the community) and bore daughters Edna (1924-2014) and Pauline (1926-2007) and life continued on.

Ninety-eight years have now passed, but such was the impact of the murder on the isolated community that Columbus Wiggins' tragic demise is still spoken of today amongst the old Needmore families. With the tale's players long-dead, we will never truly know what drove one well-respected man to kill another on that cold winter day in February 1920.

Whatever the case, may they both rest in peace. 

________________________________________________________

Sources:
Ancestry.com user maryberrong (photo)
Asheville Citizen-Times, February 29, 1920
Edwin Ammons (location of the murder and of Duvall, NC)
Fran Rogers (photos)
Glenna Wiggins Trull, granddaughter of Columbus Wiggins (family's perspective on the murder)
Newraleigh.com (photo)
The Fayetteville Observer, March 12, 1920
The Union Republican, March 18, 1920 and July 15, 1920
The Winston-Salem Journal, February 26, 1920 and March 2, 1920