I first posted about the murder of grocer and barkeep Charles Gay by Simon Dildy here. Recently, I discovered more newspaper articles about the crime and its aftermath.
Charles Gay and his wife Emma operated a “stand” near the corner of present-day East Nash and Pender Streets. Simon Dildy was Gay’s brother-in-law, but it’s not clear if he was Emma Gay’s brother or the husband of an unidentified sister of Gay. Dildy worked in Gay’s store.
Wilmington Journal, 14 March 1874.
Franklin Courier, 20 March 1874.
Dildy was convicted of murder in Wilson Superior Court and sentenced to death. His attorney appealed to the North Carolina Supreme Court on procedural grounds.
Wilmington Morning Star, 26 September 1874.
Goldsboro Messenger, 28 September 1874.
The North Carolina Supreme Court granted Dildy a new trial, citing error in the trial judge’s rulings on the admissibility of certain evidence.
Goldsboro Messenger, 22 March 1875.
The file in State v. Dildy, 72 N.C. 325 (1875) is found at http://www.familysearch.org. It is a trove of detail about Reconstruction-era Wilson.
The grand jury pool included five black men — Amos Bynum, Orren Batts, Calvin Barnes, Howell Darden, and Hilliard Ellis — and Darden and Ellis were on the panel that indicted Dildy. Dildy was represented at trial by Hugh F. Murray and Harry G. Conner, and Ned Barnes and Green Lassiter sat on the jury that convicted him.
Aaron Skinner‘s testimony was included in the record forwarded to the Supreme Court. Skinner appears in the 1870 census of Wilson, Wilson County, as a 37 year-old carpenter. (By 1880, he had moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, but was in Virginia by the late 1880s.)
On direct examination, Skinner said he was at Charles Gay’s shop the night of the homicide between midnight and 2:00 A.M. with Spellman Moore, Gay, Simon Dildy, and another man. Skinner left to go to Moore’s house about forty yards away, but turned back when he heard arguing. Gay said, “If anybody treats me as you have done, I will take up a stick and beat them down or whip them or kill them.” Skinner then saw Gay walking toward his own house, and Dildy walking in the opposite direction toward Anthony Gay‘s house. Skinner then went to Moore’s house. About ten minutes later, Dildy came to Moore’s house and called Skinner to come out. Dildy was holding a double-barreled shotgun he had gotten from Anthony Gay. Skinner said, “What are you going to do with that?” Dildy responded, “Shoot Charles Gay.” Skinner and Dildy walked toward Gay’s house, and Skinner said, “You ain’t going to do it.” Dildy responded, “I’ll be dog-goned if I ain’t going to do it if he troubles me.” Skinner said, “Stop. I won’t go with you any further if you carry that gun for if Charles sees you with it, he’ll blame me as much as you.”Skinner told Skinner that it Skinner wouldn’t speak to Gay, and and his wife could have Skinner’s house for the night. Dildy agreed and asked Skinner to go to Gay and ask Dildy’s wife to come out. Skinner’s wife came out for four to five minutes. Gay said, “Dog gone it. They may come in. I ain’t going to trouble them.” Dildy’s wife went back to the house, and Gay came out: “Simon! Simon! Is that you? Come here!” Skinner barely had time to turn around before the gun blasted. Skinner ran to Gay, who was leaning against the fence, and they both fell onto a woodpile. Skinner carried Gay into the house, where he died within a few hours. Only about ten minutes elapsed between him leaving Gay’s shop and Gay being shot.
On cross-examination, Skinner asserted that when he first arrived at the shop, Gay was behind the counter “threatening and quarreling about shop affairs.” Dildy was standing outside the bar or counter, saying nothing. Skinner offered to let Dildy and his wife stay at his house because earlier — at about 8 or 9 o’clock — he had heard Gay say, “This here fellow Simon has been wasting my things, and I’m going to get him out of here or kill him out.” Dildy had been clerking for Gay, and Dildy and his wife had lived in the Gays’ house. Skinner noticed buckshot in a fence post that had come from the direction of Anthony Gay’s house. The woodpile was comprised of a billet of oak sticks and pine logs too large to be used as weapons and was about thirty-five feet from Gay’s front door in a corner of the lot to the left of the gate. Gay had been standing atop it. The front gate was about twenty feet from the front door. Skinner had been standing at the gate. When Skinner saw Gay inside the house, Gay “was as mad as I ever saw him; and I’ve seen him as mad as a man ought ever to be.” Gay was “a large and powerful man and, when provoked, a violent and dangerous one.” Gay weighed about 175 pounds, and Dildy about 140. Gay had no weapons on him except a pistol in his pocket, which was not cocked. When Gay had called out, “Simon! Simon!,” he had spoken in a sharp and angry tone.
Henry Johnston testified that he was one of the party that had gone out to arrest Dildy. They had found him about twelve miles from Wilson. As they approached, they pulled their sidearms, but did not point them at him. They did not tell him why they were there, and he did not appear alarmed. When asked what he was doing, Dildy said, “Just walking about.” One man then said, “What made you kill Charles Gay?” Dildy’s attorney objected, but Dildy was ordered to respond and said, “Is he dead?” Johnston replied, “You ought to know he’s dead when you killed him.” Counsel objected again, asserting that Dildy had been coerced by his captors. The judge again overruled him. According to Johnston, Dildy then confessed to shooting Gay, claiming that he had meant to shoot him in the legs, not kill him. Counsel for the defendant renewed its objection to the admission of Dildy’s confession.
The Supreme Court opened its decision with “We should never ruthlessly invade the sanctuary of the prisoners own breast for evidence to convict him with” and quickly determined that Dildy had confessed involuntarily when cornered and questioned by three armed men. Dildy was granted a new trial.
Dildy’s counsel reached a plea agreement — guilty to manslaughter in exchange for a ten-year sentence.
Wilmington Morning Star, 8 May 1875.
Seven years later, Governor Thomas J. Jarvis pardoned Simon Dildy.
News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), 30 April 1882.
In January 1886, a Raleigh newspaper reported that Dildy had been convicted of affray (public fighting or brawling) there.
Then this:
Richmond Dispatch, 29 January 1887.
This is confusing. Did Dildy literally escape from prison or metaphorically, via pardon? Was the capture for an escape years earlier, or for nearly killing his wife? The News and Observer‘s brief coverage is more straightforward.
News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), 19 January 1887.
I have not been able to find a name for Simon Dildy’s wife or anything further about Dildy.
