Bertie County NcArchives History .....The Murder Of Isaac Piland 
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Gerald Thomas gerald_thomas00@comcast.net February 6, 2015, 12:36 pm

THE MURDER OF ISAAC PILAND
by
Gerald W. Thomas#
Research by James Clark and the author.

	Issac Piland had threateningly warned Littleton Bright to desist in the pursuit
of Mattie, Piland’s eighteen-year-old daughter. But, Bright, a married man,
could not be persuaded to terminate his amorous interest in the teenaged girl.
In the early evening of July 22, 1913, a heated confrontation between the two
men erupted in gunfire in the front yard of Piland’s abode on a street in
Vaughan, Warren County, North Carolina. Piland, gravely wounded, would succumb
within a few hours.

	Isaac Piland, also known as “Ike,” was born near Windsor, Bertie County, North
Carolina in August 1864. His parents, Arodi Piland and Caroline Piland, had
married in Gates County on January 5, 1858. Prior to the marriage Arodi had
resided in Bertie County in a household with an Isaac Piland (presumably Arodi’s
close relative) and worked as a laborer. On October 31, 1857, Arodi purchased
from George Worthan and Thomas C. Watson a five-hundred-acre tract of swamp and
“high land” situated along Cashie River a couple of miles downriver from the
town of Windsor. Worthan and Watson had acquired title to the land as the result
of a defaulted 1852 deed of trust which they held against Emsley Hoggard, prior
owner of the land. Arodi and Caroline, newlyweds, settled onto the property and
immediately began rearing a family. Four children – David, Solomon, Caroline and
Isaac – were born before Arodi unfortunately passed away fairly soon (between
late 1864 and early 1870) after Isaac’s birth. The circumstances related to
Arodi’s death are not documented. He was in his mid- to late 30s when he died.
The 1870 Federal census of Bertie County reveals that Caroline was “keeping
house” with her four young children, ages 6 through 11, “at home.” Caroline
never remarried but remained a widow for the rest of her life.
	On November 11, 1889, twenty-five-year-old Isaac Piland married
seventeen-year-old Alona “Lonie” Jane Thomas (born January 19, 1872), the
daughter of William David Thomas and Amilia Jane Cale. The Thomas and Piland
families resided within a mile and a half of each other in the small community
known as Sandy Point, just north of Windsor on the highway to Edenton
(present-day US Highway 17). Lonie Jane became pregnant, but the pregnancy would
not go well to full-term. On June 2, 1890, at two o’clock in the morning, she
died. Close family members recalled that she died in the birth of her first
child; the baby did not survive. The Windsor Ledger reported on June 4 that
“Mrs. Loney Piland, died … after an illness of about a week. She suffered much
and died peacefully.” Lonie Jane was buried in a small family cemetery on the
Piland tract in a grave that was not marked with a permanent stone.#
	Isaac Piland, having lost his wife and unborn child, would not remain a widower
for long. On September 10, 1891, slightly more than fifteen months following
Lonie Jane’s death, Isaac married Mariah Jane Cale, Lonie Jane’s first cousin.
Mariah Jane (born March 29, 1877), the daughter of Rev. Dancy Cale and Martha C.
Castellow, was fourteen years old. Isaac, twenty-seven years old, was nearly
twice the age of his bride.
	Isaac and Mariah Jane’s first child, a daughter they named Mattie, was born
February 23, 1895, in Bertie County. A second daughter, Sibyl was born February
10, 1902, while a son, John Macon, was born October 16, 1904, either in Bertie
County or Warren County.# Sometime during the first decade of the twentieth
century, Isaac and his family relocated from Windsor Township in Bertie County
to Warren County. He and his family settled in the small community of Vaughan,
in River Township, where they were enumerated in the 1910 Federal census of
Warren County. Isaac obtained employment as a watchman with Fosburgh Lumber
Company, a Norfolk-based entity whose haul line connected with the Seaboard Air
Line Railway in Vaughan. On March 25, 1909, Isaac and Mariah Jane, along with
George W. Hatchell and Caroline Piland Hatchell (Isaac’s sister) sold to Wiltz
Veneer Company (Plymouth, NC) all of the timber twelve inches in diameter then
growing on the tract of land previously purchased by Arodi Piland. At that time
George and Caroline (Arodi’s daughter) were residing on the “Piland tract.”# A
little more than six months later, on December 31, 1909, Isaac and Mariah Jane
sold to Caroline Piland Hatchell, their interest in the five-hundred-acre “Arodi
Piland” land. Clearly, Isaac and Mariah Jane had no intention of returning to
Bertie County with their children and residing on his father’s property.
	By 1913 Ike Piland and his family resided peacefully in Warren County and were
well integrated into the social environment of the Vaughan community. While not
owning a home, Isaac rented a house. Mariah Jane and her daughter, Mattie, were
active in the Vaughan Baptist Church, the building for which stood just a short
distance east of the Piland residence. Mrs. Piland was a founding member of the
church’s Women’s Missionary Society in November 1911 and seventeen-year-old
Mattie joined the organization in June 1912. The next month’s meeting was hosted
in the Piland home.
	Despite the peacefulness and serenity of the small community lifestyle for the
Pilands, another individual who had recently relocated to the community from
southeastern Virginia would prove to be overly troublesome for the family.
Littleton Bright, a recent resident of Portsmouth, Norfolk County, Virginia, had
moved to Vaughan and was by occupation a blacksmith with one of two lumber
companies operating in the Vaughan area.# Bright, a married man in his late
twenties with several young children had come to the community without his wife
and family – they were still residing in Portsmouth during the early summer of
1913.# The exact date that Bright arrived in Warren County is not documented,
but apparently it was during the late 1912 – early 1913 timeframe. During the
summer of 1910 he (a boiler worker at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard) and his
family (wife, Maggie, age 23; children – Frederick Arlington, 2; Godford
Littleton, 8 months) were enumerated in Federal census of Portsmouth. The couple
also had a third son, Richard Tennyson, born August 7, 1912. Presumably,
Littleton Bright was in Virginia at the birth of his third child.
	Not long after arriving in the Vaughan area, Littleton Bright’s attention
turned to Mattie Piland, then eighteen years old. Bright’s amorous interest
toward Mattie abruptly raised Isaac Piland’s ire. He forthrightly warned Bright
to stay away from his residence and not to come to see Mattie. His daughter
“would not entertain him.” Both Mariah Jane and Mattie had similarly conveyed to
Bright that Mattie did not want to see him. About late June or early July 1913,
Ike Piland had reportedly warned Bright that he would shoot him if he again
showed up at the Piland’s residence. But, Bright, obviously overly intent on
being an unwanted suitor to Mattie, was not dissuaded.
	During the early evening of Tuesday, July 22, 1913, Mariah Jane was seated on
the front porch of the Piland residence when Littleton Bright approached. Isaac
Piland was not home, but was away on a visit to town. Despite having been “asked
… to keep off” the premises and warned of dire consequences if he did not,
Bright was once again present at the Piland home. Within about ten minutes Ike
Piland arrived back at his house, instantaneously angered upon the sight of
Littleton Bright. Mariah Jane, well aware of her husband’s annoyed disposition
at Bright, “tried to persuade” Isaac to ignore Bright and “not to take any
notice of him.” Her attempt was futile and realizing that she could not divert
Isaac’s inflamed focus on the trespasser, she “left the porch.” Shortly, she
“heard the guns fire.”
	The sound of gunfire on the street in Vaughan riveted the nearby citizens’
awareness. A short way down the street Stith W. Bell “heard three gun shots near
Mr. Piland[’s] house.” He was not aware at the time of the party or parties who
“did the shooting” but noticed that “a big gun fired first and afterwards two
smaller.” J. C. Hudson who was at a nearby store similarly heard shots that
“sounded like a big gun fired first and immediately two others.” Hudson had seen
Littleton Bright some short time previous to the shots when in passing the
business establishment, Bright stopped for “a minute or two and pulled out his
gun and said [‘]boys what it takes to get ‘em I[’]ve got it[’].” J. Thomas
Myrick was sitting on his front porch watching people at the Baptist church when
Bright passed through the area heading toward the Piland residence. Shortly,
Myrick heard gunshots and “saw a man running from Mr. Piland[‘s] porch.” The
man, frantically sprinting, exited the Piland yard and fell in the road, arose
and “staggered diagonally across the road to the opposite side[,] then turned
and looked back and kept running down the street.” Myrick recognized the runner
as “Mr. Bright.”
	During the brief armed altercation, Isaac Piland had been grievously wounded.
Mariah Jane, who had left the porch to distance herself from her husband’s
confrontation with Bright, returned to find Ike desperately needing medical
attention. She dispatched her eight-year-old son, John Macon, to go find Stith
Bell and request him to seek a doctor to come to her husband’s aid. Drs. Willis
Alston and Horace Palmer rushed to the Piland home. Walter R. Vaughan, a Warren
County justice of the peace, soon arrived at the scene and took a statement from
the wounded Piland.

Littleton Bright came in my yard tonight and I told him not to come in and that
I had told him I would shoot him if he came again[.] he turned to go the other
way and I shot at him and he then shot me – I told him three weeks ago not to
come in my yard again & if he did I would shoot him.
	Bright claimed to be coming to see my daughter and she would not entertain him.
She and her mother told him repeatedly that she did not want to see him but he
persisted in coming, they expressed to me to keep him away and I asked him not
to come any more, he came again and I warned him as above stated – before I shot
at him.

	Isaac Piland and Littleton Bright’s exchange of gunfire occurred about 8:30
P.M. Justice Vaughan issued an arrest warrant for Bright before midnight. Isaac
Piland succumbed to his wound within less than six hours. He was almost
forty-nine years old. Bright was arrested and jailed on Wednesday, July 23. He
was subsequently indicted for murder.
	On Friday, July 25, The Record (Warrenton) carried an article, “Killing at
Vaughan,” which briefly recounted the affair between Piland and Bright.
According to the article: “It appears that there had been some little trouble
between Mr. Isaac Piland and Littleton Bright for some time and we hear that
Piland had told Bright not to come to his home again, but on Tuesday night
Bright was near Piland[‘]s home and the two men met and after words began to
shoot. Piland was fatally injured and died at 2 a.m. Wednesday.”
	Immediately after the death and burial of Isaac Piland, Mariah Jane and her
children departed Vaughan and moved to Potecasi, Northampton County where they
moved into the residence of her father, Rev. Dancy Cale. Both Mariah Jane and
Mattie were subpoenaed to return to Warren County as witnesses in the murder
trial of Littleton Bright.#    
	Bright was tried during the September 1913 session of Warren County Superior
Court. The Record reported on September 19 that a large crowd attended the trial
with much interest manifested by the testimony. Bright was found guilty of
second degree murder on Thursday, September 18, 1913, and sentenced to serve
thirteen years in the North Carolina state prison system. He was incarcerated at
the Caledonia State Prison at Tillery, Halifax County, on September 22, 1913.
His point-of-contact during his imprisonment was given as Maggie L. Bright,
Portsmouth, Virginia – his wife.#

<<<<<  >>>>>

	According to family members, Isaac Piland was laid to rest in the Vaughan
Community Cemetery; however, no marker exists to identify the location of his
grave. Mariah Jane Cale Piland never remarried, but remained a widow for the
rest of her life. She eventually moved to Scotland Neck, Halifax County, where
she died on May 29, 1948, at the age of seventy-one. She was buried in the
Baptist cemetery in the town. Mattie Piland married first a man named Hardy.
Subsequent to Hardy’s death, she married Thomas H. Casper and they resided in
Aulander, Bertie County. She died at Duke University Hospital, Durham on March
26, 1970, at age seventy-five. She was buried in the Aulander Cemetery. Sibyl
Piland married Lonnie Allison Bryant and they resided in Scotland Neck where she
passed away on February 21, 1980, at age 78. John Macon Piland grew up to become
an accomplished musician in the Roanoke Valley region. He married Edna Allsbrook
and they lived in Scotland Neck where he died on October 26, 1966, at age 62.
	Littleton Bright died on an undisclosed date, apparently prior to September 30,
1924, when his “widow,” Margaret “Maggie” Heise Bright, married Henry Robert
Turner in Portsmouth, Virginia. Bright may have died while still in prison since
Maggie remarried almost two years prior to the date (September 15, 1926) that
his sentence was to expire. Littleton and Maggie’s three sons – Frederick
Arlington Bright, Godford Littleton Bright, and Richard Tennyson Bright –
resided in southeastern Virginia for their complete lives where they married and
raised families.


NOTES
#  The author’s interest in the life of Isaac Piland stems from the fact that
Piland first married Alona “Lonie” Jane Thomas, the daughter of William David
Thomas and Amilia Jane Cale, of Bertie County. Lonie Jane was a sister of the
author’s grandfather, John William Thomas.
	In July 2013, Mr. James Clark of Raleigh contacted the author seeking
information on Isaac Piland, specifically regarding any oral histories dealing
with the circumstances related to Piland’s death. Mr. Clark, a native of Warren
County, had heard a couple of differing oral, but undocumented, accounts of
Piland’s demise. The author had no accounts of Piland’s death in his
genealogical files, having never pursued documenting Piland’s life since he was
not a direct ancestor of the author. The author had conducted a telephone
conversation in March 1983 with Mrs. Sally Jane Bryant Moore, a granddaughter of
Isaac Piland, regarding Mrs. Moore’s ancestry. The author provided to Mr. Clark
a copy of his notes originating from that conversation. Shortly thereafter, Mr.
Clark delved into court and other records for Warren County maintained by the
North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, and documented the circumstances related
to Isaac Piland’s death. Mr. Clark graciously provided photocopies of the
records and other pertinent information in his possession to the author, upon
which much of this article is based. The author is deeply appreciative to Mr.
Clark for unselfishly sharing the results of his research.

#  Only one permanent headstone is to be found in the cemetery. The marker is
for Caroline Hoggard, “cohort” of Emsley Hoggard, previous owner of the
property. She died August 25, 1853. A number of other graves are evident by
depressions in the earth and the existence of white ballast stones. (Such stones
– obtained from sailing vessels navigating area waterways during the 1700s and
1800s – were commonly used by residents as grave markers.)

#  John Macon Piland’s World War II draft registration reflects that he was born
in Bertie County, whereas his death certificate indicates that he was born in
Warren County.

#  The “Piland tract” upon which George W. Hatchell and his wife, Caroline
Piland Hatchell, resided eventually became known by local residents as the
“Hatchell Place.” Today, the property is owned by the state of North Carolina
and is managed by the Wildlife Resources Commission as state game land.

#  Fosburgh Lumber Company and Greenleaf Johnson Lumber Company operated
railroad lines that intersected with the Seaboard Air Line and Railway at
Vaughan. The lines were used to extract cut timber (i.e., logs) from area
forests for transportation to sawmills. Both companies were headquartered in
Norfolk, Virginia. It is not evident with which company Littleton Bright was
employed.

#  Littleton Bright’s precise age during 1913 when he resided in Warren County
is not ascertainable from documents and records obtained by James Clark and the
author. His enumeration (June 27, 1900) as a teenager in his father’s (Richard
Bright) household in the 1900 Federal census of Deep Creek Township, Norfolk
County, reflects that he was sixteen years old and was born March 1884. His
enumeration (April 25, 1910) in the 1910 Federal census of Portsmouth, Virginia
indicates that he was twenty-four years old. These sources, considered jointly,
would indicate that he would have been between twenty-seven and twenty-nine
years old in early summer 1913. However, his North Carolina prison record
reflects that he was thirty-nine years old in September 1913. Further, The
Record stated in its July 25, 1913, article that Bright was “about 35 years of
age.” Based on the irreconcilable information of the various sources, the author
is of the opinion that Bright was most likely in his latter twenties, rather
than thirty-nine years old.

#  On September 8, 1913, the Warren County Clerk of Superior Court issued a
joint witness subpoena for Mariah Jane and Mattie Piland to attend Littleton
Bright’s forthcoming trial at the courthouse in Warrenton. The subpoena was
forwarded to Bertie County Sheriff John W. Cooper, who noted that “After due
diligence Mrs. Isaac Piland and Matti C. Piland can not be found in Bertie
County. … I understand the witnesses live in Northampton County.” The subpoena
was forwarded to Sheriff H. L. Joyner of Northampton County where it was
successfully executed on September 12, 1913.

#  Caledonia prison records indicate that Littleton Bright was born in Virginia,
a blacksmith, age 39, married, and probably epileptic. His physical description
was: 5 feet,10½ inches in height weighing 163 pounds, with brown eyes, brown
hair, reddish complexion and tattoos.


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