Rockingham County NcArchives Court.....North, William Et Al 1838
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Carolyn Shank Carolynshank@msn.com January 11, 2009, 11:57 am

Source: (greensboro) Carolina Patriot, April 27, 1838
Written: 1838
Recorded: April 27, 1838

STATE VS. WILLIAM NORTH for murder of HOSFORD
SUPERIOR COURT for this county (Guilford) yet continues in session and there 
is no probability of its terminating until tomorrow evening. State Docket was 
taken up Monday last; STATE VS. NATHAN YOUNG [see Stokes County for an account 
of this case];
The Case of the State vs. WILLIAM NORTH (case moved here from Rockingham 
County) came up on Tuesday evening and continued until Wednesday night, 9 
o’clock, council for the state, J. F. POINDEXTER, Solicitor General—Council 
for the prisoner, JOHN M. MOREHEAD. The Prisoner’s council made a powerful 
appeal; the Solicitor General managed his side with corresponding ability; and 
about 10 p.m. the Jury retired to make a decision but they did not agree until 
about 10 o’clock next morning; about a quarter past 10, Court sitting, they 
returned a verdict of not guilty, in prisoner’s favor, and on motion of his 
Council, NORTH was discharged bv the Court. The verdict of the jurors in this 
case, seem to have struck many with astonishment. Those readers who are 
unacquainted with the case, it may not be uninteresting to state that the 
prisoner’s defense was made principally upon the grounds that the prisoner 
was “non compos mentis” at the time of the murder; and in confirmation of 
this, three or four respectable physicians who examined him a short time after 
he committed the diabolical murder, were examined who, on oath, declared that 
on examining him, they were clearly and decidedly of the opinion that the 
prisoner exhibited symptoms of insanity – that they not only though him 
deranged at the time of the examination, but were impressed with a solid 
belief that he must have labored under the mental disease at the time he 
murdered the unfortunate HOSFORD.
   The physician who first examined him described his situation minutely. They 
found his skin sallow and clammy, his countenance vacant, his actions 
unnatural, his bowels disordered, his conversation idle, etc., etc. It was 
alleged by the prisoner’s counsel that the disease was hereditary, that his 
parents and one of his sisters were affected with it, and than an external 
blow on the head, which fell him to the ground, which he received when about 
19 years old, added no little in bringing on this disease. 



Additional Comments:
J. F. POINDEXTER, JOHN M. MOREHEAD,HOSFORD

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/rockingham/court/north1356gwl.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ncfiles/

File size: 3.0 Kb