Isle of Wight County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Gilligan, Andrew C., 1903 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ GILLIGAN IS GONE TO HIS REWARD _______________ End Came Last Night In Prison Hospital. _______________ LAST CHAPTER OF A DARK TRAGEDY _______________ Close of a Life Stained by Crime of Manslaughter. _______________ WAS SERVING SENTENCE OF EIGHTEEN YEARS _______________ One of the Unfortunate Man's Sisters With Him a Short Time Before Death Came - Conclusion of One of the Most Thrilling Stories in the Criminal Annals of the State. _______________ Andrew Carter Gilligan, the condemned murderer of C. Beverly Turner, of Isle of Wight county, is now beyond the punishment of human laws, and his spirit is before a higher tribunal. Less than three years of the eighteen to which he had been sentenced had been served at hard labor in the penitentiary, when death unlocked the doors of the earthly prison which confined his spirit. He had been ill for a week or more. The Times-Dispatch yesterday announced that he was in critical condition, due to bowel trouble, and that he had small chance of recovery. This statement was more than confirmed last night by the announcement that he was dead. hospital DIED AMONG STRANGERS. The end came about 8 P. M. There was no relative, no friend of his happier days beside him when the tide of his life ebbed, never to flow again. Nor was there with him in his last hours a minister of the gospel to whisper words of hope and consolation; to tell him of repentance and forgiveness. On a couch of the prison hospital he fought almost alone the battle for life- even a life behind the steel bars and the great walls of the prison. The acting surgeon of the penitentiary was with him during the afternoon and had done what the healing science could to alleviate his condition and to turn the tide that was steadily set toward the grave. His sister was in the city and had visited the stricken prisoner during the day, but was not with him when the end came. She is still in the city and is stopping with a private family on Laurel Street. WAS A YOUNG MAN. Gilligan was nearly thirty years of age, three of these years having been spent in prison. He was born in Isle of Wight county June 15, 1873, and had spent his life there until convicted of the murder of C. B. Turner. He was five feet eleven inches in height, and when in health weighed about 160 pounds, but during his illness he became rgeatly emaciated. The body of the dead man will be turned over to his relatives for burial, if they desire. Otherwise, it will be disposed of as usual in such cases. Gilligan was convicted on Saturday evening, June 23d, of the murder of C. Beverly Turner, after a trial lasting sixteen days, and in which he had eminent counsel. The verdict of the jury was guilty of murder in the second degree, and the penalty fixed at eighteen years in the penitentiary. From this there was no appeal. A MEMORABLE CASE. The case on which the death of "Nick" Gilligan rings down the curtain was a memorable one. The tragedy began with the killing near his own door, on the night of December 27, 1899. Mr. Turner had just reached his home near Fergusson's Wharf, an hour or less before the tragedy and had gone toward the stable in the darkness, carrying a lantern with him. He was almost instantly killed, receiving a charge of shot, fired at close range. Suspicion almost immediately settled upon Gilligan, who had been an admirer of the daughter of the murdered man, and who had just gone into the house. The attentions of Gilligan, his overseer's son, to his daughter had so incensed the father that he forbade Gilligan coming on the premises. Gilligan eluded arrest and finally surrendered to the sheriff of Surry county at the courthouse of that county January 15, 1900. After several postponements from month to month, the case of Gilligan was finally tried at the term of the Isle of Wight Court beginning June 6th. It continued until June 26th when the verdict was returned as stated. ONCE SWEETHEARTS. At the trial it was developed that the prisoner and the daughter of the murdered man had been sweethearts, but according to her testimony, their association had ended more than a year before the tragedy and that during much of that time had not seen him. At the trial the accused set up the plea of self-defense, but the testimony dis not sustin it. Eminent counsel was engaged in the trial on both sides and every point involved was fought bitterly. The prisoner had confessed the killing at the time of his arrest, but claimed that he fired only after hering the click of a gun and believing that Turner was about to shoot him. But whatever the facts, the case is before a higher tribunal, from which there can be no concealment of facts, but where the mysteries of all hearts are known. ****************************************************************************** ____________ BODY OF GILLIGAN ______ It Will Be Taken to Isle of Wight County for Interment. The body of Andrew Carter Gilligan, whose death in the penitentiary hospital has been mentioned, was yesterday turned over to Undertaker Bliley to be prepared for burial. It was taken to the undertaking establishment of that firm yesterday, and will to-day be shipped to Ferguson's Wharf, Isle of Wight county, for interment. The Anatomical Board, although having the right under the law to claim the body, acceded to the wishes of the family of the dead man, and delivered custody of the corpse to a brother-in-law of deceased. The start for the scene of burial will be made to-day, and the remains will be interred upon arrival there. Andrew Carter "Nick" GILLIGAN, convicted of the murder of C. Beverly TURNER, b. 15 Jun 1873, Isle of Wight Co., d. 9 Apr 1903, penitentiary, Richmond, interred in Isle of Wight Co., "The Times-Dispatch" (Richmond, VA), Thurs., Apr. 9, 1903, p. 1, col. 4-5; "The Times-Dispatch" (Richmond, VA), Fri., Apr. 10, 1903, p. 2, col. 6 Additional information: An account of the murder, and an ad- including a physical decription- from Detective "Hurricane" Branch offering a reward for Gilligan's arrest ("Virginian-Pilot," Dec. 29, 1899, p. 8) is posted at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/isleofwight/news/18991229vp.txt An article ("Virginian-Pilot," June 5, 1900, p. 8, col. 1) on the start of the trial is posted at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/isleofwight/news/19000605vp.txt An engraving of Gilligan appeared on the front page of "The Times-Dispatch" on Apr. 8, 1903. Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by File Manager Matt Harris (zoobug64@aol.com). file at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/isleofwight/obits/g425a1ob.txt