EXTRA! VOL. No. XXIII, No. 12 JURY ORDERS ARREST OF W. W. TILLEY UNO WIFE Charges Five of Family With Conspiracy, Murder In Death of Wilkes Girl CLAIM MRS. LUTHER TILLEY WROTE NOTE TWO HANDWRITING EXPERTS, AFTER STUDY OF NOTE AND SPECIMEN OF WOMAN'S WRITING AGREE THAT SHE PENNED NOTE ALLEGED TO HAVE BEEN FOUND IN LEODA CHILDRESS' APRON AFTER MURDER WAS COMMITTED. SAYS LUTHER TILLEY RAN FROM HOUSE NATE THARPE TESTIFIES W. W. TILLEY'S SON WAS RUN NING AWAY FROM HOUSE AS HE ENTERED YARD AFTER BEING CALLED OVER TELEPHONE BY CHILD RESS GIRL. By ALAN BROWNING, Jr. Staff Correspondent Wilkesboro, February 3. —The arrest of Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Tilley, their two sons, Clyde and Luther, and Mrs. Luther Tilley was ordered here today by a coroner's jury following a final hear ing into the death of Leoda Mae Childress, 20, who was murdered at the home of W. W. Tilley, near Benham, on December 30. The jury directed that they all be charged with conspiracy and murder of the Childress girl. The coroner's verdict came as the culmina tion Vf sensational evidence which tended to show that \e entire Tilley family was mixed up in the murdei and that the home of Hill Cox, brother in-law (* Leoda Childress, had been burned down by Tilley in an effort to destroy letters written toNMrs. Cox by the murdered girl. Evidence was also presented which showed that was seen running from the W. W. Tilley a few minutes after the girl was killed and before anyone had been into the house. A preliminary hearing Vr the five* Tilleys, three of whom je.ve been held in jail for some tim\ will be held before Magistrate A. E\Spain hour. Date' of the hearing iVs not been set. \ The first witness to be called 'teen the hearing got under way in toe courthouse at 10 o'clock was Nsfce Tharpe, one of the two men wlk were first upon the murder scene thn day of the killing. Mr. Tharpe ted that after receiving a telephone call for help, he immediately rushed to the Tilley home, and that uoon entering the yard he saw Luther Tilley running away from the house through a nearby field. Luther wa* running fast, Mr. Tharpe stated, and had a double barreled shotgun in his hand. Upon entering tne nome with Kelly Brown, who arrived upon the scene as he did, he found the girl's body upon the floor. Going back into the yard he said he walked to the edge of the yard and called to Luther: "Luther, come here quick! Someone's killed Oda!" Tilley made nc reply, Tharpe said, and it was "some little time" before he came to the house after calling to someone in the woods who turned out to be Levi McCann and his son Jim. The three then came to the house but Luther refused to go In. Detective P. O. Sides then took the stand to tell of having a talk THE ELKIN TRIBUNE Murdered ->' v ' :y. v ■S^HK Leo *i Mae Childress, 20, who was murder a t home of Mr. and Mrs. W \y. Tilev shortly after noon on Deoinber 3*. with Lut er Tiltey in Jail Sunday. Luther then that he was within 1 3 5 t . yard f »f the house at the time of the He sald the dogs had ELKIN, N. C„ SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1934 Charged With Death pp Luther Tilley. top, and Clyde Til ley, bottom, who were ordered held for conspiracy and murder by a coroner's jury at Wilkesboro today following a continuation of the hear ing concerning the death of Leoda Mae Childress. jumped a rabbit which ran in that direction while he was hunting with Mr. McCann and Jim McCann. Asked why he turned and went the other way when Mr. Tharpe called to him he said he was scared to come back because he feared Tharpe and Brown would shoot him. Tilley also stated to his questioners that he was afraid to enter the house although he was armed with a dou ble barrel shotgun. , Questioned about his actions later In the day, Luther was said to have replied that he went home and placed his arms around his wife'and told her "something terrible has happened over at Dad's." Mr. Sides also testified that he had questioned W. W. Tilley a short time after the note was found and that Mr. Tilley told him that Mrs. Luther Tilley had shot the .22 rifle with which Leoda was killed, a num ber of times. He said she was a good shot—that she could shoot a chicken's head off. Mr. Tilley was also alleged to have stated that there was no malice in the Tilley family against Leoda Childress. When asked why he was holding Experts Testify She Wrote Note Sr // Mrs. Luther Tilley, sketched as she sat in the coortroom at Wilkes boro this morning: listening to evidence presented in the coroner's hearing concerning the death of Leoda Mae Childress. Handwriting experts testi fied she wrote the mystery note. Ordered Held In Childress Murder Case B IP * tfMKT 14 BlJf* Jae!' s MM § ft m jsu. flfc ' SWplSffe... . If BHBX. ■ ■;■/--.■v'' ;i " V -C Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Tilley, whose wrest was ordered following th coroner's jury hearing at Wilkesboro this morning on a charge of con spiracy and murder. back information which might aid in clearing up the case. Mr. Tilley was quoted as saying "I don't know anything to tell." E. B. Brooks, handwriting exyert, testified that he was positive his | (Continued On Page Three) )wn mind that the note alleged to have been written by Leoda Child ress, was written by Mrs. Luther Tllley. Brooks' testimony wae backed EXTRA! PUBLISHED WEEKLY EXPERT IS WARNED NOT TO TESTIFY IN ELDRIDGE MYSTERY He States Luther Tilley Wrote Andrew Eld ridge Note PROBABLE CAUSE Another note, equally as myster ious as the two which have featured the Childress-Eldridge murder case, came to light Friday morning during the preliminary hearing for Luthwr Tilley and Winfield Stanley before Magistrate A. E. Spainhour, at Wilkesboro. Tilley and Stanley, charged with the death of Andrew Eldridge in June, 1927, were, bound over to su perior court without benefit of bond. The note, which was unsigned and printed in pencil on a scrap of ruled paper, was placed between the screen door and front door of the home of E. B. Brooks, handwriting expert of Winston-Salem, who has given damaging evidence in the case against Luther Tilley and Stanley. The note read as follows: "If you know what is best (or you you wont tell who wrote that note. And you won't show this note. You think you dam sharp." Mr. Brooks testified he found the note Saturday night following the coroner's hearing at Ronda Wednes day a week ago in which he was a witness. The Winston-Salem 'handwriting expert, when placed upon the stand this morning, testified that the note presumably left by Andrew Eldridge the day he disappeared from home in 1927, was written by Luther Tilley. Upon being cross examined by Hayden Burke, Tiller's attorney, it was revealed Brooks was carrying a pistol. He stated that he had se cured a permit from Winston-Salem police to carry a gun aftetf he found the note. He testified that the com munication "scared me." Although Mr. Burke endeavored to confuse Brooks as to his testimony regarding the handwriting of the Eldridge note, the expert refused to become mixed up. The first witness to be ca.'led to the stand during the hearing was J. P. Eldridge, father of Andrew Eld ridge. Mr. Eldridge testified that the last time he saw his son alive he left him at the house while he and his wife went into the fields to work. Up- Cn returning about dusk he stated he found the note upon the kitchen ta ble. It lead: "Notice—l am going to E'.kin to work. Will be back Satur day. Andrew." Questioned further, Mr. Eldridge testified that to the best of his knowledge there was no writing pa per at his home similar to the paper upon which the note was written. The witness. In telling of the find ing of his son in Klondike lake. 19 days after he disappeared, stated that there appeared to. be a dark welt around the boy's throat. He became confused at one point during his testimony when Solicitor John R. Jones asked him to identify the note found at his home. He stated that it didn't look like the note that was presumably left by his boy. Upon being called back to the stand, he testified that he didn't understand the question, and stated it was the note. Mr. Eldridge also testified that Andrew was in the habit of calling his parents "Papa" and "Mama." The note in question was headed "Notice." C. S. Poster, Surry county deputy sheriff, stated that the Eldridge note was turned over to him by Mr. Fid ridge Monday after the hearing at (Continued on t«at Pace) V t:

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