SILVER THREADS

 

Written and Published Online by John Silver

w/contributing articles by various Silver cousins

 

 

Dear Family & Friends

 

Winter is upon us and my bones are telling me I should have gone into hibernation. But, that being impossible for humans (or is it?) I’ll just have to do a winter over. For the past several days, it has been so cold here, I’ve barely been able to get my nose out the front door. I’ve been trying to convince Connie to get the morning paper but she tells me, “That’s not my job!” I’m just thankful it’s not snowing.

In this letter, you will find an obituary for Danny Dowd of Kona. It is interesting to note that Danny and Patricia are the current owners of the property where Charlie’s and Frankie’s cabin stood.

Again, there are several confusing stories still going around concerning Frankie. It seems that every week someone comes up with another version of the story. And on and on it goes. For several years I have been collecting all the different stories, poems, articles, fairy tales and tragic romantic tales of the affair. To me, it has always been a sad story and too many people take it too lightly.  This month, I am putting all the official information of the arrest, court trial and the eventual hanging of the poor girl into this letter.  At the end, I will leave it up to the reader to form his or her opinion of the right and/or wrong of the affair.

Cousin John

 

 

The News Herald
April 3, 1924

FRANKIE SILVER

 

(Note—The following paper, which will doubtless be of interest to many of our readers, was prepared by Attorney S.J. Erwin Jr. and read at the meeting of the Morganton Kiwanis Club last Friday night.)

 

There is no more gruesome story in the criminal annals of the State than that of Frances Stewart Silver, the only white woman and with the exception of one negress, the only woman ever capitally punished in North Carolina, after it assumed the status of statehood.

Frankie Silver, as she was called, and her husband, Charles Silver, resided at the mouth of the South Toe River near the site of Black Mountain station on the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railroad, their home then being within the far-flung limits of Burke County. If tradition be given credence, their domestic life was far from tranquil, Charles Silver being accustomed to beat and abuse his wife on frequent occasions.

On the night of the 22^nd of December, 1831, Frankie Silver slew her husband, decapitating him with an ax. She then dismembered the body and attempted to burn portions of it in the open fireplace of her home in an effort to hide her offense. Being unsuccessful in the attempt to consume the body with fire, she concealed parts of it under the floor, in nearby rock cliffs and elsewhere.

The neighbors became alarmed by the continued absence of Charles Silver from his wonted haunts and made inquiries concerning him. She sought to allay their suspicions by saying that he had left home for the purpose of obtaining whisky wherewith to celebrate Christmas and suggested that it was likely he had fallen into the river, which had frozen over soon after his disappearance. The suspicions of the neighbors were not quieted. The late J.F. Arthur, in an account in his History of North Carolina (page 294), substantially in accord with tradition says: “A Negro with a, ‘magic glass,’ was brought from Tennessee, and as the glass persisted in turning downward, the floor was removed and particles of the body were found. The weather growing warmer, other parts of the remains revealed themselves, a little dog helping to find some.”

A chain of incriminating circumstances having been gradually woven around her, Frankie Silver was arrested and at the Superior Court of Law which convened in Morganton on the fourth Monday in March, 1832, The Honorable John R. Donnell being the presiding judge and W.J. Alexander, of Charlotte, being Solicitor for the State, the Grand Jury of the County returned a bill of indictment against her wherein she was charged with the willful murder of her husband. A diligent search of the files failed to disclose the original indictment. The Grand Jury which found “a true bill” was composed of William C. Tate, foreman, and Archibald Berry, William Wakefield, William Walker, Joseph Scott, William Coffee, Rucket Stanley, James Burgin, Bryant Gibbs, James McCall, William Gragg, David Glass, William J. Tate, Thomas Morrison, Isaac Hicks, George Corpening, George Holloway and Jesse R. Hyatt.

Upon her arraignment, Frankie Silver pleaded not guilty and the court thereupon ordered the sheriff to “summon instanter” a special venire of one hundred and fifty men. From the venire summoned in pursuance of this order, Henry Pain, Robert McElrath, David Beedle, Oscar Willis, Cyrus P. Connelly, John Hall, William L. Baird, Richard Bean, Joseph Tippit, Lafayette Collins, Robert Garrison and David Hennessee were “drawn, sworn and charged to pass between the prisoner and the state on her life and death.”

There is apparently no record extant which discloses the name or names of the counsel for the prisoner. The counsel of the prisoner, recalling the precedent set by Daniel upon the trial of Susanna, requested the trial court to keep the witnesses for the state separated so that no witnesses for the prosecution might hear the testimony given by the others. This request was granted. After having retired and remained together all night, the jury came into court and asked that some of the witnesses who had been examined the previous day should be called again. The prisoner’s counsel objected thereto on the grounds that the witnesses had had the opportunity of communicating together since their examination, but Judge Donnell overruled the objection and allowed the witnesses to be recalled and reexamined, instructing the jury, however, that they should give due weight to the circumstances that the witnesses had been together during the night.

The jury, “after hearing the evidence, argument and counsel of the judge,” returned into court and announced their verdict that the found, “the prisoner, Frances Silver, guilty of the felony and murder whereof she stands charged in the manner and form as she is charged in the bill of indictment.” The court decreed that the prisoner should be, “hung by the neck until she be dead” on “the Fryday of July Court next of Burke County.” From which sentence an appeal was taken to the Supreme Court, Isaiah Stewart and Jackson Stewart, probably the brothers of the condemned, becoming “security” for the cost on appeal.  (Isaiah and Jackson Stewart were father and brother respectively. Ed.)

The appeal was heard at the June term, 1832, of the Supreme Court, no counsel appearing upon the hearing in behalf of the accused. The great Supreme Court Judge, Thomas Ruffin, then an associate justice, affirmed the judgment, finding that no error was committed by the trial court in permitting the witnesses to be recalled and reexamined as set forth above.

While the appeal was pending, Frankie Silver sought to cheat the gallows of their prey. She escaped from jail but was speedily recaptured.

The opinion of the Supreme Court having been certified to the Superior Court of Burke County, Frankie was brought before the bar of the court at the March term, 1833, and Judge Henry Seawell, who presided, in obedience to the certificate of the Supreme Court, pronounced the sentence under which she was executed, the sentence being in these words, “That the prisoner, Frances Silver, be taken back to the prison from whence she came and there to remain until the last Fryday in June next, being the 28^th day, and then from thence to the place of public execution between the hours of one and four o’clock in the afternoon and hung by the neck until she be dead. This sentence to be carried into execution by the Sheriff of Burke County.”

It seems possible that Governor Swain granted a stay of execution, for all accounts agree that Frankie was hanged on Friday, the 12^th day of July, 1833. John Boone was then Sheriff of the county and, undoubtedly, either he or one of his deputies discharged the sad role of executioner, receiving therefore the statutory fee of ten dollars. The place of public execution was, “Damen’s Hill,” the land now occupied by the dwelling and yard of Mr. John A. Dickinson, and according to tradition, when Frankie met her unfortunate fate the scaffold was surrounded by an immense assemblage of the curious, many of whom climbed into branches of the surrounding trees so that they might see from points of vantage. It is said that many fainted when the hood or the cap was placed on the condemned.

Frankie Silver, it seems, was possessed of a higher degree of education than was common of that day, for she left as a legacy to posterity a poem, somewhat crude in composition, which in untrustworthy tradition, added the last dramatic touch, declared she recited from the scaffold ere the slip noose of the hangman was placed about her neck. The poem consists of the following verses. (I do not have a copy of The Honorable Sam Ervin’s version of this poem. Ed.)

The brothers of Frankie Silver, whose affection for her never wavered, claimed the body, removed it from the place of execution and placed it in a rude plank coffin. They left Morganton conveying the corpse upon a wagon, with the intention of carrying it to her home for burial. Influenced by superstition or the danger of decomposition during the hot July days of the tedious journey or by other considerations, they abandoned their purpose and the body was interred upon the Jake Devalt farm on the Yellow Mountain Road, some eight miles from Morganton.

The story of Frankie Silver is tragic in several aspects. The late Colonel B.S. Gaither, who was the youthful Clerk of Superior Court at the time of her trial and execution and who possessed a remarkably retentive memory, was wont to assert that she would not have been convicted if the truth had been disclosed at the trial. (According to Col. Gaither,) Silver (Charles) mistreated his wife and she killed him in protecting herself. And Colonel Gaither always entertained the opinion that if the defense had admitted the killing the jury would probably have found her act to be justified and would have acquitted her. The defense, however, was a denial that the hand of Frankie Silver struck the fatal blow and there being evidence of her guilt, the jury followed the instinct of the sleuth which lurks in every human mind promptly convicted her of willful murder.

S.J. Ervin Jr.

Because the story of Frankie Silver is perennial in newspapers, folklore and legend and because fact and fancy have become so interwoven in a hundred and twenty years as to be indistinguishable, The News-Herald is here reprinting in booklet form a series of newspaper columns from “The Adder’s Tongue,” a column written for The News-Herald for several years by Clinton K. Avery.

These columns were first printed in 1944 and contain exact reproduction of all the contemporary records of the case diligent search could uncover.

It is in an effort to keep one of the smaller arrows of local history pointed in the right direction, rather than a desire to do honor to the memory of a criminal, that this book is being printed. For the same reason The News-Herald joined with other interested friends in 1952 in erecting the small granite marker on the DeVault place near the site of the old Buckhorn Tavern to locate for all time the last resting place of a woman who for a year and a half brought painful notoriety to Burke County.

Official Court Record Of
The Trial, Conviction and Execution
Of Frankie Silver

 

The Official Record of the Trial, Conviction and Execution of Francis Silver from the minutes of the Burke County Superior Court was compiled and edited by Clifton K. Avery and published by the News-Herald, Morganton, N.C. in 1953. The small book is now out of print and copies are hard to find. We are reprinting this valuable and informative book in its entirety.

By Clifton K. Avery

Many a legend has grown up around the story and the trial and hanging of Francis Silver more than a hundred years ago in Burke County. Several years ago the criminal court records in this famous old case were unearthed by Charles Newton in the office of the Clerk of the Superior Court in Burke County’s hundred-year old courthouse. These musty and faded old papers write an accurate chapter in the story of the woman who is reputed to be the first white woman ever convicted and hanged for murder in North Carolina.

Today it is said that a rock pile on the bank of the Toe River is all that is left of the chimney of the home of Charles Silver and Francis Silver, his wife, and Nancy Silver, their daughter. Late in 1831 when Nancy was one year old, her father disappeared from home.  Nor was he to be found within his home community. When several days had passed and he had not returned home, his neighbors started a search for him. The tales handed down to us tell us that his wife had been very jealous of her husband and that her queer actions when any of the searchers came near the home of the missing man aroused the suspicions of some of the posse.

When the home was finally entered by the searchers legend tells us that the fireboard and mantle had been freshly chipped with an axe. The legends go on to tell that one of the men pried up a part of the freshly-scoured puncheon floor and found dried blood on the underside of the split logs. It is also said that bits of bone were found among the ashes in the fireplace.  Later, dogs found a part of the torso in a hollow stump a little way from the house. This was all that was ever found of Charles Silver. Evidence indicated that the slain man had been chopped up with an axe and a crude attempt had been made to burn the pieces.

It is evident from the following court records That Charles Silver was missing for some time before his body, or traces of it, was found. We are told that Frankie fled to Tennessee. However, the story of flight is improbable, for we find from the following papers that Frankie was in jail in Morganton the next day after a warrant was sworn out. That warrant, the first paper issued in the case, is reproduced below:

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
BURKE COUNTY

This day came Elighe Green before me, D.D. Baker, an acting Justice of said county and made oath in due form of law that Franky Silver and Barbara Stuart – it is believed that they did murder Charles Silver contrary to law and against the dignity of the State, Sworn to and subscribed to me this 9^th day of January, 1832.

(Signed) Elijah Green

 

These are therefore to command some lawful officer to take the bodies of the above names Franky Silver and Barbara Stuart and Blackston Stuart and them safely keep so that you have them before me or some other justice of said county to answer the above charge and to be further delt with according as the law directs:  Given under my hand and seal, this 9^th day of January, 1832.

(Signed) D.D. Baker, J.P.

 

The hearing of habeas corpus proceeding was set for the 17^th day of January, just one week after the defendants were placed in jail. All the witnesses were recalled.  The prisoners were brought before the magistrates this time by G. Presnell, Constable. The result of the hearing is curtly told in a few words on the back of the warrant.

The back of the warrant indicates that the arrest was made by C. Baker, Constable. The hearing asked for in the above warrant before the magistrate was disposed of as follows, from which we are led to believe that a coroner’s inquest had been held in the time elapsing between January 9 and January 10.

The defendants committed to jail on the oath of Thomas Howeland, William Hutchins, Nancy Wilson, Elander Silver, Margaret Silver and upon the word of the Jury.

(Signed) D.D. Baker, J.P.

 

It is interesting to note that Public feeling must have been running high in the matter by this time, for the witnesses were put under bonds by Justice of the Peace, D.D. Baker to insure their appearance at the next term of Court. The bonds were drawn in amounts varying from twenty-five dollars to one hundred pounds, English money.

Three days after the defendants were put in jail in the County Seat at Morganton, Isiah Stuart, the father of Frankie Silver, appeared before two of the acting Justices of the Peace for Burke County and made oath that the defendants in the case were held in jail without ever having had a chance to face their accusers or to testify in their own behalf before a duly qualified officer of the law. Whereupon the warrant was issued:

 

North Carolina
Burke County

Whereas Isiah Stuart hath complained to us, John C. Burgner and Thomas Hughes, two of the acting Justices of Peace in and for the County of Burke aforesaid, that Barbara Stuart, Franky Silver and Blackston Stuart have been suspected of having committed a murder on the body of one Charles Silver, and whereas it has been made to appear an oath of the said Isiah Stuart that the said defendants have been committed to the common Jail of the County aforesaid without the legal forms of trial and without the parties having it in their power of confronting their accusers before any legal tribunal.

These are therefore to command you, the Sheriff of Burke County or any other lawful officer of said County to arrest these bodies of Barbara Stuart, Frankey Silver and Blackston Stuart and them safely keep so that you will have them before us at Morganton within the time prescribed by law, then and there to answer the charge and to be further delt with as the law directs. Herein fail not at your peril. Given from under our hands this 13^th day of January, A.D. 1832.

(Signed) Thos. Hughes, JP
J.C. Burgner, J.P.

 

Defendants Barbara Stuart and Blackston Stuart plead not guilty. On the 17^th day of January, 1832 warrant returned before us, John C. Burgner and Aaron Brittain, Esquires. The defendants being brought before us to-wit: Barbara Stuart and Blackston Stuart, and on examination of the evidence, we are of the opinion that the defendants should be discharged, there appearing no evidence on behalf of the State against them.

 (Signed) A. Brittain, J.P.
 J.C. Burgner, J.P.

 

It is evident from the above that Frankie Silver did not appear before the magistrates. Although Barbara Stuart and Blackston Stuart were discharged, they were placed under bond of One Hundred Pounds to appear at the March 1832, term of the Superior Court of Law for Burke County. Isiah Stuart went on the bonds for security.

The superior Court of Burke County convened for its regular Spring Session on March 17, 1832, with His Honor John R. Donnell, Esquire, presiding. W.C. Butler was High Sheriff and Burgess S. Gaither was Clerk of the Court. Wm. J. Alexander was Solicitor. A Bill of Indictment was drawn and presented to the following Grand Jury.

Samuel C. Tate                      William Wakefield
William Coffee                       Joseph Scott
William Walker                       Rucket Stanley
James Bergin                         Bryant Gibbs
James McCall                         William Gragg
David Glass                           William J. Tate
Thomas Morrison                     Isaac Hicks
George Corpening                     George Holloway
Jesse R. Hyatt                       Archibald Berry

John Pearson, Constable attending the Jury.

The Bill of Indictment follows: (Your attention is called to the quaint wording of this document. Note that it is a single sentence.)

 

State of North Carolina
Burke County
Superior Court of Law
Spring Term of 1832

The Jurors for the State upon their oath present that Francis Silver, Blackston Stuart and Barbara Stuart, all of said County, not having the fear of God before their eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil, on the twenty second day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand and eight hundred and thirty one, with a force of arms in the County of Burke aforesaid, in and upon one Charles Silver in the Peace of God and the State, then and there feloniously, willful and malice aforethought did make an assault; and that the said Francis Silver with a certain axe of the value of six pence, which the said Francis Silver in both the hands of her, the said Francis, then and there held to, against, and upon the said Charles Silver then and there feloniously, willfully and with her malice, aforethought did cast and throw; and that the said Francis Silver with the axe aforesaid so cast and thrown as aforesaid, the said Charles Silver in and upon the head of him, the said Charles Silver, then and there feloniously, willfully and of her malice aforethought with the axe aforesaid by the said Frances Silver, cast and thrown, in and upon the head of him, the said Charles Silver one mortal wound the length of three inches and the depth of one inch; of which said mortal wound he, the said Charles Silver, then and there instantly died; and that the said Blackston Stuart and Barbara Stuart at the time of committing the felony and murder aforesaid by the said Francis Silver in manner and form aforesaid, feloniously, willfully and of their malice aforethought were present, aiding, helping, abetting, assisting, comforting and maintaining the said Francis Silver in the felony and murder aforesaid in manner and form aforesaid to do, commit and perpetrate and so the jurors aforesaid, upon their oath aforesaid, do say that the said Francis Silver, Blackston Stuart and Barbara Stuart, him, the said Charles Silver, in manner aforesaid, willfully and of their malice aforethought did kill and murder against the peace and dignity of the State.

(Signed) Wm. Alexander, Solicitor

 

On the back of the Bill of Indictment is the following notation, together with a list of the witnesses for the State:

 

A true bill as to Francis Silver.  Not a true bill as to the others.

Witnesses listed below.

Thomas Howell                                 William Hutchins
Eligha Green                                    John Chollis (Collis)
John Silver                                     Green Silver
Nancy Wilson                                   Thomas Silver
Nelly Silver                                     Jacob Hutchins
Joseph Tate                                    Isaac Grindstaff
David D. Baker

 

After finding of the bill by the Grand Jury, the prisoner, Francis Silver, was brought before the bar. She entered a plea of, “Not Guilty.” The defendants Barbara Stuart and Blackston Stuart, whom the reader will remember, were the mother and the youngest brother of Frankie Silver, were discharged after the finding of the Grand Jury. The Court promptly ordered that the Sheriff, W.C. Butler, summon one hundred and fifty jurors to appear on Thursday following to serve as talisman. We are to assume that from the large number of men summonsed that this case was one that had stirred deep feeling among the people of Burke County.

Thursday morning, March 29, 1832, the case went to trial as scheduled. It is unfortunate that there is nowhere on record or among the loose papers any record of the attorneys who appeared in the case other than William Alexander, who was the Solicitor. It is known that D.J. Caldwell, Joseph McDowell, Isaac T. Avery, and others were practicing law in Burke County at this time. We find the following entry on the minute docket under this date:

Francis Silver arraigned and on her arraignment pleads not guilty of the felony and murder whereof she stands charged and the following jurors were drawn, sworn and charged to pass between the prisoner and the State on her life and death, to wit:

Henry Pain                                   Robert McElrath
David Beedle                                 Oscar Willis
Cyrus P. Connelly                            John Hall
William L. Baird                             Richard Bean
Joseph Tippet                               Layfayette Collins
Robert Garrison                             David Hennessee

Who, after hearing the evidence, argument of council and charge of the judge, returned into court and gave the following verdict, to wit: We find the prisoner Francis Silver, Guilty of the felony and murder whereof she stands charged in manner and form as charged in the bill of indictment.

The above verdict of the Jury was rendered on Friday, March 30, and we find the sentence of the court pronounced in the following words.

Counsel for the prisoner move for a rule upon the State for a new trial.  Rule granted. After argument rule discharged. Solicitor for the State prays judgment. Sentence of the Court that the prisoner, Francis Silver be taken back to the prison from whence she came and there to remain until the Fryday of July Court next of Burke County and then to be taken from thence to the place of public execution and then and there be hung by the neck until she be dead. This sentence to be carried into execution by the Sheriff of Burke County and gives for security Isiah and Jackson Stuart.

Thus was the slow wheel of justice again set in motion, but we are to find that it was to falter twice more before Frankie met her fate. When your writer turned to the minutes of the Superior Court of Burke County for the next term following the writ of denial from the Supreme Court to find the final disposition of the case, the following unexplained entry was found.

The fourth Monday of September 1832, His Honor Judge Swain (who had been assigned to hold the Superior Court of Law for the county during the term) failing to appear and holding the same, the Sheriff of said county opened and adjourned the same until Tuesday morning nine o’clock. Tuesday morning the Judge was still absent, Sheriff adjourned the court until Wednesday. Wednesday morning the Judge not having appeared to hold the said Court, the same was adjourned for the term.

Six months were thus added to Frankie Silver’s life, as the next term of court was in March 1833, one year after her trial. On the last day of the March term, 1833, we find the following entry.

Francis Silvers being at the bar, the court proceeded to judgment and sentence in obedience of the certificate of the Supreme Court: That the prisoner, Francis Silver, to be taken back to the prison from whence she came and there to remain until the Fryday in June next, being the 28^th day and then from thence to the place of public execution between the hours of one and four in the afternoon and hung until she be dead. This sentence to be carried into execution by the Sheriff of Burke County.

And Frankie was returned to the jail she had occupied for fourteen months.

It is interesting to note here that an election had been held since the sentence had been first pronounced and that John Boone had been elected Sheriff of Boone County. Your writer has been told many times that this man was a nephew of Daniel Boone. And it is also interesting to note that in the same election Andrew Jackson had been reelected President of the United States.

The story of Frankie Silver’s escape from jail has been handed down to us different versions - all romantic. The following quotation from the Star and North Carolina Gazette, under the date of June 7, 1833, gives the current view:

“Frances Silver, who was lately convicted of murdering her husband, and sentenced to be executed on the 28^th of this month, made her escape from the jail at Morganton, Burke County, on the night of the 18^th ultimo., by the assistance of some person or persons, who entered the jail by one of the basement story window and opened the doors leading to the prisoner’s apartment by aid of false keys. She was apprehended a few days later in Rutherford County, and taken back to jail. When taken she was dressed in male apparel, with her hair cut short. Her father and uncle have been committed to jail as accomplices in her escape.”

It is apparent from the above that Frankie was back in the Burke County jail on the date set for her execution. However, for some reason, the hanging was postponed until the 12^th day of July. We quote again from the Star, under the date of August 2, 1833.

“Frances Silver was hung at Morganton, Burke County, on the 12^th ultimo., for the murder of her husband, Charles Silver. Previous to her execution, she made a full confession of the crime for which she suffered.”

We are at a loss to know how Frankie behaved as she went to the scaffold, which was erected on a hill in what is now a beautiful residential section of the Town of Morganton. Nearly all of the stories handed down tell us that she repented and acknowledged her guilt.  For many a decade there has periodically appeared in print a sad and doleful poem which she is reputed to have recited from the scaffold. It certainly shows a familiarity with the case and seems to have been written by some moderately literate person under a great mental or emotional strain. The verses follow:  (I have elected to omit this poem in the fact that there are at least 10 versions of it and I do not believe that Frankie was able to compose this so called, “poem.” It is very doubtful that she could read or write. Later, it was proven that she did not write the poem at all and certainly did not quote it on the gallows.  Ed.)

The basis of Frankie’s appeal is very clearly indicated in the written appeal which was filed with the Supreme Court in time for its Spring Session of 1832. The Minutes of the Supreme Court show that no counsel appeared for Frankie when the merits of the appeal were passed upon. The written appeal follows:

STATE
v.
FRANCIS SILVER

That defendant was indicted for the murder of her husband. The case was one of circumstantial evidence. The witnesses for the State were sworn and separated under the charge of an officer until each was called into Court to be examined. The case was taken for trial on Thursday morning and occupied the day in the examination of the testimony, the argument of Counsel and the charge of the Court, the Jury having retired from the Bar under the charge of officers about candle light.

The Jury was kept together in deliberation during the night and on the next day returned to the Bar and when called over, they stated that they had not yet agreed and expressed a wish to have some of the witnesses who had been examined again brought into Court that they might be satisfied about their testimony. The court directed the witnesses wanted to be again called in and directed the Jury to ask the questions on such points as they wished to be satisfied about.

The Jurors asked the questions and on some points the witnesses went more into detail than they had done on their first examination. The Prisoner’s Counsel remarked that the witnesses had been separated during the trial but had been at large during the night. And the Court stated to the Jury that such was the case, that it could not have been anticipated that they would wish to hear any of the witnesses examined again after the case had been put to them again and they had retired from the Bar, but that the Jury ought to hear the witnesses without prejudice arising from the circumstances of their having had an opportunity of being together since their former examination.

The Jury ordered a verdict of Guilty. The Prisoner’s Counsel obtained a rule to show cause why a new trial should be granted on the ground that the witnesses had been permitted to be examined by the Jury on the second day when the witnesses had had an opportunity of being together after their first examination. Rule discharged and judgment of death.

The Supreme Court found that no error had been made in trial and the following writ was issued to the Clerk of the Superior Court of Burke County.

It is considered by the Court that the judgment of the Superior Court of Law for the County of Burke be affirmed. And it is ordered that the said Superior Court proceed to judgment and sentence of death against the defendant, Francis Silver. On motion judgment is granted against Jackson Stuart and Isiah Stuart, sureties for the appeal, for the cost of this court and in the suit incurred.

Jno. L. Henderson
Clerk, Supreme Court of
North Carolina

(Official Seal of the
North Carolina
Supreme Court)

 Your writer is inclined to believe that the burial of Frankie’s body was made near the place of execution as a matter of necessity, for I imagine that a three or four day trip in July with a rapidly decaying corpse would well-nigh unbearable. Her grave may be seen today just a short distance from Highway 105.

We see that the story of Frankie Silver came to its end on July 12, 1833. However, her name was to appear again in Court records in connection with the little child she left behind. In April, 1836, in the Court of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions of Burke County before the Worshipful James Avery, R.C. Pearson and John Collett, Justices Presiding, we find the following entry, which to my mind is the most tragic part of a sad story:

Ordered by the Court that Nancy Silver, an orphan daughter of Francis Silver, deceased, being about five years old on the 3^rd day of November, 1835, be bound unto Barbara Stuart until she is eighteen years of age; to receive at her freedom, one cow and calf, two suits of clothes, one good bed and furniture and twelve months schooling.

The story of Francis Silver is still being told around the firesides of the mountain homes of Western North Carolina. And with the years fact and fancy have become so interwoven that the real story has been distorted. However these old faded court records tell at least part of the story just as it happened.

Clifton K. Avery
The End

This is a copy of a letter from Thomas W. Wilson to Governor Swain, June 12, 1833

 

(from the Governor David L. Swain Papers, G.P. 67)
Morganton, June 12, 1833

Dear Sir:

Yours of the 3^rd of May was rec’d on the 5^th of this instant by the Buncomb mail. It will be treated as confidential and private. I have shared it to no one except the father of the unfortunate retch who was the subject of your letter& that in order to put him on his guard that he need not trust too mutch to others and be hung too that he would inform her of his imminent danger. I have never been satisfied with the case made for the Supreme Court by his honour Judge Donnell the which after the jury had retired & been out for the space of 24 hours was permitted (by the least) to undergo a reiteration by the Jury and that two on the Jury were subject & found taken for his expense & which before had not been touched on by them. I still believe if the case had been fairly presented to the Supreme Court that she must have had the advantage of a new trial tho it might not in the end have availed her anything. You will have discovered that she effected her escape on the Monday night after __?__ Superior Court, but owing to the great flood which happened at that very time she was unable to elude the diligence of her pursuers who caught her on the 8^th day after her escape. On her return to jail she became hopeless but for some of her acquaintances & made a confession of the whole facts as they occurred (as is believed by many) from the circumstances of the case both Herman Gaithers and myself was asked then to sign a petition for her but we preferred to see her for ourselves. We went to the jail and I be pleased to remark that S. Helman (?) was at the time perfectly sober when & at himself from a rigid examination & a long examination we was all of the opinion that it was clearly a case of manslaughter if not justifiable homicide. This was always my opinion from the circumstances proved and the facts attending the case. I am confident if the facts could have been provided as they really was that it would have amounted to no more that manslaughter. I am satisfied to that. She could have had no idea of her confession being made use of as a case of the kind mentioned. There are three persons bound over for aiding her in the escape. I do not believe they can be convicted without her testimony she has informed me of the persons it may be of more importance to publick __?__that they should be made examples of than her. A petition will be forewarded in a few days praying for executive clemency with many respectable asigners to the case, old Mr. Rutherford and others. I declare to you that as her lawyer who defended her I have no feelings on the subject. There are only such as many men must feel at the idea of such a shocking sight as it must have been to every man or human possessed of the feelings of humanity. I do sincerely believe that it is the wish and desire of the better of the community that she may be pardoned.  I do believe that there are some who went home crying a pardon had been granted to a poor subject & she had missed seeing a great sight.  It cannot be necessary for publick example a poor retch should be executed of her appearance & she too a female. It is now 18 months that she has undergone a rigid and severe confinement, a great part of the time chained in a dungeon to the middle of the room. It is possible that her case is only a case of manslaughter. It was argued by many of the solicitors too that she must have killed him while lying a sleep by the fire which was __?__possible. He went from his fathers near dark perfectly cool and sober in the dead of winter. The house very open. I say that it is not probable that he would have lain down to sleep by the fire. She must have killed him from some unlikely blow, not premeditated. Please to accept of my best wishes for yourself and family. I set off for Macon in the morning.

Th. W. Wilson

 

I leave it up to the reader to decide what really happened. The court record speaks for itself. Ed.

 

 

OBITUARIES

 

Citizen-Times.Com
2008-01-20
http://www.citizentimes.com/obituaries/keepsake.php?id=50627

dAVID dANIEL dOWD

 

 

Bakersville – David Daniel Dowd, 72, died just weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

He was quoted as saying, I lived a good life. And indeed, he did. He became a common sight up and down N.C. 80 by Kona, walking his dogs, Sadie, and then Cheyenne, picking up litter for some 12-plus years. When he wasn't doing that, he and his wife, Pat, ran the Mountain Hill Gallery. An accomplished artist, he worked in acrylic, painting landscapes and rustic still life. He was a member of the Toe River Art Council. He often said that he found the love of his life when he met Pat. Danny was a kind and gentle man who had a strong and positive outlook on life. He believed in the sincerity of friendship and easily made friends wherever he went.

Born and raised in Detroit, Mich., he was the second eldest in a family of six children. As a way of babysitting his younger siblings, he would often take them to the movies. He graduated from Annunciation High School in Detroit, in 1954. In his early adulthood, he loved the challenge of buying old junker cars and fixing them up. Sometimes he would customize and race them. He honed in on his mechanical abilities and studied to become a machinist/engineer. With these skills, he worked at Huck Manufacturing Co., in Detroit, for nearly 20 years as a head operator/setup for tool/die development. He then became supervisor at McLaughlin Co., in Petoskey, Mich. He also worked for 16 years at John Hassell and Co., on Long Island, N.Y., as a leader in cold forming for developing exotic fasteners for aircraft. As one of the lead developers in his field and a strong believer in sharing his knowledge, he traveled around the world, going to such places as Japan, England, Germany, Jordan, Israel, Mexico and many others too numerous to mention.

He was preceded in death by both of his parents; his first wife, Sharon; his nephew, Caleb Dowd; and brother, Willard Dowd.

Danny Dowd is survived by his loving wife, Patricia Dowd; daughter, Mary Dowd, of California; two sons, David Dowd and wife, Cheryl, of California, and James Dowd, of Michigan. He is also survived by three sisters, Judy Pardoski and husband, Jerry, of Michigan, Marry Ann Silvestro and husband, John, of Tennessee, Jeanie DeLaurier and her husband, Dale, of Tennessee; his brother, Charlie Dowd, and wife, Anita, of Bakersville; and his sister-inlaw, Christine Dowd, of Michigan.

A prayer he often recited as we walked the roads:

Dear Lord, grant us peace and happiness, good health and prosperity. Let the hand of God and Jesus touch our souls. Let the holy spirit guide and smile upon us. Give us the strength, patience and courage to protect ourselves from evil. Amen.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to hospice.

Henline-Hughes is assisting the family.

 

(It is hard to determine when Danny and Patricia adopted the Silver family or when the Silver family adopted Danny and Pat. But it was a long time ago. It has been a wonderful affair and both Danny and Pat have contributed so much to the family and to the community of Kona. We wish to express our deepest sympathy to Danny’s family and we will keep them in our prayers. It is a sad occasion that we have lost Danny but thanks be to God, we still have Pat. Ed.)