21 April 2011

Nephews on the Stand Tell His Side of the Story (Battered Wife or Cold-Blooded Killer Part III)

Yesterday I gave you Cora Lou Vinson's side of the story. Today I'll tell you what he said. This will have to be in the form of testimony from his nephews, though, since Dr. William D. Vinson was dead.

Atlanta Constitution, Georgia
2 June 1922

Nephews, On Stand, Claim Mrs. Vinson Threatened Husband

Say That She Had Stated She Would Shoot Him to Prevent His Sons Getting Property

Roy Jackson Tells of Visit to His Home by Mrs. Vinson, Who Was Hunting Her Husband

Testimony by two nephews of Mrs. Cora Lou Vinson, on trial in the Fulton superior court for the murder of her husband, Dr. W. D. Vinson, to the effect that she had on numerous occasion threatened to shoot her husband, concluded the third day of the trial, which began Tuesday.

"Yes, sir," exclaimed Roy Jackson, nephew of the defendant, "my aunt came to my house Christmas night, 1919, and said she would shoot the hell out of Dr. Vinson, Willie and Tillo B. [printed as Tillie in other articles], too, before they'd ever get any of that property. Willie and Tillo B. are Dr. Vinson's sons."

J. S. Jackson, also a nephew of the accused woman, testified she had stated to him she would kill Dr. Vinson, and one time, in his presence, told Dr. Vinson she would pick up an ax and knock out his brains if he "did not get the hell out of there."

...[Roy Jackson, referring to 1919] "She had been drinking, or was on one of her high horses," he said...

..."Nearly every time I saw her she said she would kill Dr. Vinson and the two sons before she would let them have the property." When questioned as to her exact words, the language used was not printable.
I referred to the nephews as "his," and the newspaper article refers to them as "hers." Both are correct of course, but just so you know, Roy and J. S. Jackson were sons of Cora's brother Simp Jackson. Willie and Tillo (Tillie) were sons of Dr. Vinson from a previous marriage.

I found Dr. Vinson's death certificate online at Georgia's Virtual Vault. Cause of death was "multiple gunshot wounds of head (homicide)."

Just about every news article I read pointed out that Dr. Vinson had filed for divorce, citing that "she" had threatened to kill him.

Tomorrow: The Verdict.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Between your Vinsons and my Mashburns, the Atlanta papers were busy :)

rio dulce life said...

Yes, our Mashburns were in the news in Atlanta often. Noah Strong Mashburn committed suicide if I remember correctly. Our related O'Shields family was in the news too as Harvey got in a fight with a man and was shot. Edgar Paul O'Shields, son of Harvey, fought a nasty divorce battle in the news as well. The wife of Harvey was married before Harvey to Thomas Hawkins. One of their daughters married into the Mashburn family. I believe from what my deceased grandmother told me, that Cora Lou (Jackson) Vinson was the sister of Edgar Paul O'Shield's first wife, Mattie Virginia "Jennie" Jackson. My grandmother told me that this side of her ancestors were pretty wild.