'Fiendish and cruel': A Sussex murder that caused 'greatest excitement'
“Throughout Sussex county the greatest excitement prevails,” the Wilmington Evening Journal reported on March 13, 1897, “over the finding of the body of a pretty young woman in Broadkiln (Broadkill) river at Milton on Thursday. That it is foul murder, no one denies.
"The body was found by William S. McGee and John Robinson, two fishermen … The woman was standing upright in the mud. Her head was cut and bruised, showing where she had been beaten. Near her a boat and a broken oar was found floating. In the boat were several hairpins.”
In a summary of the murder, the Sussex Countian noted on June 11, 1897, “News of the finding of the body spread like wildfire over the adjacent country, and the entire section became aroused over it. Crowds flocked to view the body of the woman.”
The newspaper also reported that on the river bank detectives discovered suspicious wheel marks from a wagon pulled by a horse whose two hind hooves were shoeless. The detectives followed the distinctive trail left by the horse and wagon for five miles until they were lost at a crossroads a short distance from the farm of James M. Gordy.
A medium-sized man with a drooping mustache, Gordy had several relatives die under mysterious circumstances; and when the detectives noted that the hoofprints made by the horse that drew the wagon matched those from Gordy’s horse, a search began for the suspected murderer.
Amid threats of a lynching, detectives went to Gordy’s mother’s house at Whitesville, southwest of Gumboro, a short distance from the Maryland border. As the detectives approached the house, Gordy appeared and started to run. The quick-footed detectives, however, were able to overtake him; and before anything was said, Gordy blurted out, “I didn’t hurt that woman.”
At the trial in Georgetown, it was revealed that the dead woman was a wealthy widow from New York named Mary Estelle Lewis, who had married Gordy just days before she was murdered. Several items belonging to the victim were found in Gordy’s possession, including the mate of the glove that was found on the corpse.
Gordy’s lawyers presented only a single witness in his defense, a doctor who testified that the victim died by drowning, even though an autopsy found that no water was in her lungs.
DELAWARE NEWS: Happy New Year! Celebrate a fistful of firsts in the First State
In the late 19th century, newspapers had as much restraint as today’s Internet.
On April 7, 1897, the Smyrna Times stated, “It begins to look as if the prediction that Gordy, the Georgetown Murderer, would not hang, would come true. Gordy has now become insane, or is acting that part so naturally, that those having him in charge have come to believe that such is a fact.
"Insane or not, the cold blooded wretch should stretch hemp at the expense of Sussex county. If ever such a wretch needed hanging for his crime, Gordy surely does. His trial begins on Wednesday, to-day. It will excite more interest than any trial that has taken place in Georgetown for years, and the court room will be crowded by those who attend to listen to the sensational developments, as the State weaves its net of convicting testimony around the prisoner.”
Despite the newspaper’s prediction, Gordy was found mentally fit to stand trial, and he was found guilty. On June 11, 1897, Gordy was executed at Georgetown before a large crowd of spectators.
MORE: As The Starboard eyes bigger bathrooms, the Dewey bar also buys Mama Celeste's Pizzeria
According to the Sussex Countian, “Thus ended the sequel to one of the most dastardly crimes that ever occurred in Sussex county. A crime which in its every feature was fiendish and cruel, and seems more like the act of a maniac than that of a sane man.”
Principal sources
Evening Journal, March 13, 1897.
Sussex Countian, June 11, 1897.
Smyrna Times, April 7, 1897.
New York Times, March 14, April 16, June 12, 1897.
Wilmington Sunday Morning Star, Aug. 20, 1933.
This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: 'That it is foul murder': Sussex killing caused 'greatest excitement'
