Dillard Greene Coffey (1912-1988)

Dillard Greene Coffey was a son of David William and Martha Etta Destimona "Dessie" Crump Coffey, born in Avery Co., NC on Dec. 7, 1912.  In 1935 he was married to Maude Dellinger, a daughter of Raymond D. and Melvina "Vina" Jennings Dellinger.

Within a few months following the union, Dillard confessed to and was arrested for the murder of  his father-in-law.  Included in the indictment was Austin Blaine Coffey, multiple times cousin to Dillard and a son of David Nathaniel and Caroline Lavinia Coffey Coffey.

The Greensboro [NC] Daily News of Dec. 29, 1936 reported Dillard's surrender and confession to the murder to Watauga Co. Sheriff Edmundson. Neither Coffey nor the Sheriff made a statement as to why he committed the murder.

In a subsequent press report by the Greensboro Record on Apr. 28, 1937, it was reported that former state representative Blaine Coffey and Dillard Coffey had been denied bail at a habeas corpus hearing before Judge A. Hall Johnston.  A trial date was not announced.

I have not found a newspaper follow-up reporting on the disposition of the two. It can be supposed they were exonerated because Austin Blaine Coffey was enumerated as a widower on Apr. 23, 1940 in Watauga Twp., Watauga Co.  That same year, in October*, Dillard registered for the WW2 draft and, in 1941, married in Johnson Co., TN, a distant cousin, Nancy Elizabeth Coffey, a daughter of William Carlton and Bessie Mae Townsend Coffey.

Dillard died on Aug. 10, 1988 in Watauga Co. and was buried at White Springs Cemetery in Blowing Rock. Nancy died on Apr. 30, 2001 and was also buried at White Springs.

*He did spend nearly three years in the state prison in Stanly Co., NC.  He was enumerated there on Apr. 20, 1940.  The May 30, 1940 edition of the Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, NC, reported his parole on May 29 after serving about 2 yrs., 8 mos. of a 10 to 15 year sentence for 2d degree murder.

Ernest Reid Coffey

Ernest* was a native of North Caroline, born on Christmas day in 1916.  He was the seventh of eight children and last of four sons born to John Wesley and Nancy Kizzie Ann Hatley Coffey.

Prior to his conviction for the murder of his uncle, James Hardy Coffey in 1936, Ernest was a suspect in a number of petty crimes.

James Hardy Coffey was a son of Thomas Avery and Louisa E. Gragg Coffey and brother to John Wesley Coffey.  He was married on Sep. 10, 1905 in Watauga Co., NC to Lillian Mae "Lillie" Gray, daughter of William and Delia A. Gray of Boone, Watauga Co., NC.  Together, they had seven children, the middle being a son born in 1912; the others all daughters.

James became a law enforcement officer and at the time of his death he was a deputy sheriff in Watauga Co.  In 1936, the year he was killed, a number of vacant summer homes and camps in the surrounding forests had been broken into and items stolen.  Through investigation James apparently began to suspect that his nephew Ernest, and others were involved.  News items of the day report that James was about to charge the nephew when he was killed.

He was killed on Apr. 5, 1936.  News items of the day draw a picture of him arriving home after a day on the job and being killed by a shotgun blast through a window while giving one of his daughters a violin lesson.  Other reports tell of him singing hymns while omitting the violin lesson.

Ernest was arrested after allegedly boasting to a friend that he had killed his uncle.  The trial did not last very long and he was convicted in July, 1936 of murder in the first degree.  The first degree conviction was the first in the history  of Avery County and, he was sentenced to death in the state's gas chamber.  The conviction was upheld in Oct., 1936 by the state supreme court.

Another news item - undated - reported that Ernest's execution was delayed by Gov. John C. B. Ehringhaus. In Aug., 1937, then Governor, Clyde Hoey commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. In 1940. As more evidence giving credence to Ernest constant denial of guilt began to emerge, Gov. Hoey again changed his sentence to "20 to 30 years."  In 1948 he was paroled!

James Thomas Rusher, in his book** entitled Until he is Dead, considerable space was given to the murder trial and subsequent efforts to free Ernest, called Reid in the book.

Ernest father never believed that his son was guilty and spent years pursuing his release.  Other family members also believed in his innocence and worked for his release.

After his release, he married Zula May Baker, believed to be of Robeson Co.  She was born c1917 and died on May 16, 1977.  Ernest died on Mar. 16, 1981 in Raleigh, Wake Co.  Both are buried at Brier Creek Memorial Gardens in Leesville, Wake Co.

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*See also The Edward Coffey Project: James Hardy Coffey - http://bit.ly/1jWOS5d and, The Edward Coffey Project: Murder of James Hardy Coffey - http://bit.ly/1jWOQKQ

 ** Until He is Dead: Capital Punishment in the Western North Carolina History, Parkway Publishers, 2003, ISBN: 1887905731, 9781887905732, 246 pages

Earle Thaddeus McGillicuddy

Cornelius Alexander "Connie Mack" McGillicuddy, Sr.  

Baseball fans of teams of the early to mid-20th century probably recognize the name.  

According to Wikipedia, Mack, Sr. was:

"Cornelius McGillicuddy, better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball player, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he holds records for wins, losses, and games managed, with his victory total being almost 1,000 more than any other manager."

Connie Mack was married to Margaret Hogan in 1887 and their second of three sons, Earl Thaddeus Mack was born on Feb. 1, 1890 in Worcester Co., MA.

Earle T. Mack

Earle grew up on a baseball field and in his father's clubhouse.  He wanted to be a "big league" professional baseball player but, over the years he managed to play in only a very few games. He had a mostly minor league career, both as manager and player.  Following his father's death he and another brother managed his baseball business.

While Earle was growing up, his future wife, Mary Margaret Cain was growing up in Burke Co., NC where she was born in Dec., 1890.  Her father was Corey Thomas Cain, a native of Wake Co., NC; her mother Lula Eloise Coffey, born 1866 in Caldwell Co., NC to William Elbert and Margaret Anne Kincaid Coffey.  She was the third of William and Margaret's seven children.

Earle and Mary Margaret were married on Sep. 28, 1915 in Morganton, Burke Co. and moved almost immediately to Philadelphia, the city they called "home" until 1955 when Mary passed away. I know that she was the mother of at least one child, a son, Earle T., Jr., born c1919.

Earle's obituary appeared in The Evening Star, a Washington, DC newspaper, on Feb. 6, 1967:

Earl Mack Dies, 78-Year-Old Son of Connie Mack

Upper Darby, Pa. (UPI)--Earl Mack, 78, former part owner of the Philadelphia Athletics and son of baseball's legendary Connie Mack, died Sunday at Delaware County Hospital.

Mr. Mack, the second of Connie's three sons, served with his brother, Roy, as officers of the Athletics after their father's death.  The franchise was sold in November, 1954, to Chicago financier Arnold Johnson and transferred to Kansas City.

Mr. Mack, who was around his father's clubhouse as a child, had long but undistinguished career in the minor leagues.  He played a total of five games with the Athletics in 1910, 1911 and 1914 as a catcher, third baseman and first baseman.

Following World War I, he served three seasons as player-manager at Moline, Ill., and closed his managerial career by winning the Blue Ridge League pennant with Martinsburg, W. Va.

 Margaret's obituary appeared in The Greensboro Daily News, Greensboro, NC on May. 5, 1955:

Mrs. Earl McGillicuddy

Statesville, May 4 - Mrs. Earle T. McGillicuddy, sister of Mrs. E. M. Shelton of Statesville, died yesterday at her home in Philadelphia, Pa.  Mrs. McGillicuddy was the former Mary Margaret Cain of Morganton.

She was educated at the Mary Dickson private school and the Patton High School, Morganton, and at St. Mary's and Meredith Colleges, Raleigh.  For a number of years she was organist at First Baptist Church, Morganton.  She had resided in Philadelphia since her marriage 35 years ago.

Survivors include her husband; a son, Earle T. McGillicuddy, Jr.; two grandchildren; and a sister, Mrs. Shelton.

A brief funeral service will be held at the Shelton residence on North Mulberry Street Friday at 1:15 p.m. with the Rev. J. S. Potter and the Rev. Robert Marshburn, officiating.  The funeral party will go from here to Morganton, where the funeral services will be held at the First Baptist Church at 3 p.m. Friday.  Interment will be in Forest Hill Cemetery, Morganton.

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Lulu's Coffey lineage:

William > Gilliam/Polly Moore > William/Annie Boone > Thomas/Sarah Fields > John/Jane Graves > Edward/Ann Powell.  See also http://coffeycousins.blogspot.com/2013/01/lula-eloise-coffey.html