| War and History Non-Fiction posted September 20, 2024 |
A small town in North Carolina makes national news
Curious Events in Wilkesboro
by Jim Wile
In March 2024 a 700-square-foot sinkhole was discovered beneath the concrete grandstand of the North Wilkesboro Speedway in Wilkes County, North Carolina, not 50 miles from my home in Clemmons, NC. This made national news. The sinkhole was believed to be the site of a long-rumored moonshine still.
But Wilkes County is famous for another event you may have heard about that also made national news. It was the home of Thomas Dula, who was convicted of killing Laura Foster in a widely reported trial. He was later executed for the crime.
This case is shrouded in mystery, though, as many are convinced that the wrong person was tried and executed for the murder. What was so special about this particular murder trial that made national news? It was the prurient nature of the personal entanglements that so captured the imagination of the media and all who read about it.
Following are some of the facts of the case, so we can decide whether or not justice was served.
When Dula was 12 years old, he was invited to live with James and Anne Melton. Melton, a farmer who had lost interest in his much younger and beautiful wife, consented to allow young Dula to share a bed with her. She was just three years older than he. They began a sexual relationship that lasted six years until Dula joined the army and left for several years.
When he returned, Pauline Foster, a cousin of farmer’s wife-Anne, was now also living in the household as a maid. Dula, who was quite good-looking and had a reputation of being a lady’s man, took up again with Anne but formed a relationship with Pauline, the maid as well. In fact, the three of them—Dula, Anne, and Pauline—formed a menage a trois, sharing the same bed, while the willingly cuckolded James Melton slept alone in his bed.
To complicate matters even further, Laura Foster, another cousin of farmer’s wife-Anne and Pauline, the maid, also moved to the area. Dula began sleeping with her too in a separate arrangement from his threesome in the Melton home.
Dula soon contracted syphilis and believed that it was the newcomer, Laura Foster, who gave it to him. What he didn’t know was that Pauline, the maid, who had originally come to the area seeking treatment for syphilis, actually gave it to him. Dula then spread it to his other two paramours.
Some reports say Dula vowed revenge against newcomer-Laura for giving him syphilis, and soon after, she went missing. The next day, her horse returned trailing a piece of broken rope, but without a rider. A few weeks later, the remaining rope was found near a blood-soaked site near where Dula had eventually relocated, so suspicion fell on him. He then fled just over the border to Tennessee, where he went to work on a farm owned by a James Grayson.
At the same time, Pauline, the maid also visited Tennessee. When she later returned to Wilkesboro, a friend asked her in jest if she had left for Tennessee because she had killed the girl. Supposedly in jest, she replied that, yes, she and Dula had killed her together.
Soon after, police charged her with being an accessory to murder. Now fearing for her life and with a grant of immunity, she provided the details of the murder, claiming that the girl was murdered by farmer's wife-Anne, along with Dula, because of jealousy that Dula was planning to take her away and marry her.
Pauline, the maid then led the authorities to a shallow grave in the woods. She knew where it was, she claimed, because farmer’s wife-Anne had told her about the murder and took her to the grave one night to make sure it was still well hidden. Laura Foster’s body was found in this grave, and it had been stabbed through the heart with a large knife. She was pregnant at the time, presumably with Dula’s baby.
Grayson later found out Dula was a wanted man and notified the police that he had been working at his farm in Tennessee. Dula left and was subsequently caught back in Wilkesboro.
He was tried and convicted, although he maintained his innocence to the end. Just prior to his execution, two years after the crime, he said, "Gentlemen, I did not harm a single hair on that fair lady's head.” But he also said that he still deserved his punishment. A curious remark! He had also denied at trial that farmer’s wife-Anne had anything to do with the killing, and, based largely on his testimony, she was acquitted in a separate trial.
So, who really killed newcomer-Laura Foster?
I think we need to ask why Dula denied doing it to the bitter end, yet still said he deserved his punishment. I think it’s because he was an accessory, and the real killer was Pauline, the maid. Perhaps Dula saw what she was about to do and just froze rather than try to stop her.
I don’t believe her story that farmer’s wife-Anne brought her along one night to verify that the grave was well-hidden, and that’s how she knew where it was. If Anne were the real killer, why would she do that and risk exposing herself?
It’s far more plausible to believe that Pauline, the maid knew where the murder site and the grave were because she was the murderer. She probably hated newcomer-Laura for the same reason farmer’s wife-Anne might have—because Dula and Laura had marriage plans, and she didn’t want to lose her lover.
At one point, I thought of turning this convoluted story into a historical fiction novel, as this is the type of story that seems more like fiction than fact. In the end, I decided against it because, if you’ve read any of my novels, you’d know that the characters are not the kind I like to write about, for there isn’t a decent one in the lot, save for maybe Grayson. As you might also say of politicians, “They’re all no good.”
So, what is it that especially appeals to me about this story? I’ll give you a clue: After Dula was fingered by Grayson and returned to Wilkesboro and was caught, he said, “If it hadn’t a been for Grayson, I’d a been in Tennessee.”
Does that line ring a bell?
If not, know also that the way they pronounce “opera” in North Carolina Appalachian territory is “opry,” as in the Grand Ole Opry. The final “a” has an “e” sound. To folks here, Thomas Dula’s name would have been pronounced Tom Dooley.
And one more fact: He was executed by hanging in the year 1868.
If you’re from my generation, you know that this tale was immortalized by the Kingston Trio hit song from 1958 called “Tom Dooley.” I was an impressionable seven years old when I first heard that song. I was fascinated by it with that stabbing and hanging, and it has stuck with me ever since. This is the story behind that famous song.
In March 2024 a 700-square-foot sinkhole was discovered beneath the concrete grandstand of the North Wilkesboro Speedway in Wilkes County, North Carolina, not 50 miles from my home in Clemmons, NC. This made national news. The sinkhole was believed to be the site of a long-rumored moonshine still.
But Wilkes County is famous for another event you may have heard about that also made national news. It was the home of Thomas Dula, who was convicted of killing Laura Foster in a widely reported trial. He was later executed for the crime.
This case is shrouded in mystery, though, as many are convinced that the wrong person was tried and executed for the murder. What was so special about this particular murder trial that made national news? It was the prurient nature of the personal entanglements that so captured the imagination of the media and all who read about it.
Following are some of the facts of the case, so we can decide whether or not justice was served.
When Dula was 12 years old, he was invited to live with James and Anne Melton. Melton, a farmer who had lost interest in his much younger and beautiful wife, consented to allow young Dula to share a bed with her. She was just three years older than he. They began a sexual relationship that lasted six years until Dula joined the army and left for several years.
When he returned, Pauline Foster, a cousin of farmer’s wife-Anne, was now also living in the household as a maid. Dula, who was quite good-looking and had a reputation of being a lady’s man, took up again with Anne but formed a relationship with Pauline, the maid as well. In fact, the three of them—Dula, Anne, and Pauline—formed a menage a trois, sharing the same bed, while the willingly cuckolded James Melton slept alone in his bed.
To complicate matters even further, Laura Foster, another cousin of farmer’s wife-Anne and Pauline, the maid, also moved to the area. Dula began sleeping with her too in a separate arrangement from his threesome in the Melton home.
Dula soon contracted syphilis and believed that it was the newcomer, Laura Foster, who gave it to him. What he didn’t know was that Pauline, the maid, who had originally come to the area seeking treatment for syphilis, actually gave it to him. Dula then spread it to his other two paramours.
Some reports say Dula vowed revenge against newcomer-Laura for giving him syphilis, and soon after, she went missing. The next day, her horse returned trailing a piece of broken rope, but without a rider. A few weeks later, the remaining rope was found near a blood-soaked site near where Dula had eventually relocated, so suspicion fell on him. He then fled just over the border to Tennessee, where he went to work on a farm owned by a James Grayson.
At the same time, Pauline, the maid also visited Tennessee. When she later returned to Wilkesboro, a friend asked her in jest if she had left for Tennessee because she had killed the girl. Supposedly in jest, she replied that, yes, she and Dula had killed her together.
Soon after, police charged her with being an accessory to murder. Now fearing for her life and with a grant of immunity, she provided the details of the murder, claiming that the girl was murdered by farmer's wife-Anne, along with Dula, because of jealousy that Dula was planning to take her away and marry her.
Pauline, the maid then led the authorities to a shallow grave in the woods. She knew where it was, she claimed, because farmer’s wife-Anne had told her about the murder and took her to the grave one night to make sure it was still well hidden. Laura Foster’s body was found in this grave, and it had been stabbed through the heart with a large knife. She was pregnant at the time, presumably with Dula’s baby.
Grayson later found out Dula was a wanted man and notified the police that he had been working at his farm in Tennessee. Dula left and was subsequently caught back in Wilkesboro.
He was tried and convicted, although he maintained his innocence to the end. Just prior to his execution, two years after the crime, he said, "Gentlemen, I did not harm a single hair on that fair lady's head.” But he also said that he still deserved his punishment. A curious remark! He had also denied at trial that farmer’s wife-Anne had anything to do with the killing, and, based largely on his testimony, she was acquitted in a separate trial.
So, who really killed newcomer-Laura Foster?
I think we need to ask why Dula denied doing it to the bitter end, yet still said he deserved his punishment. I think it’s because he was an accessory, and the real killer was Pauline, the maid. Perhaps Dula saw what she was about to do and just froze rather than try to stop her.
I don’t believe her story that farmer’s wife-Anne brought her along one night to verify that the grave was well-hidden, and that’s how she knew where it was. If Anne were the real killer, why would she do that and risk exposing herself?
It’s far more plausible to believe that Pauline, the maid knew where the murder site and the grave were because she was the murderer. She probably hated newcomer-Laura for the same reason farmer’s wife-Anne might have—because Dula and Laura had marriage plans, and she didn’t want to lose her lover.
At one point, I thought of turning this convoluted story into a historical fiction novel, as this is the type of story that seems more like fiction than fact. In the end, I decided against it because, if you’ve read any of my novels, you’d know that the characters are not the kind I like to write about, for there isn’t a decent one in the lot, save for maybe Grayson. As you might also say of politicians, “They’re all no good.”
So, what is it that especially appeals to me about this story? I’ll give you a clue: After Dula was fingered by Grayson and returned to Wilkesboro and was caught, he said, “If it hadn’t a been for Grayson, I’d a been in Tennessee.”
Does that line ring a bell?
If not, know also that the way they pronounce “opera” in North Carolina Appalachian territory is “opry,” as in the Grand Ole Opry. The final “a” has an “e” sound. To folks here, Thomas Dula’s name would have been pronounced Tom Dooley.
And one more fact: He was executed by hanging in the year 1868.
If you’re from my generation, you know that this tale was immortalized by the Kingston Trio hit song from 1958 called “Tom Dooley.” I was an impressionable seven years old when I first heard that song. I was fascinated by it with that stabbing and hanging, and it has stuck with me ever since. This is the story behind that famous song.
The song was originally written by local poet Thomas Land, shortly after Dula's hanging, in the genre known as the Appalachian "sweetheart murder ballads."
Many different recordings have been made of this song, but the Kingston Trio version was by far the most popular. It sold more than six million copies, topped the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart, and is often credited with starting the folk music boom in the '50s and '60s. Several different organizations selected it as one of the Songs of the Century. It also achieved #1 status in Belgium, The Netherlands, and Norway and #5 status in the UK.
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© Copyright 2024. Jim Wile All rights reserved.
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