A Poisoned Wife and a Verdict at Last: The Pepoon Murder Case
A Stevens County jury convicts George L. Pepoon of first-degree murder for the strychnine death of his wife Edith — but the man who helped him remains at large, and the county only acted after private citizens forced its hand.
At 9:15 Thursday night the jury in the Pepoon murder case brought forth a unanimous verdict of murder in the first degree against the defendant, George L. Pepoon, who in August of last year murdered his wife, Edith, by giving her strychnine.
The case has been one of the most sensational in the history of Stevens county, owing to the cold-blooded way in which the principal in the affair got rid of the victim, whom he considered only in the way. The verdict of guilty will be received as a just one by all citizens who have followed the testimony from the beginning, and although it is the belief of many that others besides Pepoon were equally guilty of Mrs. Pepoon's death, yet it is a satisfaction to know that the man who should have been his wife's protector, but who instead proved to be the principal actor in the crime, should be made to pay the penalty for the deed.
The verdict of guilty also goes to show that our officials were slow to recognize in the Pepoon murder case a cause for action. Private citizens took up the fight in order to see justice meted out to the guilty ones and that the murdered woman might be revenged. Among the foremost in this was Morton Crosson. He was convinced of foul play from the start, but his oft-repeated pleadings to the county officials only met with rebuke, and we might say with abuse. Not finding willing listeners here, he, with the mother of the murdered woman, went to the attorney general of the state, told their story, and without further delay an official investigation of the case was ordered, to the end that now a verdict of murder has been found against at least one of the principals in the crime.
Ray Wilcox, the paroled convict, is undoubtedly equally guilty of murder as is the convicted man, but his whereabouts are unknown to the authorities. Should he be found, in all likelihood himself and a third party will be called upon to answer for the death of Edith Pepoon. — Northport Republican.
“Private citizens took up the fight in order to see justice meted out to the guilty ones and that the murdered woman might be revenged.”
Then as now, the machinery of justice often moved only when ordinary people refused to let it stall — a private citizen and a grieving mother had to carry this case to the state attorney general before anyone acted. The still-unfound Ray Wilcox is a reminder that a conviction is not the same as a closed case.
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