September 26, 2016 / Joanne Yeck

The Famous Forbes Case of Buckingham County: Part XXXIX

The Case against Dan Wooldridge

And what about the third party in the case, Dan Wooldridge? The Times Dispatch laid out his situation:

The case against young Dan Wooldridge, son of E. C. Wooldridge, is not well made out, and it is the general impression that he will be acquitted. Dan is a handsome boy fifteen or sixteen years of age. He attended the trial of his father every day for nearly two weeks.

At nights he frequently attended a “holiness” meeting, which was in progress near Buckingham courthouse at that time, and it was said that he professed sanctification one night while the trial was in progress.

If Dan Wooldridge is proved clear of the crime, a third party is still wanted by the Commonwealth. It has now been clearly shown that the track at the fire which at first was taken for a woman’s track was that of a man with a nice “Sunday” shoe on. No one knows who he could have been.

This case is now the daily topic of conversation everywhere throughout this section. Every store of every town is filled every night with a crowd which discusses the matter. The telephone wires are filled with it. Where hundreds attended the Wooldridge trial in July, signs are that thousands will attend that and the Forbes trial in October.

So much for Sherlock Holmes and the absolute identification of a well-heeled, Caucasian woman’s shoe print. For details see The Famous Forbes Case of Buckingham County: Part XI: “A Woman in the Case?”

Now there was a new mystery to the already “deeply mysterious” case of arson. What man would set out to burn seven or eight buildings in his Sunday best?

Coming next: Summer in Jail

Need to catch up? Click here for The Famous Forbes Case of Buckingham County: Part I