Edmund R. Wilcox’s ancestry can be traced to 3 Wilcox brothers, sailors and sons of a vice admiral in the English navy who came to America in 1635 and settled in Connecticut.
Edmund’s paternal grandfather, William Wilcox was the son of one of 5 brothers who fought in the American Revolution. Early in the 19th century William came to New York from Stonington, Connecticut and in 1817 he settled on Point Peninsula.
Oren Schuyler Wilcox, Edmund’s father, was born September 13, 1833 in Point Peninsula, Jefferson County, NY. He was involved in the mercantile business until 1885 when he entered the insurance business. He married Mary E. Cline, the eldest daughter of Henry Cline on August 30, 1858.
Oren and Mary had a large family. Records indicate his son's Oren (Jr.) and Edmund R. were both born April 25, 1864, so it seems possible Edmund was a twin.
Oren Jr. became a merchant in Ohio. Edmund became a lawyer in New York. The photograph below was taken in Rome, NY by photographer J. M. Brainerd when Edmund was 25 years old. The reverse reads: E. R. Wilcox, Watertown, Jeff. Co., NY 1889.
E. R. Wilcox seems to have devoted most of his time to his career. While I run across mention of him in regards to the cases he was involved in, I find very little of a personal nature. He and his wife Addie Secor did not marry until they were both well into their 50’s, and it appears to have been a first marriage for each of them.
Of all the cases of E. R. Wilcox, his most sensational was probably the Watertown Trunk Murder. He was counsel for Mary Farmer who was accused of murdering her neighbor with an axe, dismembering the body and stuffing it into a trunk; part of a plan to take over her neighbor's identity and acquire her property.
Mary Farmer was the 2nd woman put to death in the state of New York. There is an account of the murder case on Muderpedia: Mary O’Brien Farmer
Another newspaper article I transcribed, appeared in the Watertown Daily Times in August, 1922.
It centers on the Workman's and Salisbury’s, two families who lived in the same house. The Salisbury’s on the upper level, and the Workman's on the lower level. The Workman’s had two children, Edna and Anson; the Salisbury’s had one son, Monroe.
On July 16, 1921 the families were berry picking at Pine Camp (now Fort Drum), a military reservation and testing ground. It was a few weeks after the Buffalo guardsmen had been training there and Mrs. William Salisbury and Edna Workman found an unexploded 155 mm shell lying on the ground. The shell measured about 6 inches in diameter at the base and was 22 inches long. It weighed approximately 100 lbs and contained 15 lbs of TNT.
Edward Workman’s 12 year old son, Anson wanted to keep the shell as a memento and so they transported it by automobile from Pine Plains to the city of Watertown, where it was set upright on the back porch of the home the families shared. And there it remained for nearly a year, until July 12, 1922, when it exploded, killing 8 children who were playing nearby. The victims included both of the Workman’s children as well as the Salisbury’s son, Monroe.
Source: Watertown Daily Times August 26, 1922
WILCOX BLAMES ARTILLERY UNIT
Criticizes 106th Field Artillery of Buffalo in Report on Shell Explosion
FOR NEGLIGENCE IN NOT PROPERLY POLICING FIELD
DISTRICT ATTORNEY HOLDS, HOWEVER THAT THERE WAS NO CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE
LEFT 41 SHELLS ON PINE PLAINS
Finds that Hot Weather Had Brought Fulminate of Mercury in Priming Cap Close to Explosion Point and That Only Slight Blow was Necessary to Explode It.
The 106th Heavy Field Artillery of Buffalo is criticized by District Attorney E. Robert Wilcox for the manner in which it left shells scattered about the Pine Plains and negligence in not properly policing the field of fire in the report of his inquest into the death of eight children through the explosion of a 155 millimeter shell on the back porch of Edward G. Workman’s home, 423 Dimmick street, July 12. He holds, however, that the militia company was not guilty of any criminal intent or act of criminal negligence.
District Attorney Wilcox finds in his report that the shell was brought by Workman from Pine Plains a few weeks after the Buffalo guardsmen had been there for training last summer. In his findings the county officer charges that 41 shells similar to the one that exploded have been found about Pine Plains, and this he says is evidence of the negligence of the militiamen.
In regard to the actual cause of the explosion Mr. Wilcox offers no opinion other than that revealed by early investigation. He finds that hot weather had prevailed and that this had brought the fulminate of mercury in the priming cap close to the explosion point so that only a slight blow or jar was necessary to release its death dealing force.
The report is a volume of 114 typewritten pages and includes testimony of witnesses, reports of physicians, exhibits and the findings. The report says in part:
District Attorney’s Report.
Coroner’s inquest, Jefferson county in the matter of the investigation into the death of Sarah Bardon, Anson Workman, Edna Workman, Monroe Salisbury, Vivian Jones, Olin Brown, Frances Wylie and Donald Horton:
Inquest held at the city of Watertown and other places in said county by E. R. Wilcox, district, attorney of said county, acting as coroner by virtue of chapter 110, page 346 of the laws of 1916, on the 12th day of July, 1922, and continued at different times until the 17th day of August, 1922.
Dr. Harlow G. Farmer and Dr. Maurice D. Barnette were appointed as coroner’s physicians in the investigation at the scene of the accident on the 12th day of July, 1922, and their report is made a part of these proceedings.
After examining Hugh Picard, Robert Moore, Edwin R. Green, Mrs. Anna Workman, Edward Workman, William A. Knapp, Frances S. Green, Mr. and Mrs. William L. Salisbury, Harriet R. Sc??per, Lillie W. Golding, Leon LaRock, Claude J. Solar, Fred C. Simmons, Charles A. Phelps, Lieut. Harry G. Reanegal, Sergt. J. J. Greene, Lieut. Gerald S. Mickle, Rosa B. Bush, Kitty A. Bush, George A. Brown and said coroner’s physicians, being the principal witnesses who had knowledge of the explosion and the facts appurtenant thereto. I find as follows:
1. - That Sarah Bardon, aged 10 years; Frances Wylie, aged 13 years; Anson Workman, aged 13 years: Edna Workman aged 15 years; Olin Brown, aged 10 years; Vivian Jones aged 9 years; Donald Horton, aged 14 years, and Monroe Salisbury, aged 16 years came to their death by an explosion of a 155 mm shell on the 12th day of July, 1922, about 2: 55 in the afternoon. In the rear of the premises, 423 Dimmick Street, in said city, occupied by Edward Workman on the lower, and William Salisbury on the upper floor of said dwelling.
2. - That said shell was found at Pine Camp, a military reservation and testing ground and the property of the United States, about a mile and a half from the Great Bend entrance and 100 feet to the right of the main road, on the surface of the ground by Mrs. William Salisbury and Edna Workman on or about the 16th of July, 1921; and said shell was brought on that day to the city of Watertown by Edward Workman in an automobile to his residence on said Dimmick street at the request of his son, Anson Workman, who wished to keep it as a memento of the war, and place it on the back veranda of said house where it remained until the time of the explosion.
3. - That said shell was standing in an upright position on said veranda, although it had been moved about on said veranda and shaken about two months before its explosion, but at the time of the accident it was situated about seven feet from the rear wall of the house and seven feet from the northeast corner of the lower platform on which it rested and near the front balustrade of said platform, and had been in that position for a number of months subject to the changes of temperature through the different seasons and had been played upon by the sun’s rays from early in the morning until after 1 o’clock in the afternoon, though the hot days of June and forepart of July, 1922.
4. - That said veranda was made of cement and reinforced steel, having a lower and upper platform about 8x10 feet, both of which were enclosed by a balustrade of the same material, the lower platform having on its east side an entrance by means of steps from the ground; and on said platform near and about shell were divers and sundry domestic and household articles, lawn mowers, bicycle, rubber tubing, garbage can and other articles, and in front of said platform was a croquet ground where the children of the neighborhood, including those killed, were accustomed to play.
5. - That said shell was made of steel and other metals and was known as a 155 mm. shell - practically six inches in diameter at its base and about 22 inches in height and weighed about 100 pounds and contained about 15 pounds of trinitro??luol, commonly know as T.N.T., and was capped by a detonator containing fulminate of mercury but a small portion of the upper part of the detonator of said shell had been removed - probably broken off at the time this shell was fired from a howitzer; and after such firing with detonation, being fully charged and unexploded, it became known as a “dud” among military men.
6. - That on July 12, 1922, at 2:55 in the afternoon, Monroe Salisbury was on the lower part of said platform near the shell and Edna Workman and Vivian Jones were on the ground in front of him, and within a foot or so of him and the other children were on the croquet ground in front and a few feet away from them, and while in these positions said shell exploded, killing the eight children instantly, except Monroe Salisbury, who died on the way to the hospital within ten minutes after the explosion.
7. - The shell exploded by reason of being hit or jarred, or in some manner detonated, but how or by whom the evidence does not now disclose. The priming cap was still intact or at least enough of it to detonate the shell. This priming cap being charged with fulminate of mercury and at the time of the explosion in a heated condition was very sensitive to a slight blow or jar and might have been detonated from a number of causes which it is impossible to now determine.
The temperature had been very warm for a number of days proceeding the explosion and on that day at 1 o’clock in the afternoon the Fahrenheit thermometer in the shade in other parts of the city stood at 86 degrees but in that vicinity, especially back of the Workman house on that platform where there was no breeze and with the sun shining on the cement building and platform and playing on this shell, in all likelihood the heat was raised upon it to a much higher degree, and the fulminate of mercury had become superheated to such an extent that it was at or near the exploding point, so that a very slight stroke or pressure upon the priming cap would cause detonation followed by explosion.
8. - The position of some of the children and many of the articles near the shell, as well as the platform upon which it stood, were blown to fragments and scattered practically in a semi-circle whose center was at the point where the shell had stood and was obviously the center of the force which radiated in this semi-circular manner, so no other conclusion can be drawn save that the children were killed by the explosion of the shell.
9. - Pine Camp had been used for a number of years by different military organizations for military maneuvers and the practice of artillery. No unit or division of the regular army of the United States had ever used any shell at Pine Camp exceeding three inches in diameter, but in the month of June, 1921, the 106th Heavy Field Artillery of the National Guard of the state of New York did use and fire there, shells of 155 mm. similar in all respects to the shell which caused the death of these children: and a smaller shell than a 155 mm., in all likelihood could not have caused the damage to persons and property as was caused by the explosion of the shell in question.
10. - The 106th Heavy Field Artillery, after the firing of a number of shells of 155 mm, in its practice did not sufficiently, in a military sense, police the field of fire as it was in duty bound to do; as since the 12th of July, 1922, there have been found 41 155 mm shells, similar in all particulars to the one in question at Pine Camp on the surface of the ground and in possession of citizens in the city of Watertown and Jefferson county.
11. - That in conclusion the causes of the death of the aforesaid children was the explosion of said shell in the manner and by the means heretofore stated, and that the 106th Heavy Field Artillery, while not guilty of any criminal intent or act or criminal negligence, are subject to criticism for the manner in which they left said 41 shells scattered about the firing area of said camp and their negligence in not properly policing in a military sense the field of fire.
Dated Aug. 2?, 1922
E. R. Wilcox
District Attorney.
Additional articles found:
- Souvenir Shell Kills 8 Children on Dimmick Street
- SEEK $35,000 EACH FOR DEATH OF SEVEN CHILDREN - (Journal and Republican, Lowville, NY, Thursday, January 8, 1923)
Sources:
- Family Tree Maker’s Genealogy
- Rome Citizen Marriages 1858
- Watertown Daily Times - August 26, 1922
- Murderpedia - The Watertown Trunk Murder
- Watertown Daily Times - March 4, 2011
