Investigating the 1914 'Murder on South Street' and its unanswered questions

Dr. W.H. Wooten (left) and Monroe Jetton. (Photos from Wooten descendants and the Jetton Family Papers at UNC Charlotte/Atkins Library, respectively.)

In a "fit of jealousy," Davidson druggist Monroe Jetton fatally shot Dr. W.H. Wooten in Davidson on February 10, 1914. Was he justified or not? Would the outcome be different today? 

Those questions were on the table Saturday Feb. 7, during a Davidson Historical Society program at Davidson Town Hall. More than 100 people came to hear the century-old tale, as told by Davidson Historical Society's David Boraks and Rachel Workman. 

The program took place right next door to the elegant South Street home built by Dr. Wooten and a couple of blocks from the Jettons' cottage - both buildings still stand. 

The story revolves around three people - Wooten and Jetton, as well as Jetton's wife, Josie Shipp Jetton. The druggist had become suspicious about the doctor's relationship with Josie. 

"He ruined my home and I shot him," Monroe Jetton admitted as he stood on the front porch after the shooting, with his blue steel 38-caliber Smith & Wesson six shooter still in hand. 

A neighbor later quoted the dying Dr. Wooten as having said: "Monroe slipped in and shot me in a jealous rage before I had a chance to explain. Mrs. Jetton was only showing me her new dress she had completed."  

Alas, Dr. Wooten did not survive to tell his full side of the story. 

Our program gave the audience a chance to vote on what they thought happened. People were given three choices - Dr. Wooten's intentions with Josie Jetton were innocent; Dr. Wooten and Josie Jetton were indeed having an affair; or Wooten was a predator whom Josie Jetton was trying to rebuff. 

Only one person thought Wooten was innocent. The audience was evenly divided on the other two choices. 

Today, these three people from Davidson history - Dr. Wooten and both Jettons - are buried just yards apart at the Davidson College Cemetery on North Main Street. That case still provokes debate a century after it became a scandal in Davidson's and Charlotte's high society.   

Rachel Workman is DHS vice president and also leads the Ghosts of Davidson walking tours, where she tells this story often, adding details uncovered from census records and archives.  David Boraks is president of the society and a longtime local journalist. He has been researching the case since he bought the Wooten house in 2002, using newspaper archives, interviews, family papers and other historical sources. He wrote about the case for Charlotte Magazine in October 2024. (See that article, "A Murder on South Street: When Jealousy Struck Charlotte High Society.")

Stay tuned for a podcast version of the story, to be produced soon.

UP NEXT

Davidson Historical Society will present a program on the history of Lake Norman, with archivist Jan Blodgett and writer Chuck McShane, author of "A History of Lake Norman." That's on March 29 - details on our Events page.