By Mike Simmons
“Some time ago,” said Virginia, pointing toward James Cook’s photo, “that man and a woman friend poisoned my sister, Rosa Lee!”
“So you got revenge on him for it?” asked the State Attorney.
“No,” said Virginia. “It was self-defense. He came at me with an empty whiskey bottle to beat me over the head. I had to defend myself.”
On September 2, 1949, Viginia Sessions faced a trial court in the slaying of a man named James Cook of 314 East Brainerd Street. The incident happened on September 1 at 218 ½ East Gonzalez Street.
Mrs. Sessions claimed self-defense. But the state attorney brought two witnesses to the stand who said that James never came at her. They said she came at Cook with a bottle of kerosene and threw it on him. Then she struck a match and set him on fire. He died fifteen hours later.
When asked why she set Cook on fire, she said that Cook had been “hoodooing” her. “He deserved it.”
The verdict? Guilty of First Degree Murder.