Tag: This Week in West Virginia History

December 26, 1917: Instrument Maker Harold Hayslett Born

Harold Hayslett was born in Putnam County on December 26, 1917. After serving in France during World War II, he worked as a pipefitter for Union Carbide in South Charleston. He retired in 1980 after 33 years of service.

While working at Carbide, he started a side hobby—making violins, cellos, and other instruments. His reputation spread quickly—first locally, and then worldwide. The Violin Society of America honored Hayslett on several occasions.

And one of his cellos earned the society’s prestigious gold medal for tone. In 1996, filmmaker Robert Gates took an in-depth look at Hayslett’s life and work in the documentary Building a Cello with Harold.

Hayslett continued making instruments well into his nineties. He finally closed his shop at the end of 2013—at the age of 96. During his career, he made 86 violins, 14 violas, 65 cellos, and one double bass.

Harold passed away in February 2018 at age 100.

Today, Hayslett instruments are played by some of the world’s great classical musicians as well as bluegrass and old-time fiddlers. They often compare his instruments to those made by Antonio Stradivari and other great instrument makers of the past.

December 25, 1937: Statesman Newton Baker Dies at 66 in Cleveland

Statesman Newton Baker died in Cleveland on Christmas Day 1937 at age 66. The Martinsburg native earned a law degree in 1894 and practiced law briefly in his home town. In 1896, he became private secretary to U.S. Postmaster General William L. Wilson, a native of Charles Town and former president of West Virginia University. After a year in Washington, Baker resumed his Martinsburg law practice before moving to Cleveland, Ohio, where he served as city solicitor and mayor. 

In 1916, he was appointed secretary of war by President Woodrow Wilson. Baker oversaw U.S. military involvement in World War I. While General John J. Pershing dealt with military decisions, Baker built up a massive army and acquired essential supplies. He also brought the industry of war to West Virginia, including the Naval Ordnance Plant in South Charleston and a large munitions factory in Nitro. World War I ended before either facility had been completed. 

After leaving office in 1921, Newton Baker returned to Cleveland, where he practiced law and served on various boards. He also worked in the administrations of Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover.

December 24,1942: Reinstatement of Seven Jehovah's Witnesses at Pittsburgh Plate Glass

On December 24, 1942, the President’s Committee on Fair Employment Practices ordered that seven Jehovah’s Witnesses have their jobs reinstated at the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company plant in Clarksburg. The seven had been fired a year earlier after declining to participate in union-sponsored, flag-salute ceremonies due to their religious beliefs. Union truckers refused to accept glass produced by the workers, prompting the company to fire all seven Jehovah’s Witnesses. 

Paul Schmidt, one of the seven, requested assistance from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who referred his letter to the president’s committee. Based on the committee’s ruling, the seven returned to work in March 1943 after the union promised that the workers would not be harassed.

This was just one of several incidents during the 1940s when Jehovah’s Witnesses were persecuted in West Virginia for their perceived unpatriotic behavior. They were violently attacked, often with the complicity of government officials, in numerous towns. Throughout the state, Jehovah’s Witnesses’ children were expelled from school for refusing to salute the flag. Three Kanawha County families filed court challenges to the expulsions and won a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1943.

December 23, 1995: Newspaperman Sam Shaw Dies at 82

Newspaperman Sam Shaw died on December 23, 1995, at age 82. From 1951 until his death, he was the beloved and eccentric editor of the Moundsville Daily…

Newspaperman Sam Shaw died on December 23, 1995, at age 82. From 1951 until his death, he was the beloved and eccentric editor of the Moundsville Daily Echo.

Shaw was a tinkerer, hiker, musician, photographer, linguist, and bird watcher. During World War II, he was a decoder in army radio intelligence. As editor of the Echo, his quirky ‘‘Jots’’ column served as a sounding board for community projects, including his 30-year crusade to build the Moundsville Ohio River bridge.

Shaw designed the traffic light synchronization for Moundsville and installed the town’s first direct-dial telephones and the first two-way radios in police cruisers and taxis. In the 1950s, the city installed an electric fire alarm system. At its debut, the system failed to work due to faulty wiring. Shaw jury-rigged a toaster to the alarm system, completing the electrical circuit. The system worked for years with the toaster in place.

Sam Shaw was an avid runner but often finished last in races, earning the nickname Flying Turtle. One of his proudest achievements, though, was finishing first for male runners in the 75-79 age group in Pittsburgh’s 1990 Great Race.

December 21, 1891: Senator Frank Hereford Dies in Monroe County

Former U.S. Senator Frank Hereford died at Union in Monroe County on December 21, 1891, at age 66. The Virginia native had gone west in 1849, during the…

Former U.S. Senator Frank Hereford died at Union in Monroe County on December 21, 1891, at age 66. The Virginia native had gone west in 1849, during the California Gold Rush, and practiced law in Sacramento. After the Civil War, he moved back east, settled in Union, and married Alice Caperton, who came from a prominent Monroe County family. 

Hereford, a Democrat, was a leader in the successful push to restore voting rights and other political privileges to West Virginia’s ex-Confederates. Shortly thereafter, he was elected to Congress.

Between 1871 and 1877, Hereford served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1877, the state legislature selected him to fill the unexpired U.S. Senate term of his fellow townsman and cousin by marriage Allen Caperton, who had died in office. In the Senate, he chaired the Committee on Mines and Mining. Hereford sought reelection in 1881, but instead, the legislature elected fellow Democrat Johnson Camden, who was one of the richest men in the state at the time. 
 
After leaving the Senate, Hereford returned to Union and practiced law for the last decade of his life. 

December 20, 1999: Newspaperman Jack Maurice Dies in Charleston at Age 86

Newspaperman Jack Maurice died in Charleston on December 20, 1999, at age 86. Maurice was born in 1913 in the McDowell County coal town of Vivian. During his childhood, his family moved frequently around the West Virginia and Kentucky coalfields. He graduated from Huntington High School and Marshall College (now University) and immediately started his career with the Huntington Herald-Dispatch in 1935. Three years later, he joined the staff of the Charleston Daily Mail.

During World War II, Maurice served in the U.S. Navy Reserves for three years, achieving the rank of lieutenant. After the war, he returned to the Daily Mail as chief editorial writer. He became the paper’s editor in 1950, editor-in-chief in 1969, and a contributing editor and columnist in 1979. He retired from the Daily Mail in 1984.

Maurice’s most notable accomplishment came in 1975, when he won journalism’s highest honor, the Pulitzer Prize, for a series of editorials about the violent textbook controversy that had polarized Kanawha County the previous year. Until April 2017, Jack Maurice was the only West Virginia journalist to win a Pulitzer, until Eric Eyre with the Charleston Gazette-Mail won for his coverage of the opioid crisis in West Virginia. (Updated December 20, 2017).

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