Tag: West Virginia history

New Book Explores W.Va.’s Last Public Hanging, Law Changes

On November 3, 1897, John Morgan murdered three members of the Pfost-Greene family in Grass Lick, near the town of Ripley, in Jackson County, West Virginia with a hatchet.

In just six weeks, he committed the murder, was tried, convicted, escaped from jail and then was hanged in a public event.

National newspapers descended on the Mountain State and reported the story across the country. Morgan’s story changed West Virginia law and has lived on in song for more than 100 years.

Eric Douglas spoke with Merilee Fisher Matheny by Zoom about her book “Swift Justice: The Story of John Ferguson Morgan and the Last Public Hanging in West Virginia.”

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Douglas: Why was this such a national phenomenon? Why were people so interested in this situation in West Virginia?

Matheny: They have said that 1897, the year of the murders, was the year that defined American journalism. At the time, you had the big newspaper titans fighting over headlines. What were the most shocking headlines that would sell newspapers? The most shocking and titillating headlines were murderers and violence. People wanted to read about them and there were formulas they used to describe murders and their happenings.

People could sit in the coziness of their homes, beside their hearths, and hear all about it. And at the same time, there had been this huge debate nationally about the death penalty, and public hangings were being denounced all around the North. In fact, many northeastern states had moved to hide them behind walls. Ohio and New York had gone to the electric chair because they weren’t going to get rid of capital punishment altogether, but they thought they were finding a more humane way to do it. West Virginia was one of the few states that still had public hangings,

Douglas: Describe the actual hanging itself. What was that day like?

Matheny: I think the best description you could find would be the New York Sun article. The editor in Ripley described it as an extremely extravagant exaggeration of weird wonders, which left out none of the details. It was a carnival; it appalled West Virginia lawmakers and the people of Ripley.

Remember, most of the people who came — about 5000 people seems to be the general consensus — had no investment other than they came for entertainment. “This might be the last hanging in West Virginia,” that’s what people were saying. And they didn’t want to miss out on their last opportunity. They were taking babies in arms because they wanted to be able to tell them that they had been there.

Douglas: Let’s talk about the aftereffects of the hanging and what happened next in the public, in the newspapers, in the halls of the statehouse.

Matheny: Leading up to this hanging, there had been quite an editorial war with some of the northern papers and West Virginia editors. Northern newspapers were calling West Virginia a “bloody civilization.” They were saying things about our public hangings. We had just been preparing for a triple hanging in Fayetteville. And so there was all this talk about us harkening back to the days of the Roman gladiators and saying, “West Virginia enjoys dabbling in warm blood.” You know, there were really horrible things being said about our governor who was referred to as the “leader of barbarians.”

And then we had this hanging. And at that point, the editors stopped lashing out at northern newspapers and started lashing out at their own lawmakers in West Virginia saying we have no one to blame for this publicity but ourselves. You only have to read what was telegraphed to the northern papers after John Morgan’s hanging to see how West Virginia is viewed by the rest of the nation.

Douglas: Talk about how this story has lived on in folklore, in music and ballads.

Matheny: It’s a form of oral history. We had oral traditions before we started writing things down and that didn’t go away. There were several versions of John Morgan’s ballads. One was written immediately after the hanging and then of course, Tom T. Hall’s version was performed by the Foggy Mountain Boys back in the 1960s. People said you could never turn on the radio in West Virginia without hearing about John Morgan. It had such a shocking traumatic impact on Grass Lick and, of course, Ripley and Jackson County, that it reverberated for years.

The book “Swift Justice: The Story of John Ferguson Morgan and the Last Public Hanging in West Virginia” is available from the Quarrier Press in Charleston, West Virginia.

This story is part of a series of interviews with authors from, or writing about, Appalachia.

'A Small Town That Doesn't Know It's a Small Town': Taking a Look Back at Wheeling's 250th

On a sunny day in early September, hundreds of Wheeling residents, state lawmakers, and the Pride of West Virginia, West Virginia University’s marching band, all came out to Main St. in Wheeling to celebrate an important milestone in the city’s history: 250 years.

Jay Frey headed up  Wheeling’s 250th commission, and he wanted to show Wheeling’s big city in a small package feel in the ensuing celebration. “We’re a small town that doesn’t know we’re a small town. Because in my lifetime there were upwards of over 60,000 people in this area. But we have many of the attributes from the 19th and 20th century that make us feel bigger than we are,” Frey said.

The parade wasn’t the only event that the city put together, there was also a costume ball at the beginning of the year, a fireworks display to celebrate 170 years since the construction of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge, and other events meant to remember a storied past.

Wheeling’s 20th Man

One of those events was reliving a radio speech given by Harry H Jones in 1936, who was Wheeling’s only practicing African American lawyer at the time. The speech, which dealt with systemic racial inequalities faced by the black community at the time, was read by the Wheeling YWCA’s Cultural Diversity and Outreach Director Ron Scott. The speech was part of a program created for the Ohio County Public Library’s Lunch With Books Series and the Wheeling 250 Series. The presentation was then delivered throughout schools in the region. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, one out of every 20 persons living in Wheeling is of african descent. This twentieth man is not a newcomer or an alien.  For his ancestors were settled by force in Virginia one year before the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. No biracial clash has ever taken place in this city’s history. Due largely to the liberal ideology of the whites and the splendid conduct of the colored people. But justice and candor require attention to the handicaps suffered by Wheeling’s 20th man,” Scott recited.

The Ohio County Public Library made the full speech publicly available.

A Storied History

Wheeling is half the size it was in its industrial heyday, but like many towns that sprung up during early white settlement, it had a modest beginning as mentioned by Wheeling Historian Travis Henline.

“Wheeling at the time it was founded was nothing but a frontier outpost. I mean you had just a few families who were settled here like the Zane’s and the McColloughs and a few others,” Henline said.

This first settlement happened in 1769 and was named Zanesburg after one of the founding families. A century later Wheeling would experience a boom during the industrial revolution because of its prime location on the Ohio River.

“So now you have the Ohio River, a major conduit for thousands of years for people, comes together with the National Road which brings people by wagon and by foot across the mountains to the Ohio River and then you have the the B&O Railroad which connects us to the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic. All of that makes us a gateway to the west and a transportation hub, I mean that’s a huge part of our history,” Henline said.

The B&O Railroad finished construction in 1853, ten years before West Virginia became a state, which the city of Wheeling had a hugely important role in.

“Well without Wheeling there would be no West Virginia. Because we are strategically located in the Northern Panhandle. When the conflict of the Civil War began we are here in the comfy confines of this strip of land between two very powerful Union states in Ohio and Pennsylvania,” Henline added.

This location made Wheeling the prime location for the capital of the reformed government of Virginia after the state seceded from the Union in 1861. After two years, Wheeling would become the birthplace, and capital of the then new state of West Virginia, making it the only city to have been the capital of two different states.

While Wheeling didn’t remain the capital of the state, it was still an economic powerhouse, earning the nickname “Nail City” because of the amount of iron manufacturing in it.

But all things must come to an end, and Wheeling’s economic boom is no different.

Wheeling Today

“So Wheeling in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s that’s when you see a lot of the industry is closing down and it’s moving out. You had the interstate coming through, you had the retail centers, the mall in the 70’s and the highlands later on that kind of kill the commercial things happening in downtown Wheeling. Some of the jobs leave, so the people leave,” Henline pointed out.

Many of the industries that became synonymous with Wheeling like Wheeling Steel or Marsh Wheeling Stogies, had either moved or completely closed their doors by the 2000’s. This lead to a pretty bleak reputation for the city.

But the current mayor of Wheeling Glenn Elliott points out, there are still some victories in recent years worth celebrating.

“One of the issues we have with downtown is that people judge it to what it was in 1950 when it was a retail hub. If you look at cities all across the rust belt, downtowns are no longer the retail hubs they once were,” Elliott said. “All that’s moved to malls and shopping plazas in the suburbs. But if you look at actual employment numbers, downtown Wheeling is booming in terms of the actual number of people working there every day, you just don’t see them because they’re at their desk or workstations.”

Wheeling 250th ‘Leave Behind’ Items

While the celebration mainly focused on one off events, there were a few items the Wheeling 250 commision wanted to leave behind. These “leave behind” items included a new flag for the city, a set of murals commemorating the river, the rails, and the road that made Wheeling a transportation hub, and a children’s book. The latter is one of Jay Frey’s personal favorite accomplishments on the 250 commision.

“Well I’m extremely proud of the children’s book that was just released in time for the holidays this year which is called Once There Was a Mouse. It was written by Cheryl Ryan Harshmen, and illustrated by Robert Vilamagna. It’s meant for little kids, who I think will enjoy it, and I don’t want to spoil anything. That I think is… as the Rotary Club who funded the publication of the book pointed out, this is celebratory, its charming, but it also plants a seed in small children who will be in their fifties when Wheeling celebrates its 300th anniversary and I think that’s pretty meaningful.”

November 13, 1923: Attorney Virginia Mae Brown Born in Putnam County

Attorney Virginia Mae Brown was born at Pliny, in Putnam County, on November 13, 1923. After graduating from the West Virginia University College of Law, she forged a pioneering career in government. In 1952—before she’d turned 30—Brown became the first woman to serve as assistant attorney general in West Virginia history.

In 1961, Governor Wally Barron named her West Virginia Insurance Commissioner, the first woman to hold that post in any state. The next year, Brown became the first woman ever appointed to a state Public Service Commission.

In 1964, she again broke new ground when President Lyndon Johnson appointed her as the first woman to serve on the Interstate Commerce Commission. Dubbed the “First Lady of Transportation” by a trade magazine, Brown served on the commission until 1979. After stepping down from the ICC, she returned to West Virginia and served on the board of a Putnam County bank and as chief administrative law judge for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Charleston.

Virginia Mae Brown died of a heart attack at her Charleston home in 1991. She was 67 years old.

From Corn Liquor to State Pride – Origins of ‘West by God Virginia’

re at West Virginia Public Broadcasting we’ve been asking listeners what they wonder most about West Virginia. The latest question that won out in an online poll came to us from St. Albans resident Trish Hatfield. She asked “Where does the phrase ‘West by God Virginia’ come from?” WVPB reached out to experts across the state and discovered one of the first times the phrase was found in a publication — and we have a good idea why it has stuck around.

Here at West Virginia Public Broadcasting we’ve been asking listeners what they wonder most about West Virginia.

The latest question that won out in an online poll came to us from St. Albans resident Trish Hatfield. She asked “Where does the phrase ‘West by God Virginia’ come from?” WVPB reached out to experts across the state and discovered one of the first times the phrase was found in a publication — and we have a good idea why it has stuck around.

“West by God Virginia” is an idiom many West Virginians know well, but its exact origins have traditionally been less well-understood. 

West Virginia University linguistics professor Kirk Hazen did some digging for us into the phrase. The earliest printed version he found was in a Virginia magazine published in 1926 called “The Virginia Spectator.” It reads:

“And it is, we believe, the only way that corn can be mixed and presented to a girl — except the iron plated ones from West (by God) Virginia.”

The Virginia Spectator, 1926

The article was written by students at the University of Virginia who, in the middle of the prohibition, are likely alluding to making alcohol, Hazen said.

He said the quote is basically saying West Virginia women can hold their liquor.

“And the implication here is that they are accustomed to drinking homemade corn liquor,” he explained. “So, they can handle it without having to mix it up in certain concoctions.”

Hazen discovered this publication with the help from a Google Books application called Ngram Viewer. It’s an online tool that sifts through a massive digital database of millions of publications in several languages.

This screenshot of Google’s Ngram Viewer shows a peak in the published phrase “West by God Virginia” in the early 1960s — perhaps due to the centennial celebration of West Virginia in 1963. Courtesy of Kirk Hazen

Hazen said the phrase likely appeared in written form earlier than 1926, but to confirm that it would take months of sifting through physical documents, such as newspaper clippings, journals, books and magazines.

Hazen found another early publication of the phrase in 1939 in an academic article published by WVU’s English department. The phrase is found in a footnote written by Harold Wentworth. The quote explores the possible history behind “West by God Virginia.” It reads: 

“Among phrases so formed is the well-known ‘West by God Virginia.’ But the expletive insertion here is more syntactical than morphological. One story of the origin of this phrase, true or not, is that a native West Virginian, irked at being called a Virginian, retorted with an intonation that can only be suggested here, ‘not Virginia, but West by God Virginia.’”

Harold Wentworth, WVU Department of English, 1939

The exact origin of “West by God Virginia” as a spoken phrase is difficult to pinpoint.

Hazen points out how most spoken language is almost a living organic thing — not something that’s tracked, monitored, sorted or in databases.

But Hazen and other experts say there’s a good chance the phrase made its first oral appearance sometime after West Virginia became a state in 1863. But they say this is educated guesswork.

WVU Linguistics Professor Kirk Hazen. Hazen found one of the earliest uses of “West by God Virginia” in a publication from 1926 about corn liquor. Credit: Jesse Wright/West Virginia Public Broadcasting

We spoke with another expert from West Virginia University. Associate Professor Rosemary Hathaway specializes in American folklore and literature. 

Hathaway has been working on a book that explores the cultural history of the term “Mountaineer.” She points to parallels between the origins of “Mountaineer” and the phrase “West by God Virginia.”

“The first time the term Mountaineer shows up as a synonym for West Virginian is before statehood,” she noted.

Hathaway said before we separated from Virginia, there was a legislator from Harrison County who sent a letter to a newspaper in Richmond expressing annoyance that his region, western Virginia, was not being fairly represented in the Virginia Legislature. 

And when he signed that letter?

“He signed it, not with his name, but as a Mountaineer,” Hathaway explained. “So, I sort of see that as being parallel to the phrase ‘West by God Virginia’ in the sense that it’s just kind of a way of reminding both ourselves and outsiders that we are distinct from Virginia, and we have a unique identity and a unique history as West Virginians.”

WVU Associate English Professor Rosemary Hathaway. Credit: Jesse Wright/West Virginia Public Broadcasting

But none of this answers the underlying question —  why did people start inserting “by God” into the name of West Virginia? 

The use of “by God” in language dates back to the Anglo-Saxons, but it became common place in the 1600s, according to Eric Waggoner, the executive director of the West Virginia Humanities Council. Waggoner is also a retired history of English teacher.

Waggoner said “by God” has always been used as a way to emphasize something. He sees the inclusion of it in “West by God Virginia” as an expression of pride, when so much of the world perceives West Virginia in a negative light.

“There’s been a sort of narrative about West Virginia that focuses on illness; it focuses on poverty; it focuses on hard times; it focuses on this sort of thin, cultural, and educational infrastructure; a lot of things that are here that need attention and that people who live here know intimately,” Waggoner explained. 

He said many West Virginians are tired and fed up with this negative narrative, and by adding “by God” into our state name, our identity, it allows us to reclaim our image. 

“There’s a kind of expression of pride, not just in place, but in being a person who is from this place, that ‘West by God Virginia’ seems to articulate in a very handy, in a very positive way,” he said.

Even though the exact origin of the spoken phrase may be difficult to find, Waggoner and others said today it’s often used to illustrate West Virginia as unique and separate from Virginia – that, by God, we are here, we exist, and we have our own identity as West Virginians.

April 19, 1889: Susan Dew Hoffone Licensed to Practice Medicine in W.Va.

On April 19, 1889, Susan Dew Hoff passed the state medical exam, becoming one of the first licensed women physicians in West Virginia history.

As a youth, the Hampshire County native had moved with her family to West Milford in Harrison County, where her father was a doctor. She sometimes accompanied him on house calls.

And he encouraged her to pursue a medical career, but medical colleges were closed to women in the mid-1800s.

As Hoff raised a family of five, she self-taught herself by reading her father’s medical books and discussing medicine with him.

In April 1889, at age 42, she traveled to Wheeling to take the exam. Not only did she pass, she received the highest score of anyone in her group.

Hoff practiced medicine in West Milford for more than four decades. In the early days, she made house calls on horseback, charging $1 for each call plus $1 per mile.

She died in 1933 at age 90. A West Milford clinic that provides free health and dental care is named the Susan Dew Hoff Memorial Clinic in her honor.

March 22, 1965: Former Congressman Benjamin Rosenbloom Dies in Cleveland

Former Congressman Benjamin Rosenbloom died in Cleveland on March 22, 1965, at age 84. Rosenbloom, the only Jewish congressman in West Virginia history, was born in Pennsylvania and attended West Virginia University, where he played football in 1901 and 1902.

He went on to study law at WVU and was admitted to the state bar in 1904. He was a practicing lawyer in Wheeling until his retirement in 1951.

Rosenbloom’s political career began in the legislature in 1915. The Republican served one four-year term in the state senate before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1920 and reelected two years later.

He was an early environmental advocate who tried to halt the pollution of streams. He also was an outspoken opponent of the national Prohibition on alcohol. After his second term in the House of Representatives, he ran for U.S. Senate but lost. In the 1930s, he resumed his political career—as vice mayor of Wheeling—and also served on the city council.

Benjamin Rosenbloom was a member of numerous fraternal organizations in Wheeling and belonged to the Jewish fraternal organization B’nai B’rith.

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