Tag: Wheeling Intelligencer

Coal Miner Dies In Fall In West Virginia

A West Virginia coal miner died Friday in a fall in the state’s Northern Panhandle, Gov. Jim Justice said.

The death of 44-year-old Jeffrey A. Phillips is at least the third in the U.S. coal mining industry already this year. Other deaths have occurred this month in Indiana and Kentucky, according to the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Phillips worked for contractor NextGen Industrial Services. The governor’s office said in a statement that Phillips fell while working above a beltline in the prep plant of an Ohio County Coal Co. mine in the Marshall County community of Benwood.

Benwood Police Chief Frank Longwell said the worker was not wearing a body harness and fell about 30 feet, The Wheeling Intelligencer and News-Register reported. The mine was down for maintenance and was not operating at the time.

The mine is operated by American Consolidated Natural Resources Holdings Inc. of St. Clairsville, Ohio. The company is the largest privately owned U.S. coal operator. It emerged from federal bankruptcy protection in 2020 and was formerly known as Murray Energy Holdings.

“Any time we lose one of our brave and important West Virginia coal miners, it’s a terrible thing,” said Justice in a news release. “Cathy and I are heartbroken for his loved ones and fellow miners. We ask that all West Virginians join us in keeping this man and his family in your prayers during this difficult time. We’d also ask you to remember and appreciate everyone who does this important work. We should never take for granted the strength and selflessness that it takes to go underground to keep the lights on for the people across our state and our nation.”

June 24, 1934: Businessman, State Founder Granville Davisson Hall Dies at 96

On June 24, 1934, businessman and state founder Granville Davisson Hall died at age 96. Growing up in Harrison County, he learned the technique of stenography, which would serve him well in coming years. He started his career teaching school when he was 17. In 1861, at the young age of 23, he recorded the proceedings of the Wheeling conventions that would lead to West Virginia becoming a state. He later published his notes in the book The Rending of Virginia, the most influential memoir about the West Virginia statehood movement. In his book, Hall laid out the causes and justifications for Western Virginia’s split from Virginia. He traced Virginia’s history back to the American Revolution, while accusing the state’s politicians of suppressing Western political and economic aspirations in an attempt to maintain slavery at all costs.

In 1863, he became the first clerk of the West Virginia House of Delegates and, in 1865, was elected secretary of state. After the war, Granville Davisson Hall served as a railroad executive and as editor of the Wheeling Intelligencer newspaper. He also published several works of fiction and nonfiction. 

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