USA > West Virginia > Preston County > History of Preston County (West Virginia) > Part 17
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Gregg, shortly after his escape, it is said, sent a letter back to, Levi Klauser, then the editor of The Preston County Journal, in which he stated that money let him out, and ex- pressed his regret at not being able to be at. Kingwood on the 28th of January, as business would detain him. It has never yet transpired whether Gregg obtained aid from the outside or not in making his escape.
We shall not dismiss Gregg, as the chronological order would demand here. Going forward nearly ten years, we find the grey-haired, iron-willed old man again playing a part in the history of the county.
After spending several years in the West and Canada (so he. claimed), Gregg came back to his daughter's, Mrs. J. H .. Alfee's, near , Rice's Landing, Greene County, Penna., in De -. " cember, 1877 .... Hearing of his presence over there, the au- thorities of Preston got a requisition from Governor. Mathews . upon the governor of Pennsylvania, for the arrest of.Gregg, , and made arrangements, through F. M. Ford, sheriff, and . William G. Worley, prosecuting attorney, in May, 1878, with . John G. Dinsmore, then sheriff of Greene County, for the apprehension of Gregg. Sheriff Dinsmore was placed in. posession of a warrant issued by Governor Hartranft of his . State, upon the requisition made upon him by Governor. Mathews. Although Gregg had made loud threats that he never would be taken alive, yet Sheriff Dinsmore apprehended. . him quite easily, and without any resistance from Gregg ... On the. 29th of October, 1878, Mr. Dinsmore went alone to the house of Gregg's son-in-law, Mr. J. H. Alfee, and there found his man. Having had considerable business transac- tions with Mr. Alfee previously, the officer's presence created no suspicion, and the sheriff was formally introduced to . Gregg. They all indulged in a friendly conversation, during.,
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FROM 1863 TO 1881.
*which the subject of Gregg's arrest was referred to humor- ously. Presently, the sheriff and Gregg went out into the yard to view the beauties of nature in her brilliant autumn costume; and the officer took, occasion very soon to inform Gregg that he should consider himself under arrest, and pro- ceeded to read the warrant to him. The sheriff then searched the prisoner, and took from his pockets two or three loaded pistols, and took him to Waynesburg, where he was confined in the county jail. The authorities of this county were ap- "prised of the arrest by telegraph ; and Mr. Ford and Rich- -ard M. Nugent at once set out for Waynesburg ; followed, in . a few days, by Mr. Worley, who was summoned there by a dispatch from Mr: Ford.
As soon as possible after his arrest, Gregg communicated with his former counsel, the late George O. Davenport, of Wheeling, who immediately went to his assistance. A. petition was at once telegraphed to Governor Hartranft, praying for a suspension of the warrant issued by him, and which directed Sheriff Dinsmore to deliver Gregg to Sheriff Ford, the agent of this State. Before the party from this county reached Waynesburg, Sheriff Dinsmore had received a telegraphic dispatch from Governor, Hartranft, directing him to "hold Elihu Gregg until further orders." Alleging that Mr. Menear, in 1869, arrested Gregg on Pennsylvania soil without a proper warrant, and forced him across the line into this State before reading to him the warrant-in fact, kidnapped him,-Gregg's counsel thereby induced Governor Hartranft to grant them a hearing before George Loar, the attorney general of Pennsylvania.
The hearing took place before the governor and the at- torney-general, on the 20th of December (1878). This State was represented by the attorney-general, Col. Robert White, and the prosecuting attorney of this county, William G. Worley, while George O. Davenport, of Wheeling, and P. A. Knox and Gen. J. F. Temple, of Waynesburg, appeared for Gregg. It was not until some time in the following month that the governor of Pennsylvania rendered his decision, de
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
clining to revoke the warrant, and again ordering Sheriff Dinsmore to deliver Gregg to the agent of this State. Gregg's counsel thereupon sued out a writ of habeas corpus. and Gregg was brought before Judge Wilson of the Common Pleas Court at Waynesburg. Gregg's counsel made a mo- tion for his release, on the principal ground that he was illegally arrested. The court overruled the motion, in an able opinion, in which he reviewed the case and said that Gregg would have to be delivered up. But, Gregg's counsel asking for time to perfect further proceedings, the court ad- journed the case till Monday, the 14th of April. On Friday, the 11th, Sheriff Ford, accompanied by Mr. Neil J. Fortney, started for Waynesburg, in obedience to a letter from Attor- ney-General White, in order to be on hand to receive Gregg when the court should order his surrender, as it was con- fidently believed it would do.
On Monday morning, April 14th (1879), Gregg was brought before Judge Wilson at Waynesburg. His counsel made a motion for a stay of proceedings in order to allow them to appeal the case to a higher court, but the motion was overruled, and Gregg, at last, was turned over to the authorities of this State. There was much excitement at Waynesburg. The court-room was filled with earnest spec- tators. Gregg seemed to have many friends among the baser sort of fellows, who made loud threats of their inten- tion to release him by force. The officers thought it best to avoid publicity as much as possible; and Gregg was taken out of the rear door of the court-room to the carriage that was to convey the party to the railway station. While going from the Court-house to the carriage, a distance of about one hundred feet, Gregg resisted very considerably, and called upon the large crowd pressing hard upon the officers, to rescue him. The officers having him in charge were compelled to carry him to the vehicle. The carriage was driven at once to the station of the Waynesburg & Washington narrow-guage railway, where a special train was waiting to convey it to Washington, Pa., from which place they
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FROM 1863 TO 1881.
came by rail to Wheeling, where Gregg was placed in jail, the county prison of Preston not being deemed secure by Governor Mathews.
At Waynesburg, in the Court-house on the morning when Gregg was delivered up to the representatives of this State, he attempted to commit suicide by taking a dose of strych- nia, having declared to his son-in-law that he never would go back to Virginia alive. He told the officers while yet at the Court-house, that he had taken poison; a physician was summoned, who, after examination, expressed his doubt of the truthfulness of Gregg's story. While on the train, going to Washington, Gregg took a small bottle from his pocket, and poured the contents of it upon a piece of apple, which he ate, He handed the empty bottle to Mr. Neil J. Fortney, who was sitting beside him, and said he had taken the rest of that poison. Thinking it was a trick of Gregg's, little atten- tion was paid to his story, though he kept saying he would soon be a dead man. Presently, he was attacked with a se- vere spasm, which was repeated several times before the train reached Washington, where a physician, who had been summoned by telegraph to be in readiness upon the arrival of the train, examined him. While the examination was making, Gregg had another spasm, and the doctor at once pre- pared an antidote, which he asked Gregg to take, telling him in answer to Gregg's question as to what the medicine was, that it would relieve him. Gregg refused to take the antidote, de- claring that he wanted to die. It was then administered to him by force ; and he had to be carried from the car. Gregg said that he got the poison in Ottawa County, Ill., five years before, for the purpose of killing "wicked animals," such as: ferocious dogs that came in his way. . He had kept it sewed up in his trousers ; and intended, if he were ever arrested, to kill himself rather than to be taken back to Virginia.
A search of his person was made when he was committed to the Ohio County jail. A "rat-tail" file was found in the hem of his trousers, and in an old wallet were found two pieces of watch spring steel, which a little labor would have
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. HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
· converted into excellent saws. Gregg had declared before ... the search was begun, "I ain't got nothing-you can search .. me all over."
Gregg recovered from the effect of the doses of poison in a few days; and he remained in the jail at Wheeling until Thursday, October 2, 1879, when he was brought to King- wood by Sheriff George R. Tingle, of Ohio County, and his deputy, Mr. Mitchell, and delivered to Sheriff Ford. He was once more incarcerated in the Preston County jail.
On the next day the fall term of the circuit court of Pres- ton County began, Judge John Brannon presiding. On the following Tuesday, he was brought into the court, and his counsel, Mr. Davenport, suggested that a writ of error was allowed in 1869 or '70. Judge Brannon postponed proceed- ings, in order to give time to ascertain whether such writ had been awarded. Having ascertained that the writ had not been allowed, Judge Brannon, on Friday, October 17, 1879, after having heard evidence of the identity of the pris- oner, (who admitted that he was the veritable Elihu Gregg,) "directed, ordered and commanded" the sheriff of this county, "on Friday, the 6th day of February, in the year 1880, to execute the said order, judgment and sentence of death so pronounced on the said 21st day of October in the year 1869, in all respects as is directed thereby and otherwise as is, in such case, directed by law." And thus Elihu Gregg was sentenced to death for the third time.
In obedience to the order of Judge Brannon, Sheriff Ford and his deputy, J. Nelson Baker, took Gregg to Wheeling, where he was placed in jail.
Soon after, Mr. Davenport applied to the supreme court of appeals of the State for a writ of error ; and. on the 18th of December, 1880, the court refused the writ, as barred by the statute requiring that application for such writs shall be filed within five years.
A petition from the citizens of Preston, who did not wish Gregg hanged, but securely imprisoned for life, having been presented to Governor Mathews, he thereupon offered to
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FROM 1863 TO 1881.
.commute Gregg's sentence to imprisonment for five years. Gregg was now about seventy years of age ; and he refused the proffered executive favor by shouting his old battle-cry, ". "Give me liberty, or give me death !"
He, however, received an unconditional pardon from Gov- ,ernor Jacob B. Jackson, Governor Mathews's successor, on the eighth of April, 1881. Upon his liberation, Gregg re- .turned to Greene County, Penna. This act of Governor Jackson met with the general indignation of the people of Preston County.
After the burning of the Court house, the removal of the county-seat to Cranberry (Portland) was agitated. In this movement the people of Cranberry and, more or less, of the east side of Cheat, were very earnest; and a considerable sum of money was subscribed to aid in constructing the county buildings, should the county-seat be located at Cran- .. berry. The board of supervisors met on the 27th of April, 1869, at Kingwood, and William H. Grimes, the member for Union District, offered the following resolution: "Resolved. That this board hereby deem it desirable to remove the « county seat from Kingwood ;" upon which resolution the yeas and nays were demanded. The demand being sus- ... tained, they were taken, and the yeas were: Messenger (of Portland), Grimes (of Union), Harader (of Grant), and Rigg ¿ (of Pleasant): nays-Pell (of Lyon), Conner (of Kingwood), Zinn (of Valley) and Bishop (president, of Reno).
Smith Crane was appointed to receive all moneys due from the Home Columbus and National Insurance companies, to Preston County, as insurance on the Court-house burned in March, 1869. The building was insured in these companies for about 8000 dollars.
The board authorized the president to appoint a commit. . tee of three to "superintend the building of the Court-house on the old location in Kingwood, provided that the same can : be done without any taxation on the county except the cost of constructing fire-proof vaults in the clerk's'and recorder's
15
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
offices. The old material and the eight thousand dollars to be paid by the insurance companies, to be allowed the citi- zens of Kingwood, provided they rebuild the said Court- house as aforesaid."
A. good substantial wooden bridge was now being built over Cheat River at Albrightsville, in place of the wire-sus- pension bridge destroyed by the Confederates in 1863. The Hon. James C. McGrew, Francis Heermans, Reuben Morris and William B. Crane were the committee appointed to se- cure its construction. They contracted for its erection on the 6th day of January, 1869, with Daniel McKain, of Braddock's Fields, Pennsylvania, for the wood work, and H. H. Gribble and Henry Copeman for the masonry.
On the 3d of June, Robert McCafferty, Sanson W. Smalley and A. B. Menear contracted with the building committee to erect a Court-house (the present one), according to the plans and specifications, for the sum of eleven thousand dollars, and to have it completed by the first day of July, 1870.
During the latter part of this year (1869), considerable in- terest was manifested by the people of the southeastern part of the county in "The Randolph, Tucker and Preston Turn- pike Company," which was incorporated on the 4th of March, 1869, and which proposed to build a road from Randolph, through Tucker, to West Union or Chisholm's Mills, in Preston County. Books for subscriptions were to be opened in Preston by A. D. Weills, Summers McCrum and Isaae Startzman.
The legislature of West Virginia, on the 28th of February, 1870, adopted a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the constitution of the State, which, in substance amounted to the removal of all past political disabilities of all citizens arising out of participation in or sympathy with the late Rebellion. It was afterward adopted by a vote of the people, and is generally known as the Flick Amendment, from the fact that it was introduced by W. H. H. Flick.
The legislature, on the 2d day of March, 1870, abolished the office of township treasurer; and on the next day, in-
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FROM 1863 TO 1881.
corporated the Cheat River Boom and Lumber Company, with Henry G. Davis, Charles M. Bishop, T. B. Davis. Charles Hooton, W. R. Davis and others as corporators.
Another decade had gone, and the Ninth Census of the United States, compiled from official returns, showed that the population of Preston County was as follows: whites. 14,437 : colored, 118; total population, 14,555.
The county contained 1497 farms; 102,006 acres of in- proved, and 176,050 of unimproved land in farms-the cash value of which was estimated at $2,541,651. with 95.024 dollars' worth of farming implements and machinery.
Of horses the county had 3596; 32 mules, 4526 milch cows, 187 working oxen, and 6236 other cattle: 22.336 sheep; 6703 swine-the value of all of which was estimated at $613.369.
The county produced during the year ended June 1, 1870. 33,390 bushels of winter, and 309 bushels of spring, wheat : 145,04 bushels of Indian corn, 20,531 bushels of rye, 27,346 of buckwheat, 61 bushels of barley, and 189,070 bushels of oats : 1673 pounds of tobacco, 53,388 of wool; 1069 bushels of peas and beans, 24,063 of Irish potatoes, 391 of sweet potatoes, 193,233 pounds of butter, 110 of cheese; 11,961 tons of hay ; 141 bushels of clover seed, 112 bushels of other grass seeds; 200 pounds of hops, 2222 of flax, 101 bushels flaxseed; 6671 pounds maple sugar, 626 gallons of maple molasses, 8521 gallons of sorghum molasses, 709 pounds beeswax, 13,932 pounds of honey ; and 74 gallons of wine. The value of orchard products was $24,706. The value of home-made manufactures was $23,163.
The assessed value of real estate, $1,919,823; personal property, $1,605,754; total assessed value, 3,525,577 : true value, $5,871,378.
The State tax was $14,125; county, $16,689. The bonded debt of the county was $10,000.
Statistics of mining : Two bituminous coal mines, em ploying 377 hands ; capital, $163,000; wages paid, $98,500:
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
cost of material, $5500 ; products, 88,000 tons, whose value was $140,000.
Statistics of manufacture: 97 mechanical and manufac- turing establishments, running 22 steam engines and 38 water wheels and employing 1100 hands; capital, $535,625; wages paid, $199,895; cost of material, $242,782 : products, $532,407.
Selected statistics of manufactures :- establishments-iron pigs, 2; leather tanning, 10; lumber sawing, 19; woolen goods, 4; total capital, $578,100; wages paid, $184,675 ; products, $408,895.
Vital Statistics :- Preston County is in a district where from 1400 to 2000 out of every 10,000 deaths are of con- sumption, while less than 100 out of every 10,000 deaths are from malarial diseases.
The Preston County. Herald was established by James H. Carroll, on the 22d day of October, 1870, in Kingwood, and was the fourth Democratic, and the seventh, newspaper published in the county.
The legislature, on the 28th of February, 1871, passed an act, entitled "An act to supply the lost records of Preston County." The circuit court was authorized to appoint com. missioners to supply, as for as possible, the records de- stroyed by the burning of the Court-house.
On the same day two more acts of interest to Preston were passed-one authorizing the extension of the Iron Valley Rail- road from Irondale, by Morgantown, to the Pennsylvania State line. George Hardman and D. Randolph Martin were au thorized to make this extension; and the other, incorporating the Iron Valley and Pennsylvania Line Railroad, to run, from where Big Sandy crosses the Pennsylvania line (near Jonas Maust's), by way of Brandonville, Bruceton, the mouth of Green's Run, near Kingwood, and Martin's Iron works, so as to intersect the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at or east of the mouth of Racoon Creek. Among the incorporators of the road, were George Maust, Thomas Scott, Charles Kantner, John Harader, H. C. Hagans, Joseph Feather, John D. Rigg,
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FROM 1863 TO 1881.
David Morgan, Joseph H. Gibson, James W. Brown, William Albright, Charles E. Brown, Francis Heermans, William G. Brown, James C. McGrew, Smith Crane, James H. Carroll, William B. Zinn, Joseph Guseman, Reason A. Pell, George Hardman, Robert W. Monroe, George Orr, S. L. Allen, J. R. Smoot and Joseph Jackson. The capital stock of the com- pany was to be two million dollars, to be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each. The company was empowered to increase their capital if necessary, and authorized to bor- row money and issue bonds therefor, to accept and re- ceive donations in lands or money from the Congress of the United States, or any other source, for the purpose of con- structing the road. They were to commence the road in two, and have it completed in six, years from the passage of the act.
During this year (1871), the board of supervisors, consid- oring the stone jail unsafe for the keeping of prisoners, ap- pointed Thomas Scott, William H. King, John S. Murdock. Robert, McCafferty, Benjamin Royse, and Francis Heermans commissioners to contract for the building of a new brick jail. These commissioners let the contract to Robert McCaf- ferty and. A. B. Menear, for the sum of $6165; and the jail was to be completed by August, 1872.
On the 4th Thursday in August (1871), the people of West Virginia voted upon the question of calling a convention "to alter" the constitution of the State. The proposition carried. and, on the same day, the Hon. William G. Brown and Charles Kantner were elected by the voters of Preston dele- gates to this convention.
The constitutional convention met in the city of Charleston. then the Capital of the State, on the 3d Tuesday of January. 1872, and the Hon. Samuel Price, formerly a resident of Preston County, was elected president of the body, and served through the session, which closed on the 9th of April, 1872.
The members from Preston, Messrs. Brown and Kantner, took an active part in its proceedings.
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
The constitution framed by this convention and submitted to the people, proposed a great many changes in the organic law of the State. The board of supervisors was abolished, and in its place the old county court was substituted. "Townships" were changed to "districts," "a distinction with- out a difference," and minor changes were made in the free school system.
The new constitution was submitted to the people on Au- gust 22, 1872, and was ratified.
On the 26th of February, 1872. the legislature amended the act of 1871 incorporating the Iron Valley and Pennsyl- vania. Line Railroad. The amendment provided that if 2000 shares of the capital stock were subscribed, or a sufficient. amount to build the road from the Pennsylvania line to the: town of Bructon, within three years, work on the road was; to commence, and to be finished in seven years from the passage of the act.
The legislature, on the 29th of March, 1873, passed an act. providing for a preliminary survey of the Iron Valley and Pennsylvania Line Railroad. It authorized the company to employ a skillful and competent civil engineer to select and survey the most eligible and practical route for the con- struction of a railroad in the direction of the above road. through the County of Preston, to connect the travel from the Pittsburg, Washington & Baltimore Railroad to that of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. To carry out the provisions of this act, a thousand dollars was appropriated, which was drawn, used and accounted for by the company. John A. Dalrymple was employed as chief engineer to make the sur- vey. In his report of August 27th, 1873, addressed to the: Hon. William G. Brown, C. M. Bishop, Francis Heermans. James W. Brown and Joseph H. Gibson (the committee ap-, pointed to have the survey made), he says: "Beginning on the southern boundary line of Pennsylvania, at its intersec- sion of Big Sandy Creek, the experimental line of this road was traced down Big Sandy to Bruceton, and near Brandon ville : thence up Conner's Run and across the ridge, near-
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FROM 1863 TO 1881.
John Michael's house, to Michael's Run; down that run to the bottom-land on Little Sandy Creek, across the valley of Little Sandy to Webster's Run ; up that stream and Parson's Run, to the dividing ridge between the waters of Little Sandy and the waters of Muddy Creek ; across this ridge to Glade Run, crossing near Falkenstein's, and down Glade and Deep Hollow runs and Muddy Creek to Cheat River, touch- ing the Landon Iron Works and crossing Cheat River near the mouth of Muddy Creek ; thence up Green's Run, passing near Kingwood, and across the dividing ridge between Green's Run and Three Fork Creek, crossing at Miller's on the Morgantown Turnpike, and running down the middle branch of Three Fork to Hardman's Iron Works ; thence to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, ending the survey at a point on the B. & O. R. R. 700 feet west of the mouth of Racoon Creek.
"The length of the line from the boundary line of Pennsyl- wania to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is forty miles. Cheat River is nineteen and one-third miles from the Pennsyl- wania line.
"In crossing the dividing ridge between Parson's run and Glade run, near Falkenstein's, the middle route was taken. There are three routes across this ridge ; the one taken is the most direct, and will require a tunnel 200 feet less than a half-mile in length, which is the only tunnel on the whole route. This ridge cannot be passed at any point without a tunnel.
"Passing through a mountainous region, some doubts have existed as regards the practicability of the route. Those doubts were without foundation, and the result of the survey is, that the route is practicable. The course of the streams can not be followed in all parts of the location, but the route surveyed is practicable, with a grade of 80 feet to the mile as a maximum grade; if, upon locating the line, the engineer should think that grade preferable to a heavier one. Eighty feet to the mile can be passed over without the use of loco- motives as helpers. A heavier grade would shorten the dlis
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
tance, but would require either helpers or loads in proportion.2. to the grade. The heavier the grade, the lighter the loads. -
"The minimum grade will be thirteen feet to the mile, that. " being the fall of Big Sandy Creek. That part of the line is of easy construction, the grade being light and the bottoms. along the creek requiring but little grading. The location across the valley of Little Sandy and along the upper part of Glade run, the lower part of Three Fork and Green's run, between Kingwood and Albright's Mill, will also require but. . little grading. Those parts of the line embrace about fifteen. . miles.
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