USA > West Virginia > Summers County > History of Summers County from the earliest settlement to the present time > Part 79
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BLAINE KINLEY CASE.
Blaine Kinley is a young negro, very black, reared at the mouth of Bluestone River, a son of Greely Kinley, about twenty-one years of age. He killed Edward Pack, another negro, about twen- ty-five years old. married and the father of one child, in Avis, in the night in 1906, between nine and ten o'clock.
Pack was a laborer, and worked at the round-house in Hinton, working at night. Kinley was also a laborer, living with his father, unmarried, without a steady occupation. He was in the habit of visiting at Pack's home in Pack's absence. On the night referred to, 1906, Pack went to his work as usual, but, becoming unwell, returned to his residence about nine o'clock. No lights were to
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be seen inside. He knocked, but his wife was slow about opening the door, and he pushed it open, entered in the dark, placed his hand on some man; could tell it was a man by his clothing, when this man shot him with a 32 Smith & Wesson revolver. The ball passed through Pack's body through the stomach. The as- sassin ran out and up the street in the dark, followed by Pack, who ran across the street and fell. Kinley ran up the street to his father's house, secured his friend, a colored man by the name of Merchant, went to the river, secured a boat, crossed New River and went up New River to Pack's Ferry, to his brother's house, when he hid his pistol under the pillow and waited for daylight, his shoes and clothing being covered with mud.
About daylight, W. F. Bush, the policeman in Avis, with a Mr. Weis as guard, came to the house and arrested him. He con- fessed to them that he had shot Pack. The officers found Kinley by following his tracks up the river, as it had rained and the road was muddy. Kinley was brought back to Hinton, a preliminary examination was had before Squire C. L. Parker, justice of the peace, and sent on to await the action of the grand jury at the June Term of the Circuit Court, when he was indicted for murder and his trial set for June 14, 1906. Pack, after he fell on the side- walk, was removed to Bigony's hispital, and died from the wound on the morning following, after having made a dying statement to be used on the trial of Blaine Kinley.
At the trial the prosecuting attorney, R. F. Dunlap, and assist- ant, T. N. Read, represented the State, and A. R. Heflin represented the defendant, Judge Miller presiding. The trial was concluded about midnight, an hour and a half being occupied in the argu- ments on each side. The jury, after being out only four minutes, returned a verdict. "We, the jury, find the defendant, Blaine Kin- ley, not guilty of murder in the first degree, as charged in the indictment, but we do find him guilty of murder in the second degree, as therein charged."
A formal motion was interposed by Judge Heflin for a new trial and in arrest of judgment, and the court adjourned. On the next morning, on the convening of court, the court overruled the motion for a new trial, and proceeded to pass the sentence of the law, which was "That Blaine Kinley be returned to the jail of this county, and there held until he could be transported to the penitentiary of the State, and there to be confined according to the law of the State for the period of eighteen years." When the prisoner was asked by the judge if he had anything to say why
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the sentence of the law should not be passed, he replied, "No, sir." Immediately following the sentence of Blaine Kinley the court took up the trial of Manuel Kinley, his brother, for burglary, a trial had on the same day, and which resulted in a hung jury, eleven being in favor of guilty and one in favor of acquittal, and he has not at this time had a re-trial.
The jury who tried him were as follows: A. T. Dobbins, Jack- son Bennett, A. G. Williams, J. S. Meadows, O. E. Maddy, G. H. Allen, A. G. Lilly, J. F. Hoover, T. J. Lilly, C. S. Wyant, B. F. Foley and F. B. Lively.
THE WM. HALE CASE.
On the 21st day of April, 1899, Squire Law, an old colored man, was keeping a restaurant on Front Street, in Hinton. On the night of said day, about midnight, four or five men and women were in this restaurant having a good time, dancing to the music of an "accordial," as one of the witnesses testified, drinking beer, etc., when Law and Wm. Hale, a young negro, got into a diffi- culty and had some words, Hale breaking some chairs over Law. Hale went out, and was gone about half an hour, when he returned with a "gun," and offered to pay Law one dollar for the damaged chairs and head, but Law declined. Harsh words prevailed. Hale drew his gun and fired point-blank into Law's body, the ball pass- ing directly through his body and coming out at his back. Law followed and ran up the street, and fired, hitting Newt Morris, another negro. Hale was not in sight, and Morris was shot through · the leg.
Hale left the country and remained away seven years, in the meantime being indicted for malicious wounding, the indictment also charging that Hale had been twice sentenced to the peni- tentiary. If found guilty of this crime, his sentence would be confinement in the penitentiary for life. Hale returned to the city in 1906, and was in hiding, but was arrested by Policemen McGhee and Yancey, and landed in jail.
At the June term, in 1906, on June 14th, the case came on to be tried. The accused pleaded not guilty, having by his attorneys moved to quash the indictment, and demurred, which motions were overruled. A. R. Heflin and T. G. Mann were attorneys for the defendant, and R. F. Dunlap, prosecuting attorney, and T. N. Read, his assistant, appeared for the State.
The evidence was all in by five o'clock in the evening, and an
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hour and a half was given to each side for argument. The prose- cuting attorney opened for the State in an argument of forty minutes. A recess was then taken until after supper, when Colo- nel Mann concluded the arguments for the defendant. The jury retired to consider their verdict, and on returning the foreman an- nounced. "We, the jury, find the defendant guilty as charged in the within indictment," whereupon the court proceeded to sen- tence him to confinement in the penitentiayr for five years. The case closed at midnight. The court house was filled to hear the evidence and arguments of counsel. The pistols used were brought into court and handled before the jury.
A new proposition was passed upon by the court, for which no authorities could be produced in support of or against. The attorneys for the State failed to prove by their direct testimony the fact that Hale had been twice previously sentenced to the penitentiary in the United States, and undertook to do so after the accused had introduced all his evidence, except his personal examination. The defendant's attorneys objected, which objec- tion was sustained, and which eliminated the life sentence from the case.
IN EJECTMENT.
A. A. Carden, Plff., vs. Garrett Brown, Deft.
This cause was one of the most famous civil causes ever tried by a jury in the county, and was concerning about thirty acres of the old Carden lands on the hills near Barger Springs. There were three trials, the first being on the 16th day of September. 1883; the second, May 8, 1884, and the third and final one on the 16th day of September, 1885, which was in favor of the plaintiff.
Celebrated and distinguished counsel appeared in the cause, including Senator Frank Hereford, Colonel James W. Davis and Captain R. F. Dennis. The expense of the trial was greater than the value of the property. A. A. Carden was one of the sons of Isaac Carden, the first settler. and Garrett Brown. an old settler, the father of the present citizen, Allen F. Brown. The jury that tried the case were: Walter II. Boude (present circuit clerk). James E. Meadows, foreman; G. C. Hughes, James A. Foster, Giles H. Ballengee. W. D. Rollyson, P. M. Foster. J. II. Jordan. Joseph Hubbard, Isaac Milburn, T. B. Barker, J. E. Meadows, J. Gwinn and G. W. Chatten. The old Watkins patent and the Car- den title to the Barger Springs property came in question. Of
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these, J. C. Hughes now lives in Arkansas; J. H. Jordan is cashier of the National Bank of Summers; J. E. Meadows is mayor of Avis ; Messrs. Chatten, Gwinn and Rollyson are dead, and the re- mainder are residents of the county. The case was tried Septem- ber 10, 1885.
In this case an old deed, date the 30th day of August, 1815, was filed, from Michael Erskine, deputy sheriff of Monroe County for William Haynes, sheriff, to David and Joseph Graham, for 1,211 acres of land sold for non-payment of taxes for the years 1811, 1812, 1813, 1814 and 1815. The whole price paid for the 1,211 acres was $5.79, and was sold as delinquent for the non- payment of taxes for those years by Richard Stocton, and they secured a good and valid title thereto. Stocton was the patentee.
IN EJECTMENT.
Wm. Turner, Plff., vs. A. M. Hutchinson, Julia A. Hoback, Sarah E. Turner and Matilda Turner, Defts.
This was an action in ejectment brought by William Turner, through Adams and Miller, his attorneys, April 6, 1891, for the possession of only a few acres of a thirty-three-acre tract of land in Forest Hill District, in which the two old Pollard patents (one of 1,390 acres and the other of 2,500 acres) were involved in the ascertainment of the true ownership of the land sued for. Messrs. Thompson & Lively were the attorneys for the defendants. Sur- veys were made and maps filed by John E. Harvey, county sur- veyor, and another by James B. Lavender, a surveyor of Hinton, by orders of the court. A number of continuances were had, and a great amount of costs piled up. Finally a trial was had by a jury composed of Harry Haynes, M. L. Duncan, J. G. Cules, D. M. Meador, R. L. Martin, J. L. Duncan, J. A. Bryant, E. T. Hin- ton, J. M. Parker, E. E. Angell, J. A. Fox and J. W. Bradbury. The jury failed to agree and were discharged, after which the par- ties compromised, each paying his own costs and dividing the land. The plaintiff's costs were $250.05, and the defendant's, $71.15, with attorneys' fees to add. Judge A. N. Campbell presided at the trial. There were a large number of witnesses. One of the Pol- lard patents had a straight line of over four miles, which had to be ascertained.
The Benj. Pollard grant of 1,390 acres was conveyed by him on the first day of January, 1807, to Robt. Gibson. Pollard lived in Norfolk, Virginia. The price paid was $1,000. It is described
A WEST VIRGINIA COLONY AT HOT SPRINGS, ARK .- 1906.
T. H. Lilly, John D. Alderson,
J. B. Douglas, Clarence Alderson,
John W. Flannagan,
Jane T. Miller.
Dick Shelton,
Jas. I. Miller,
I''red Callahan.
THE NE
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as being in Greenbrier County, on the headwaters of Bradshaw's Run, Little Stony Creek and Little Wolf Creek, and adjoining one of the Henry Banks patents. Thus it will be seen the names of these streams were borne by them one hundred years ago.
In October, 1839, a suit was pending in Monroe County, of Burwell W. Seay and others, heirs of Benj. Pollard, vs. Sarah Hutchinson, on a "writ of right." A survey was ordered of the 2,500-acre patent, which was granted in 1786, April 22d.
In 1849 the heirs of Benj. Pollard appointed Allen T. Caper- ton their attorney in fact to dispose of all of said patent.
In 1833 the court of law and chancery of Petersburg, Va., in a suit against Robert Gibson's heirs, ordered a sale of said 1,390 acres, and appointed Hugh Caperton, of Union, a special commis- sioner to make the sale and convey the land, to sell the 1,390-acre patent, and Allen T. Caperton and John H. Vawter became the purchasers. The land was sold for the payment of 521 pounds. two shillings and five pence farthing. Said Caperton and Vawter bought the land-1,390 acres-when sold at public auction to the highest bidder, at the Red Sulphur Springs, for $352 cash, this being the amount for which these 1,390 acres of land sold, which are now owned by many thrifty farmers, and are worth many thou- sands of dollars. Both of these surveys are now practically cleared and in cultivation, and go to make up at least fifty farms, owned by intelligent, law-abiding, well-to-do citizens.
The case of Turner vs. Hutchinson grew out of the location especially of one corner. Great and diversified opinions prevailed among different honest, intelligent and competent surveyors, and the jury could not agree after hearing the proof. The parties on both sides of the case were honest people, but stubborn and de- termined, and it was not the value of the property involved, but the principle, and the claim of both to be in the right.
FELONY.
The State of West Virginia vs. Rosa Ford and Zella Gray.
Zella Gray and Rosa Ford were two young women, aged re- spectfully nineteen and twenty-three years, of ill-repute, who were living in August, 1907, at Flat Rock, on the outskirts of Hinton, in a cabin. The Ford girl had been sentenced and served a part of a term in the Reform School, but escaped therefrom, and was afterwards sentenced and served a term of three years in the
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penitentiary of West Virginia. After the expiration of her term. she returned to Hinton and again began a career of dissipation. crime and prostitution. Zella Gray was raised in the community. her parents being divorced. She was a notorious character, cruel. dissipated and without a conscience. They had been prosecuted within the city limits and compelled by the city authorities to re- move therefrom, and had located at this cabin at Flat Rock. On the night of August 16. 1907. a woman by the name of Sarah Siers. commonly known as Sarah Sawyers, and nicknamed "Mississippi" Sawyers, was staying with these girls, occupying a menial posi- tion, doing washing, cooking, etc .. and sleeping on a pallet in the corner of the room. The girls were attractive in appearance. neatly dressed in fine raiment and in the fashions of the land on the day of their trial. On the night referred to the girls had been drinking, and a number of people had visited their house. With- out cause they got into a quarrel and attacked the Sawyers woman. who was fifty-nine years old, and struck her with a poker, three smoothing-irons, glasses, glass pitchers and other instruments. Her face was beaten until she was almost unrecognizable. Dr. J. A. Fox was called the next morning to examine her, and found thirty-two cuts and wounds on her face and head, twenty-one on her right hand and arm, and eleven on her left arm and hand. Her clothes were rent and covered with blood, and she was found in a dying condition. She had managed to escape in the night and wandered into the woods, where she remained until daylight. when she wandered back to the high road. No doubt was enter- tained at the time but what she would die from her wounds: but after a lingering illness she recovered, and was the principal wit- ness in the prosecution. After her wounds were dressed she was sent to the poor-house, where she was still staying at the time of the trial in October, at which time she had recovered to the extent of being able to attend the circuit court as a witness for the State. At the October term. 1907. these girls were indicted under the maiming statute for malicious wounding. They were arraigned for trial before Judge James H. Miller, on the morning of October 11. 1907. They each in person pleaded not guilty. The State was represented by the prosecuting attorney. R. F. Dunlap, and his as- sistant. Thomas N. Read. The girls were defended by Messrs. T. G. Mann, W'm. Il. Sawyers and A. R. Heflin. Ben D. Keller was the court stenographer who transcribed the evidence. The jury was composed of Dennis Twohig, G. C. Alderson, J. M. Roach, Albert H. Mann. J. A. Allen. A. A. Bostic, L. W. Kessler. H. W.
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Flanagan. J. P. Merrix, Francis W. Buckland, Taylor Reed and A. L. Taylor. Dennis Twohig was a son of the Irish settler, Rich- ard Twohig; G. C. Alderson, a descendant of the ancient Baptist minister, John Alderson : J. M. Roach, a descendant of John Roach. who settled back of Big Bend Tunnel, on the Greenbrier, on the Morris Wyant place. Albert H. Mann was a son of Isaac Mann, the settler on Bluestone and Jumping Branch. L. W. Kessler was a descendant of Abraham Kessler. H. W. Flanagan was a grand- son of R. E. Flanagan. F. W. Buckland was a son of Francis Buckland. A. L. Taylor was a son of Garrett Taylor, brother of Captain Silas Taylor. The witnesses for the State were: Sarah Siers, William F. Steers, J. A. Fox, J. R. Woolwine, Mrs. J. R. Woolwine, Tom Breeden, Julia Roach, and Sheriff A. J. Keatley. The only witnesses for the defendants were themselves. William F. Steers, under the sheriff's direction, had gone to the house and gathered up the various implements of war. and brought into the court-room a basket full of broken glassware, etc., as well as bun- (lles of clothes, which were worn by the various parties engaged in the difficulty. The clothing of all the parties was saturated with blood.
The defendants testified in their own behalf. The case was argued by all the counsel engaged except Colonel Mann. The jury was instructed by the court, and after being out but a few minutes, returned the following verdict: "We, the jury, find the prisoners, Rosa Ford and Zella Gray, guilty of malicious wound- ing as charged in the within indictment." The jury was discharged. whereupon Counsellor Sawyers moved the court in arrest of judg- ment, and to set aside the verdict of the jury as contrary to the law and evidence. The court overruled these motions, directed the prisoners to stand up, and asked them if they had anything to say why sentence of law should not be passed upon them. to which they responded that they "plead for mercy and for leniency." The court thereupon proceeded to pronounce the sentence. which was that Rosa Ford should be confined in the penitentiary of the State for the term of ten years, and that Zella Gray be therein confined for the period of seven years.
In the trial of this cause there were used in evidence four photographs taken of Sarah Sawyers on the next day after the tragedy, showing the different wounds and her condition. Her eyes were swollen shut, and one ear was destroyed to the extent that the doctor's hand was plainly visible in the picture in holding the ear in position.
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
THE ANDY SLAGLE CASE.
One Andy Slagle, who lives in Possum Hollow in the upper Keeney Knob country, near the Greenbrier line, some three or four miles from Alderson, was indicted in 1907 for the malicious shoot- ing of Patrick G. Burns. The case came on to be heard, with Saw- yers and Heflin representing the accused, and Dunlap and Read prosecuting for the State.
In the country where this shooting occurred lived the Forrens, Harrahs, Maddoxs, Bryants and others. It is in the region of the headwaters of Griffith's Creek, the Eleber Spring (the headwaters of lower Lick Creek). and is an isolated region, from which many of the denizens who attended this trial had never seen a court house before. There were forty witnesses summoned.
Slagle is a one-armed man, and has a local reputation of being a pole-cat trapper and dealer in the furs from the skunk, and was an expert in the handling of the perfumed hides of these rodents. the chief criminal ambition of that section not being elevated above the night-time visits to the chicken roosts. Slagle's claim to no- toriety was above the common among the people of the com- munity. Slagle contended that Burns was visiting his chicken house in the night-time against the wishes and consent of the aforesaid Slagle, and thereupon he fired at him with a shotgun loaded with bird shot, and some twenty-five of these murderous missiles were taken from Burns' body by the surgeon. It was shown that he had threatened to "bleed" Burns some days pre- viously, and the evidence clearly showed that the shooting was premeditated with malice. A number of Bryants were witnesses, one of whom especially was devoted in his love for chicken flesh.
It was related that. on one occasion, being desirous of possess- ing himself of the chickens of his neighbor, being a man of great piety, he called at the house of his friend and insisted on having family prayer for the salvation of the whole family. This neighbor did not especially desire the prayers on that occasion, but the deacon, expressing great anxiety for their spiritual welfare, in- sisted on the presence of the entire family, who were called in, except one or two who were out in the field. Finally all had con- gregated except one, and Brother Bryant was so insistent that he went after him to the barnyard himself. After securing a full attendance, he began his devotions by reading from the longest chapter he could find in the Bible, which he designated as "The one-eyed chapter of the two-eyed John," being intended, as he
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
meant it, for the first chapter of second John. After reading this chapter he began his prayer, which he continued for almost thirty minutes, during which there was a great noise from the chicken house, and the more noise the chickens made, the louder Deacon Bryant prayed. Finally he hastily left the house, and his good neighbor, upon investigating the cause of the disturbance among the chickens, found that the entire roost had been depopulated, for, while Deacon Bryant was praying, his confederate had trans- ported the entire brood.
Slagle was forty-seven years of age and unmarried. He had stated that he would as soon shoot Burns as shoot a rabbit. Burns was at that time passing in the big road, carrying a lot of goods which he had purchased in Alderson. Immediately after the shot he raised a cry of distress, which brought the neighobors to the scene, and they carried him off the field. The doctors from Alder- son were sent for, and he recuperated in a few weeks.
The jury which tried the case were J. F. Beckner. Frank A. Cundiff, J. W. Barton. D. C. Epperly, M. E. Donahoe, J. L. Bates, James H. Dickinson, John E. C. L. Hatcher, John M. Wyant, C. D. Guttridge, M. A. Cox and James F. Akers.
After long argument and instructions by the court, the jury brought in a verdict of unlawful, but not malicious, wounding. A motion to set aside was overruled, and a sentence of sixty days in jail, the payment of a fine of $50.00 and costs, which were $300. was imposed.
In this trial. Mr. A. L. Taylor, a son of Garrett Taylor. who is a brother of Captain Silas F. Taylor. and his two sons, were im- portant witnesses, as were many others from that region.
THE CARRIE DOOLEY CASE.
I write of this case while it is fresh in mind, it having been tried before me as judge of the circuit court at the October term. 1905. The case was prosecuted ably and vigilantly by Messrs. R. F. Dunlap, prosecuting attorney, and T. N. Read, his assistant. The accused was earnestly, ably and faithfully defended by Judge A. R. Heflin, of the Hinton bar, and Hon. Wm. E. Allen, of the Covington (Va.) bar. The attorneys were not limited as to time in argument. Dunlap occupied one hour and a half and Read an hour, for the State, the argument being opened by Dunlap and closed by Read. Mr. Allen occupied two hours and fifteen minutes,
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and Judge Heflin, who closed for the accused, about an hour and thirty minutes. The jury was composed of J. A. Foster, J. D. Hoke, R. L. Hopkins, M. H. Hix, L. G. Williams, C. P. Crotty, R. J. Crook, A. M. Austin, S. P. Turner, C. H. Read, G. P. Mead- ows and Lawrence Williamson, and the trial occupied two days. Miss Mary Miller was the stenographer who transcribed the testi- mony.
On the 13th day of July, 1905, Carrie Dooley shot and killed B. D. Gibson, in a room over the mayor's office, in the city of Hin- ton, where he resided with his wife and Carrie Dooley, his step- daughter. Gibson was a railroad locomotive fireman, and was lying on the bed asleep when killed, the top of his head being prac- tically blown off. The accused was fifteen years of age at the date of the trial, and the shooting was done with a single-barreled breech-loading shotgun.
Gibson had come in from his run, ate his breakfast with a · neighbor, drank some liquor with one Sevey, played the fiddle, and laid down to sleep. Soon afterwards a shot was heard, and the girl came out of the house and said she had shot Gibson. The girl and her mother were arrested at Clifton Forge, Va., charged with murder, and indicted. The accused stated on the stand that she did the shooting and claimed that her step-father had struck her and made indecent proposals to her and tried to-ruin her, and to prevent this she had done the shooting. The evidence tended to show, however, that the shooting was done while he was asleep. The gun was found in the kitchen. The prisoner had made differ- ent statements about the occurrence.
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