10 Years Ago
Week of November 1, 2012
The Pendleton Past
by Harold Garber
Let me share Dr. Musick’s Pendleton County story “30: The Murdered Prisoner’s Ghost.”
“About 1900, the Hall family lived near a so-called haunted hollow on a farm in Pendleton County. Their house was on one side of a dirt road, and on the other side stood two hills with a hollow between them. About halfway up the hollow stood an old log cabin.
The story was told that the log cabin in the hollow was used as a jail during the Civil War. One day an inmate dressed in white (probably his underwear) tried to escape. He ran as far as one of the hills, but was shot. Blood poured out of his right leg and stained his white pants. He reeled around, stretching forth his arm in a gesture of surrender, but was shot in the other leg. Blood also poured from his left leg. He was carried into the cabin, dead. It is not known whether he was buried or not.
As the years passed, the cabin decayed, the roof fell in and the area around it was grown over with brush. But when people passed by the cabin, they could hear the cries of anguish and moaning.
When Mrs. Hall moved into this area, she knew the hollow was supposed to be haunted, but she did not know the story of the prisoner. The Hill family grazed their cattle on one side of the hill, and it was Mrs. Hall’s chore to bring them home every evening.
One evening a few cattle strayed up beyond the cabin. In taking a short cut, Mrs. Hall passed the cabin and heard the moans. She was not a woman to be easily frightened and called out in a loud voice, “I’ve heard there are ghosts in the hollow. If you’re a ghost…come out! I’m not afraid. And if you’re a man, come out. I’m still not afraid!”
But the noise that followed did frighten her. Hearing a loud rumbling, as if someone was removing debris, she ran down the hill toward her nearest neighbors. As she ran, she turned to see a man dressed in white, with two bloodstained legs, standing on the hill with his arms raised.
20 Years Ago
Week of October 31, 2002
2,833 Homes in County May Contain
Lead-Based Paint
It’s not used for pencils and no longer in paint or gasoline. But lead is still a potential health hazard for children.
Here’s the concern. An estimated 60–80 percent of homes in West Virginia were built before 1978. Any house or apartment built before 1978 may contain lead-based paint. Lead can also be found in dust, dirt, old pipes, firearms and fishing weights.
“Lead is most dangerous for children under six years of age because they put their hands in their mouths plus their growing bodies absorb lead faster,” said Chris Curtis, acting commissioner of the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health. “High levels of lead in children’s blood can damage their brains and nervous system. It can also cause behavior and learning problems and slowed growth among other things.”
The United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates there are 551,031 homes in West Virginia with lead-based paint in them. Below is a county-by-county breakdown.
- Pendleton—2,833 homes;
- Grant—2,816 homes;
- Tucker—2,472 homes; and,
- Preston—7,941 homes.
Week of November 7, 2002
Proper Flying
Of the American Flag
Is Important
Americans rallied around the flag following the terrorist attacks on our homeland last Sept. 11. The vicious attack against American citizens resulted in a renewed realization of what our flag symbolizes, and Americans nationwide were quick to show the colors.
Of course, there are always some who carry their flag waving a little too far. Personally, I am not very fond of the hundreds of flag-covered products suddenly available at stores, seemingly taking advantage of the tragedy to profit—but that’s just my opinion.
Whether you fly the American flag daily or only on special occasions, you want to display the flag properly and with respect.
When attaching a flagpole to your house, windowsill or balcony, be sure the bracket is fastened securely so the flag won’t become soiled or damaged. It doesn’t take a great deal of wind to make the flag wave, and the weight and movement of the flag puts considerable stress on the flagpole and bracket.
Most Americans are aware the flag should never be allowed to touch the ground, but may not be aware it should not touch the floor, water or anything else beneath it, and the union is always at the peak. If the blue rectangle with white stars is flown down, it is a signal of distress. When displaying the flag in windows, the union should appear on the left when seen from outside the home. When hung horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be at the top and to the left.
It is customary to fly the flag from sunrise to sunset, and military bases follow this custom explicitly and with a great deal of ceremony. However, many of us are not always home at the right time to ensure the flag is raised at sunrise and lowered at sunset, so lighting the flag is a proper option. Flying the flag 24 hours a day it is always illuminated.
We see a lot of people flying flags on their cars. When doing so, the flag-staff should be clamped to the right side of the car, and the flag should never drape over any part of the vehicle. Displaying the flag properly from cars and floats in parades is important. When in a parade, the flag should never be carried flat or horizontally.
There are other rules for properly displayingthe American flag, such as the flag’s position with other flags on platforms, behind podiums, in front of church pulpits. Even flag lapel pins have rules–they should be worn on the left side near your heart.
There is a proper procedure and ceremony for disposing of a tattered or worn flag. Check with your local American Legion or VFW posts.
40 Years Ago
Week of November 4, 1982
Computers Come to Pendleton; Films Will Explain Their Use
Do you know how computers affect your life? Do you know what computers will be like in just two or three years, and how your life may be changed? Do you know what computers can do for you?
The Woodlands Institute is sponsoring, through the State Library Commission, the West Virginia premier showing of “The Computer Programme,” a series of training films which answer these questions, and then give the basic training needed to sit down at a small computer and begin programming in BASIC, a common computer language.
Over the next five weeks, the series of 10 films will be shown county-wide in sets of two films per week. All county schools will have the films available and most have begun scheduling.
At least four computers are now operating in this county, including one in the Franklin High School. Another computer is being installed this week in the school system and several more are expected in the schools before December. Two other local organizations plan to have computers by the end of the winter. We may have 10 computers in Pendleton County before spring. How will they fit into your life? These films may help you answer that question.
60 Years Ago
Week of November 1, 1962
100 YEARS AGO
By LON K. SAVAGE
Editor’s Note—The following is one of a series of articles on the Civil War. Each weekly installment covers events which occurred exactly 100 years ago.
Grant Opens Campaign At Vicksburg
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant opened one of his most famous campaigns 100 years ago this week—a long, hard-fought campaign to capture Vicksburg, Miss., and to clear the Mississippi River of Confederates from end to end.
It was a small beginning—in fact, nothing more than a message from Grant to Gen. Henry W. Halleck, his commander in Washington. But Grant, himself, claims the message, on November 2, marks the beginning of the campaign. The end was still far off; in fact, nearly a year and a series of serious battles would pass before Vicksburg finally would surrender.
Grant was in Jackson, Tenn., that November 2, and he knew the job awaiting him. Thanks to his victories at Forts Henry and Donelson, his and Gen. Don Carlos Buell’s victory at Shiloh, Gen. John Pope’s victory at Island No. 10 and the fall of Memphis, the Mississippi was now cleared of Confederates from its northern reaches to below Memphis. At New Orleans, too, the river was in Federal hands, and Federal troops sailed freely northward past Baton Rouge.
Vicksburg, alone, with its huge guns overlooking the river from the bluffs, was the bottleneck in Federal plans. Grant must take Vicksburg and cut the Confederacy in two.
To do this, Grant had about 30,000 men that November 2, scattered through western Tennessee and northern Mississippi. He was opposed by an equal force commanded by Confederate Gen. J. C. Pemberton at Vicksburg, along the Tallahatchie River, Holly Springs, Miss., and Grand Junction, Tenn.
It was time to move, and Grant’s message announced the movement: “I have commenced a movement on Grand Junction with three divisions from Corinth and two from Bolivar. Will leave here tomorrow and take command in person. If found practicable, I will go to Holly Springs, and, maybe, Grenada, completing railroad and telegraph as I go.”
And accordingly, next day, the Federal troops moved out southward and westward across the state line, into Mississippi countryside. They were well equipped and rested from the pleasant and quiet months of September and October, and they moved forward with eagerness.
It was on this march that Grant’s men strayed from their ranks, looted Southern homes of food, clothing and jewelry and, at times, set fire to buildings, leaving ruins behind them. Grant, according to one man with him, fully acknowledged that his men behaved abominably and made efforts to arrest the guilty persons. But he could not let the atrocities committed by his men stop his march southward.
Next week: Election Day.
4,495 Registered
In County —
How Many Will Vote?
Registration
Drops 324
In Two Years
A total of 4,495 residents of Pendleton County are registered to vote in next Tuesday’s election according to figures released yesterday by County Clerk Luther H. Eye.
The registration at this time is 324 less than the number registered to vote in the county in the presidential election of 1960 and 111 less than were registered for the so called off-year election of 1958. Registration figures usually are higher for presidential elections because of the stepped-up political activity during those years.
70 Years Ago
Week of November 6, 1952
Servicemen On Duty
In Varied Parts
Of World
Herbert C. Harman, quartermaster third class, USN, son of Mr. and Mrs. Elmer C. Harman of Mozer, is presently serving at Norfolk aboard the cargo ship USS Alcona.
Serving aboard the aircraft carrier USS Essex in the Far East is Elwood D. Eye, airman, USN, son of Mr. and Mrs. William O. Eye, Brandywine.
Calvin E. L. Gardiner, 17, son of Mrs. Cora Douglas and Dewey E. Merritt, 18, son of Mrs. Martha Merritt, both of Franklin, are completing their AF basic airmen indoctrination course at Lackland Air Force Base, the “Gateway to the Air Force.”
Pvt. William D. Hottinger of Fort Seybert recently arrived in Germany and is now serving with the 2nd Armored Division.
Army Pvt. Francis R. Coffman, whose wife, Anna, lives in Blue Grass, Va., recently was graduated from the 7th Infantry Division Signal School in Korea.
Sergeant Richard O. Painter, son of Mr. and Mrs. C. O. Painter, Upper Tract, is on duty here at the Infantry Center presently assigned to Headquarters Company, 1st Transportation Battalion of the Area Service Unit Provisional Group.
Roger S. Wright, 18, son of Mrs. Aremeda Fisher, Franklin, is completing his AF basic airmen indoctrination course at Lackland Air Force Base, the “Gateway to the Air Force.”