Ghiz Brothers Fruit Store in Logan, WV (1912)

11 Tuesday May 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan

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Appalachia, Christmas, Ghiz Brothers, history, Logan, Logan Democrat, New Year's Day, West Virginia

*Logan (WV) Democrat*, 19 December 1912.

Bridge Completed in Logan, WV (1915)

06 Saturday Mar 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Guyandotte River, Logan

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Dingess Street, Guyandotte River, history, Logan, Logan County, Logan Democrat, West Virginia

Lawson Lumber Company at Henlawson, WV (1913)

05 Friday Feb 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Timber

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Henlawson, history, Lawson Lumber Company, Logan County, Logan Democrat, West Virginia

Faithful Rover: A Poem (1915)

09 Friday Oct 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan, Poetry

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Appalachia, hunting, Logan, Logan Democrat, poet, poetry, poets, West Virginia, writers, writing

From the Logan Democrat of Logan, WV, comes this poem written by J. Rush Cook titled “Faithful Rover,” published January 21, 1915:

FAITHFUL ROVER

Old Rover was a faithful dog,

He stuck through thick and thin;

With me he crossed a thousand logs,

We’ve waded a hundred bogs

With the mud up to his chin.

We’ve hunted together, day and night,

He’s treed ten thousand mice;

He never retreated in a fight

Whether in darkness or in light,

And never barked but thrice.

One on the scent, one at the tree–

His gait was swift and strong;

Third, a long–that was for me,

Where e’er I might be,

To hustle and hurry along.

And when I’d reach the long sought spot,

Always on top of the hill,

A lookin’ wise there Rover sot,

Jump up and round he’d hop–

Could never keep him still.

And then, of course, the tree I’d cut

Old Rover sitting night;

Perhaps three, four feet at the butt

Pretty hard to crack such a nut!

But I did it without a sigh.

Down in the top old Rover would go,

To catch the game, you see;

But always in the tree below,

Old Rover would try to show,

Was the game for him and me.

With this repeated till at the foot,

He’d start up t’other side,

And then to me it began to look

As plain as an open book,

That Rover had surely lied.

I don’t think he meant to lie,

His guilt I could not own;

But in his eagerness to try

He always looked too high,

As others I have known.

Old Rover was built for strength,

Was deep across the chest–

His hips didn’t lack for breadth,

Neither his legs for length–

‘Tis needless to tell the rest.

He had a curl in his tail

As nearly all dogs do,

But he straightened it out on the trail–

It might hook on a briar or rail

And get to bleeding, too.

The scent of the game be lost–

The smell of blood is strong,

This he knew at any cost,

If this trail he happened to cross

The game would surely be gone.

Old Rover has passed away

To the happy hunting ground;

And there I hope he’ll stay

And tree his game each day,

And do his own cutting down.

Poem: Sad Story of Married Life (1913)

15 Wednesday Apr 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Huntington, Poetry, Women's History

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Appalachia, Huntington, Logan Democrat, Marshall College, poems, poetry, West Virginia

From the Logan Democrat of Logan, WV, comes this poem written by three young female students of Marshall College, published May 22, 1913:

Shady tree, babbling brook

Girl in hammock, reading book;

Gold curls, tiny feet,

Girl in hammock, looks so sweet;

Man rides past, big mustache,

Girl in hammock makes a “mash”.

Mash is mutual, day is set,

Man and maiden, married get.

Married now, one year ago,

Keeping house on Baxter row;

Red hot stove, beefsteak frying,

Girl got married, cooking trying.

Cheeks all burning, eyes look red,

Girl got married, nearly dead;

Biscuits burn up, beefsteak charry,

Girl got married, awful sorry,

Man comes home, tears mustache,

Mad as blazes, got no hash,

Thinks of hammock in the lane,

Wishes maiden back again,

Maiden also thinks of swing,

Wants to go back too, poor old thing.

Hour of midnight, baby squawking,

Man in sock feet bravely walking;

Baby yells on, now the other

Twin he starts up like his brother.

Paregoric by the bottle

Emptied into baby’s throttle,

Naughty tack points in air,

Waiting some one’s foot to tear,

Man in sock feet, see him there!

Holy Moses! Hear him swear!

Raving crazy, gets his gun,

Blows his head off, dead and gone.

Pretty widow, with a book,

In a hammock by the brook,

Man rides past, big mustache;

Keeps on riding, nary “mash.”

Perception: A Poem (1915)

03 Friday Apr 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan, Poetry

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Appalachia, J. Rush Cook, Logan, Logan Democrat, poems, poetry, poets, West Virginia, writers

From the Logan Democrat of Logan, WV, comes this poem written by J. Rush Cook titled “Perception,” published January 7, 1915:

PERCEPTION

I have seen the rosebuds blowing

In the springtime’s early morn;

The shining dewdrops showing

On the petals newly born.

I have heard the happy bird’s song,

Wafted from the leafy bowers;

I have felt the heart beat strong

As I gazed at bird and flower.

I have seen a grander vision

Than dewdrops on the flowers;

A sweeter song to me is given

Than was wafted from the bowers.

‘Tis a vision of the feature,

When right o’er wrong prevails;

When man, the noblest creature,

No longer each assail.

‘Tis a song of love and duty,

‘Neath a bright or frowning sky;

Like the rainbow in its beauty

And its promise, by and by!

Home: A Poem (1915)

11 Tuesday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Poetry, Wyoming County

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Appalachia, J. Rush Cook, Logan, Logan Democrat, poems, poetry, West Virginia, writers, writing

From the Logan Democrat of Logan, WV, comes this poem written by J. Rush Cook titled “Home,” published January 14, 1915:

HOME

Endearing words to us are given,

Endearing thoughts for us they hold.

All for which the heart has striven,

But none so dear to us as home.

When wearied with the cares of life,

With toil and labor, sorrows borne,

There comes a joy amidst the strife,

When e’re we think of home, sweet home.

Home replete with all its pleasure,

Be it a cot or palace grand;

Be it poor or rich in treasure,

‘Tis always home in every land.

If peace and love therein abide,

Reign supremely every hour.

In each heart in faith confides

Like a sweet, unfolding flower.

‘Tis the thought of home we cherish,

As we roam some distant land.

All else for us may perish,

But sweet home in childhood land.

Where dear mother led us gently

O’er the hills, through vale and field;

Where she sang to us so sweetly,

And in prayer so oft did kneel.

Where the songbirds ever singing,

‘Neath a blue sky with music ringing,

Where the hills with music ringing,

And the zephyrs blow at night.

This is home to us forever,

Home, with mother at our side.

Perhaps in thought when ties we sever,

And have crossed beyond the tide.

Early Schools of Logan County, WV (1916)

04 Tuesday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Civil War, Logan

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Appalachia, Aracoma, Athelyn Hatfield, Beatrice Taylor, Bertha Allen, Big Island, Big Rock, Bill Ellis, board of education, Brooke McComas, C&O Railroad, Charles Avis, circuit rider, civil war, Cleveland, Coal Street, Dingess Run, E.M. Ford, education, Elma Allen, F.O. Woerner, Florence Hughes, Fred Kellerman, Free School Act, G.O. Nelson, George Bryant, George T. Swain, Guyandotte Valley, Hickman White, history, Isabella Wilson, Island Creek, J.A. McCauley, J.L. Chambers, J.L. Curry, J.W. Fisher, James Lawson, Jennie Mitchell, Jim Sidebottom, Joe Perry, Joel Lee Jones, John B. Floyd, John Dingess, Kate Taylor, Kittie Virginia Clevinger, L.G. Burns, Lawnsville, Leland Hall, Leon Smith, Lettie Halstead, Lewis B. Lawson, Lillian Halstead, Logan, Logan County, Logan Democrat, Logan High School, Logan Wildcats, Lon E. Browning, Lucile Bradshaw, Maud Ryder, Maude Smartwood, Minnie Cobb, Morgantown, Ohio, Old Fork Field, Pearl Hundley, Pearl Staats, Peter Dingess, principal, R.E. Petty, Roscoe Hinchman, Sarah Dingess, Southern Methodist Church, Stollings, Superintendent of Schools, Tennessee, The Islands, typhoid fever, W.V. Vance, W.W. Hall, West Virginia

From the Logan Democrat of Logan, WV, in a story titled “Schools and School Houses of Logan” and dated September 14, 1916, comes this bit of history about early education in Logan County, courtesy of G.T. Swain:

The hardest proposition encountered by the author in the preparation of this book was securing the following information relative to the early schools of Logan. We interviewed numbers of the older inhabitants, but owing to their faulty memories we were unable to obtain anything accurate. Nor were the county school officials able to give us any information regarding the schools of the early period. In making mention of this fact to Professor W.W. Hall of Stollings, who is District Superintendent of the free schools in Logan district, he graciously offered to secure as much information as he could from an old lady by the name of Sarah Dingess, who lives near his home. Thus, when we thought that we had exhausted every effort along this line, we were surprised and doubly appreciative of the efforts of Professor Hall, who secured for us the data from which the following article was compiled:

When the first settlers of Logan left the civilization of the East and came to the fertile Guyan Valley to carve homes for themselves and their children out of the forest, they brought with them a desire for schools for their offspring. One of the first pioneers of this valley, Peter Dingess, very early in the last century, erected a pole cabin upon the ruins of the Indian village on the Big Island, for a school house. That was the first school house erected within the limits of Logan county. In that house the children of The Islands (the first name of Logan) were taught “readin’, writin’ and spankin’.” After they ceased to use that house for school purposes, the people annoyed Mr. Dingess so much, wanting to live in the building, that he had his son, John, go out at night and burn it down. Thus the first school house for the children of Logan disappeared.

After the cabin on the Big Island ceased to be used for a school house, Lewis B. Lawson erected a round log house near the mouth of Dingess Run, where W.V. Vance now resides, for a school building. In that house George Bryant taught the children of Lawnsville (the name of Logan at that time) for a number of terms. A Mrs. Graves from Tennessee, wife of a Methodist circuit rider, also taught several terms there. Her work was of high order as a few of the older citizens yet attest.

A short time after Mr. Lawson built his school house at Dingess Run his brother, James, erected a school house on his land at the forks of Island Creek in the Old Fork Field, where J.W. Fisher now resides. The Rev. Totten, a famous and popular Southern Methodist circuit rider, taught the urchins of Aracoma (the name of Logan at that time) for several terms in the early ’50s of the last century.

After the passage of the Free School Act by the General Assembly of Virginia in 1846, the people of Aracoma and Dingess Run erected a boxed building for a school house by the Big Rock in the narrows above Bill Ellis’ hollow. The county paid the tuition of poor children in that school. Rev. Totten taught for several years in that house. He was teaching there when the Civil War began, when he discontinued his school, joined the Logan Wild Cats, marched away to Dixie, and never returned. Each of the last three named houses was washed away in the great flood in the year 1861.

When the Civil War was over and the soldiers had returned to their homes, they immediately set about to erect a school house. They built a hewn log house on the lower side of Bill Ellis’ hollow. That was the first free school building erected within the present limits of the city of Logan. In that house one-armed Jim Sidebottom wielded the rod and taught the three R’s. He was strict and a good teacher in his day. That house served as an institution of learning till in 1883 the Board of Education bought about an acre on the hill where the brick school houses now stand from Hickman White. A few years later additional land was bought of John B. Floyd in order to get a haul road from Coal street opposite the residence of Joe Perry’s to the school building. The old frame building was erected on the hill in 1883, and it furnished ample room for the children for more than two decades.

After the completion of the Guyan railroad to Logan the phenomenal growth of the city began. The growth of its educational facilities has kept pace with its material progress. In 1907 a brick building of four more rooms was added. Then they thought they would never need any more room. In 1911 they built a two story frame school house. In 1914 the magnificent new High school building was erected. Today, nineteen teachers are employed in the city, and within the next few years several more teachers must be employed, while the buildings are already taxed to their capacity.

In the year 1911 the Board of Education employed W.W. Hall as district supervisor. He asked for the establishment of a high school, and the citizens strongly endorsed his recommendation. The high school was established and Mr. Hall went at his own expense to the state university at Morgantown to find a principal for the high school. He secured F.O. Woerner, and the school was organized in 1911, on August 28. The next year Miss Maude Smartwood of Cleveland, Ohio, was added to the high school teaching force. In 1913 J.A. McCauley died from typhoid fever before the school closed, and George EM. Ford was employed to finish the term. In 1914 the school offered for the first time a standard four-year high school course and was classified by the state authorities as a first class high school. Today it is regarded as one of the best high schools in the state. It has more than one hundred pupils enrolled and employs seven regular high school teachers. It has a better equipped domestic science department than any other high school in West Virginia. When the high school was organized in 1911, there were only seven pupils in eighth grade in the city school. These seven were taken and pitched bodily into the high school. Of that first class, Fred Kellerman, Leland Hall, Roscoe Hinchman, Leon Smith, Kate and Beatrice Taylor continued in school until they were graduated June 2, 1915.

The first common school diploma examination ever held in Logan county was conducted by Supt. Hall as the close of his first year’s work at the head of the Logan District schools. He also conducted the first common school graduation exercises ever held in the county, in the old Southern Methodist church, on May 28, 1912.

Logan is indeed proud of her schools, and the efforts made by the faculty and school officials toward the training and educational development of young America meets with the hearty approval and commendation of all citizens.

Those in charge of the county schools are: Lon E. Browning, county superintendent; W.W. Hall, Logan district supervisor; the Logan district board of education is composed of J.L. Curry, president; and J.L. Chambers and L.G. Burns, commissioners. Chas. Avis is secretary of the board.

The faculty consists of F.O. Woerner, Principal of the Logan High School and instructor in mathematics; Joel Lee Jones, languages; Minnie Cobb, science; Isabella Wilson, cooking and sewing; Maud Ryder, commercial subjects; Jennie Mitchell, history and civics, and Mrs. R.E. Petty, music.

Lucile Bradshaw, English, literature, and mathematics; Florence Hughes, geography, history, and physiology, of the sixth and seventh grades departmental.

The following are the teachers in the grades: G.O. Nelson, Principal; Athelyn Hatfield, Pearl Staats, Brooke McComas, Lillian Halstead, Elma Allen, Lettie Halstead, Pearl Hundley, Kittie Virginia Cleavinger and Bertha Allen.

Lawlessness in the Mountains (1915)

19 Saturday Oct 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Huntington, Logan

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Appalachia, crime, feuds, history, Huntington Advertiser, Kentucky, Logan, Logan Democrat, New York City, West Virginia

From the Logan Democrat of Logan, WV, comes this editorial originally printed by the Huntington Advertiser regarding mountain violence. The item is dated January 7, 1915.

LAWLESSNESS

From the Huntington Advertiser–

Every time neighbors fall out in the West Virginia or Kentucky mountains, and one of them is killed, the New York newspapers discover a feud, and discourse upon the lack of civilization that permits such things to be.

Yet in this same New York, the constituted authorities have proven themselves helpless in dealing with gangs of “gun men,” and there is more flagrant defiance of the law in certain sections of New York today than anywhere in the Kentucky or West Virginia mountains.

So complete has been the failure of the New York authorities to deal with the problem of the “gun men” in any effective manner, that the business men of the east side are organizing a citizens police force to accomplish the work the New York police have been unable to accomplish. This organization of citizens is no more, no less, than a revival of the vigilance committees in the hurly-burly days in the western gold fields, and that the greatest city on the western continent should be compelled to resort to the methods of the mining camp in dealing with offenders against the law and against the decency is a sorry comment upon the metropolis.

But the New York newspapers will remember nothing of this the next time there is a lynching in the south, or there is a “feud” outbreak in the mountains.

Big Coal Deals for Logan County, WV (1917)

11 Tuesday Jun 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Boone County, Coal, Huntington, Logan

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A.H. Land, Al Litz, attorney, B.L. Holland, Bengal Coal Company, Billy Aldredge, Boone County, Cleveland and Western Coal and Coke Company, coal, coal operators, Cora Mining Company, E.H. Butts, Ethel, Ethel Coal Company, Flynn-Haislip Coal Company, Fred Haislip, George Aldredge, H.T. Proctor, history, Hotel Frederick, Huntington, Island Creek Colliery Company, J.J. Ross, Jack Dalton, Logan County, Logan Democrat, Loma Mining Company, Norfolk and Western Railroad, Riley Lilly, Tom Wilson, Washington D.C., West Virginia

From the Logan Democrat of Logan, WV, comes this bit of information relating to coal companies in Logan County, printed on May 17, 1917:

BIG DEALS FOR COAL IN LOGAN ARE BEING MADE

Public Service Corporation Buying Huge Prices for Local Properties

Public service corporations which must have coal whether school keeps or not are becoming big investors in Logan county coal and many big deals are about to be made. Most of the business is being done at the Frederick hotel, Huntington, which at this time is swarming with Logan county operators and representatives of big interests.

So far, the following companies are as good as sold.

Loma Mining Company.

Cora Mining Company.

Island Creek Colliery Company.

The following companies have been optioned and are regarded as good as sold:

Ethel Coal Company.

Flynn-Haislip Coal Company.

Bengal Coal Company.

The Loma Mining Company and the Cora Mining Co., are reported to have been sold to Cleveland and Western Coal and Coke Company for $250,000 apiece. The Loma Mining company was capitalized at $100,000 while the Cora Mining company was capitalized at $50,000 so the investors in both corporations will clear up a handsome profit on their investment.

Deposit $100,000

In the case of the Loma Mining company $100,000 already has been deposited in a Huntington bank to insure the deal so there is no chance of it falling through. The final papers in the Cora Mining company may not be signed for a few days yet but it is regarded as good as sold as it is a valuable property for any public service to own. Both companies have well developed seams of coal and are capable of great productivity. Island Creek Colliery sold for $475,000.

The Ethel Coal Mining company at Ethel, W.Va., is working on three operations. It is reported to have been optioned at $1,250,000 and the company notified by those holding the option that they intend to exercise their rights in the near future. It was not possible to get the amount of the proposed sale of the Flynn-Haislip company.

A.H. Land, the well known coal operator of Logan county, at present is in Washington, D.C. It is said that he is there on a big deal but it is not possible to give details.

Among the operators from this county who have been in the throng at the hotel Frederick during the last few days are Jack Dalton, H.T. Proctor, Fred Haislip, Al Litz, E.H. Butts, attorney for several Logan county operators, Riley Lilly, attorney for several Logan county interests, B.L. Holland, George Aldredge, Billy Aldredge, Tom Wilson, J.J. Ross and others.

Make Vast Sums

Logan county operators are now in a position, according to reports, to clean up vast sums of money on their investments. The public service corporations who have been depending on the open market have found that it is absolutely necessary for them to go into the coal mining business on their own hook in order to insure their supply and they are doing so.

At the hotel Frederick, many big deals have been pulled off for mines in Boone, the N. & W. territory as well as for Logan. A number of deals affecting Logan county interests are anticipated in near future.

The buyers of Logan mines intend to operate them on a bigger scale than ever before. They have the money to do so and intend to employ for it that purpose so that the general prosperity of the county is on a more solid foundation than ever before.

Baisden Family Troubles

13 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Kermit

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Appalachia, Brit Jones, Buchanan County, Carroll County, Catherine Wills, Catlettsburg Republican, crime, Flora Baisden, Floyd County, genealogy, Grant Bollman, Grover Waldron, Grundy, Harrison Baisden, Harrison Baisden Jr., Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Hiram Wills, history, Ira J. McGinnis, Jack Maynard, James Brewer, Jeffersonville, John Brewer, John Henry Baisden, John Lee White, John Smith Baisden, Johnson County, Kentucky, Lebanon, Lee Brewer, Lewis Dempsey, Logan County, Logan County Banner, Logan Democrat, Marrowbone Creek, Martha Baisden, Mingo County, murder, Naugatuck, Parkersburg Sentinel, Pigeon Creek, R.W. Buskirk, Reuben Baisden, Riley Brewer, Robert Irons, Robert L. Baisden, Ruby Harrison Baisden, Trace Fork, Virginia, West Virginia, William Baisden, William Bevins

Between 1883 and 1891, several members of the Baisden family suffered troubles in their section of West Virginia and Virginia. What follows are some news and other accounts of those events:

At the mouth of Pigeon creek, in Logan county, Grant Bollman and Dr. Harrison Baisden got into a difficulty over a settlement, short words brought blows, when Bollman used a knife severely if not fatally stabbing Baisden. Thereupon he drew a revolver and shot Bollman, who died the same day from the effects of the wound. There is little hopes of the recovery of Baisden.

Parkersburg (WV) Sentinel, 18 August 1883

***

Judge McGinnis has issued a vacation order to the Circuit Clerk of Wayne County admitting Dr. Baisden, charged with the murder of Yancy Bolin, in Logan County, to bail in the sum of $2,000.

Huntington (WV) Advertiser, 31 July 1886

***

According to one item printed in an old genealogy newsletter: “John Smith Baisden was born May 14, 1864. On May 29, 1885 he married Martha Jane Wills who was born in Carroll County, Virginia, on August 4, 1870, the daughter of Hiram and Catherine Massey Wills. Martha had come to Floyd County, Kentucky, in a wagon train in 1879. She was fifteen when she married John Smith Baisden. They had two children: Flora, who was born on January 8, 1888, and Ruby Harrison “Harry” Baisden [February 7, 1890]. On May 4, 1890, John Smith Baisden was shot and killed by John Brewer and John Lee White, while the family was visiting in West Virginia. He was shot in an argument over a horse. It is thought that his murder was indirectly associated with the Hatfield-McCoy Feud. The Baisdens became involved after relatives married McCoys. About the same time of his father’s death, the Hatfields kidnapped and imprisoned Ruby Harrison Baisden (then only a child) and other members of the McCoy clan, and held them in a log barn in what is now Mingo County, West Virginia. Ruby Harrison Baisden was found by a roadside where he had been left for dead. Soon after John S. Baisden’s death, Martha, against the advice of family members, returned to Kentucky by horseback, traveling at night over lonely mountain trails with her son and daughter.”

***

Last week several capias against John Henry Baisden and John Smith Baisden were placed in the hands of the Sheriff of this County. The Baisdens had established the very unenviable name of being dangerous and desperate men, and, a part of the process was placed in the hands of Wm. Bevins with instructions to go by way of Marrowbone to summon a guard who knew the haunts of the Baisdens and to locate them if he could and meet the Sheriff, who was accompanied by Jailor Buskirk, Deputy Sheriff McDonald and several guards, at the mouth of the Trace Fork of Pigeon. Mr. Bevins arrived on Marrowbone on Friday morning and learned that just before his arrival the Baisden boys had made an attack on the house of James Brewer with Winchester Rifles, and that assisted by John Lee White, he had repelled the attack, mortally wounding John Smith Baisden. On learning this Mr. Bevins at once summoned a posse consisting of John Lee White, Brit Jones, James Brewer, Riley Brewer, Lee Brewer and John Brewer and followed the Baisdens to Pigeon Creek. Locating them at Dr. Harrison Baisden’s, Bevins left all of the guard about a quarter of a mile from the house, except John Lee White, who he took with him to find the position of the Baisden boys. As soon as he came in sight of them he demanded their surrender, which they refused to do and fire was opened on them. James Baisden was killed and John Henry Baisden was badly wounded and captured. William Baisden having left the crowd made his escape and is still at large. John Henry Baisden was brought to this place and is now in jail. He was shot through both arms and in the right side, but his wounds are not dangerous. All parties regret the killing of young James Baisden, as there was nothing against him. Heretofore a man in this county had thought that to establish for himself the name of a dangerous man was all the security that he needed against the officers of the law. That is now changed and all of them will hereafter be hunted down.

Logan County (WV) Banner, 24 April 1890

***

John Smith Baisden, who was shot by James Brewer and John Lee White, on April 18th, while making an attack on Brewer’s house, died last Sunday evening.

Logan County (WV) Banner, 8 May 1890

***

On Monday morning John Henry Baisden was turned over by the authorities of West Virginia to Wm. A. Bevins upon a requisition from the Governor of Virginia. Baisden is wanted in Buchanan county, Va., for the murders of a man named Irons. Bevins, accompanied by R.W. Buskirk and Lewis Dempsey, started with Baisden to Jeffersonville, Va., where he will be confined for safe keeping until the Buchanan authorities are ready for his trial. He was not taken to Buchanan as there has been some talk of lynching him there.

Logan County (WV) Banner, 26 June 1890

***

R.W. Buskirk, Wm. Bevin and Lewis Dempsey, who took John Henry Baisden to Virginia on a charge of murder, returned on Sunday. The prisoner was first taken to Jeffersonville, then to Grundy, and finally to Lebanon as neither the Jeffersonville nor Grundy Jail were safe.

Logan County (WV) Banner, 10 July 1890

***

A Logan Man Gone Wrong.

Wm. Baisden, formerly of this county, was last week sentenced to the Virginia penitentiary from Buchanan county, for the term of 18 years, for the murder of a man named Irons, some two years ago. Outside of whisky, Baisden was regarded as a good man, and had a great many friends on the Sandy side of our county, where he was raised, and where his relatives now live.

Logan County (WV) Banner, 6 August 1890

***

Baisdens Allowed to Escape.

John Henry Baisden who killed Robert Irons in Buchanan county, Va. last fall and who afterwards figured in a terrible tragedy in Logan county, W.Va., and who was captured and taken to Virginia has been allowed to escape. After killing Irons, he fled to W.Va. to find another man living with his wife. He got a party of his relatives and went to attack the man, but was met by an officer and posse in search of him. Two desperate fights ensued between the two parties on consecutive days and Jim and John Smith Baisden were killed. John Henry was captured, after being seriously wounded, and lodged in jail. The parties who captured him in W.Va. delivered him to the authorities all right and received the Reward. He was afterwards sent to Russell county jail and being taken back to Buchanan for trial was taken from the guard by his brother. It is thought that the officers were willing that the prisoner should be rescued.

Catlettsburg (KY) Republican via the Logan County (WV) Banner, 21 August 1890

***

Murder on Sandy.

Monday afternoon Harrison Baisden, Jr., a member of the notorious gang of Baisden outlaws came down to the Mouth of Pigeon where there was a whiskey boat moored on this side of the river. He took his horse across to the Kentucky side, and then returning, he walked deliberately up to Jack Maynard, between whom and himself, it appears, there had been some bad blood, and shot him through the head, killing him instantly. The last heard from Baisden he was in Kentucky riding from about five men, who were pursuing him hotly. As the report says he was very drunk and the men were only a mile behind, the chances are that he is captured by now. It is feared that if he is caught that he will be lynched.

Logan County (WV) Banner, 3 September 1891

***

Found Dead.

A rumor has reached us that Reuben Baisden, the murderer of Jack Maynard, was found dead at the head of a lonely creek, in Johnson county, Kentucky, with fifty-three bullet wounds on his body and his dead horse lying on him. It was thought that he had been dead about three days when found. We do not credit the story.

Logan County (WV) Banner, 17 September 1891

***

Manslaughter for Dr. Baisden

In the Mingo criminal court last week, Dr. Robert L. Baisden was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter for killing Grover Waldron, at Naugatuck on April 23, of last year.

The evidence showed that young Waldron was stabbed to the heart on the above named night near the signal tower at Naugatuck. Dr. Baisden was coming down the tower steps when some person threw a beer bottle against a stone wall not far away. Young Waldron and two companions were standing near the foot of the steps.

Using an oath Dr. Baisden inquired who threw the bottle at him and there came a reply and also an oath, that it was for him and some one of the three also called out that they would send Dr. Baisden to hell “feet first” if he was not careful.

Logan (WV) Democrat, 20 April 1911

Coal and Land Deal at Limestone Creek, WV (1917)

31 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Creek, Coal

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Logan (WV) Democrat, 1 March 1917.

Wife of Logan Banner Editor George A. Dean Disappears (1912-1913)

20 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Huntington, Logan, Matewan, Tazewell County

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In 1912, Logan Banner editor George A. Dean married the former Lena Gross, who soon thereafter disappeared. Here are a few stories about the event:

Editor Dean Married

On Monday, Nov. 11 in the minister’s study, Geo. A. Dean and Miss Lena Gross of Virginia, were united in marriage by Rev. W.L. Richardson.

Mr. Dean is the hustling editor of the Logan Banner and is well-known in this city and surrounding country as a man of push and energy, while the bride was one of the charming dining room girls at the Hotel Jefferson.

Mr. and Mrs. Dean will be at home to their friends after Nov. 18.

Source: Logan (WV) Democrat, 14 November 1912.

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George A. Dean Logan Banner LB 01.24.1913.JPG

Logan (WV) Banner, 24 January 1913.

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Editor of “Most Fearless Weekly” on the Trail

West Virginia editors who have failed to receive the Logan Banner on their exchange tables during the past three weeks, no doubt, marveled at its absence. But there is a reason–a tragic, gnawing reason which has caused the editor, Geo. A. Dean to suspend temporarily editorial duties and to embark upon a quest which means more to him than journalistic honors or the mere touch of hollow gold.

Readers of the Banner will remember that there appeared graven upon its front page four months ago Mr. Dean’s and his wife’s own announcement of their marriage. The paragraph attracted more than usual attention, partly because of its unique construction and partly because of the unusual manner of its presentation, but more than all because Mr. Dean was very prominently in the editorial limelight because of recent rather prominent mention in Collier’s Weekly. But that is history, and in mere prelude to the situation which now confronts him: to-wit: that of a married man, wifeless, disconsolate, yearning for the things that were.

Mr. Dean, who has been in Huntington and vicinity for two days seeking a trace of his evanished spouse, speaks frankly of his bereavement, and is importunate that the home-loving public shall, if possible, assist him in finding and restoring his lost treasure. In brief, Lena Boyd Nelson Dean has gone away and, some fear, forever departed. She went without the tender formality of a farewell husband’s kiss. She went away surreptitiously, mysteriously. She went, and Mr. Dean, who has sounded the very depths of heaven and earth, is no whit the wiser whither. Descriptive circulars, telling her height, weight, complexion, color of eyes and hair, manner of dress, and all that pertains to accurate and dependable description have been scattered broadcast all over the territory in which it might be surmised that she would be obscuring herself from the eyes of love and yearning. Mr. Dean stated last night, in conversation with the Herald-Dispatch, that he had absolutely no heart for business, that he had known no rest, no surcease from the terrible heart-longing that had seized upon him and held with tenacious grip from the morning of his wife’s departure. He has searched high and low. He has communicated with every known relative of his wife, without being able to get even the shadow of a clue tending to lead to the discovery of her whereabouts. He gives the following verbal photograph, which is almost as good as the ordinary studio product, and much better than a tintype:

Lena Boyd Nelson Dean, formerly of Williamson and Matewan and Bluefield. Four months ago she served as waitress, cook, and house girl at Logan, W.Va. Last seen at Kenova on Sunday morning, March 2. Physical description: Age 26. Height 5 ft. 2. Coal-black eyes given to starry twinkle. Raven black hair. Rather full lips. Gold filling in front teeth. Deep, well modulated musical voice, with a tendency to coarseness in time of cold. Can not read or write much as her early education was neglected. Her costume is described as being strict in the style of today. Raincoat, drab-colored; blue-serge, two piece coat suit. Beaver hat, embellished with four black ostrich plumes. Leather suitcase, canvass trunk and gold-headed umbrella.

Mr. Dean feels that his wife may have returned to one of the three occupations ascribed to her in the opening paragraphs.

He has important mail for her, both registered and ordinary, and is awaiting anxiously any news of her, and his arms are open to her return. The Logan editor’s plight is positively pitiful. He has grown emaciated, hollow-eyed, faded, wan. The tireless vigil, the ceaseless search, the anxious waiting hours, have all played their part in preying upon his splendid vitality. He is discouraged but not defeated, and will continue the search as long as human endurance will permit, or else sooner find the partner of his joys and immediate cause of his great and overpowering grief. His plight has elicited much sympathy. For what is life without a partner?

Source: Huntington (WV) Herald-Dispatch via Logan (WV) Democrat, 13 March 1913.

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