Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1922-11-30
CONVICTED MINERS SENTENCED

~
Charles Town last Thursday Iudse !
NJ. Woods sentenced the three union
miners from Logan county. found
guilty in this court the past summer
to terms in the penitentary.
walter Allen, found guilty of trea.
son and tor whom the jury recommend
ed ten-year sentence, vas Sentenced
TO that term. Rev. J. Z. Wilburn
Baptist minister of Blair. and his son
John, both found guilty of second de-
gree murder in connection with the
killing of the Logan deputies during
the march, were each sentenced to
eleven years, the court reducing an
original twelve-year sentence TO eIev-
en- because of the time, amounting TO
approximately a year in each case
which they have spent in iail without
bond. Bail will be arranged while the
cases are taken to the Supreme Court
the bonds to be returnable in Ian.
uary.
Judge Woods condemned the pris.
oners roundly for their action in arm.
ing and associating themselves with
the thousands of other armed march,
ers to redress bv force what they al
legged to be wrongs done them by the
Logan deputies.
"The law must be supreme" Iudpe
Woods remarked, "the law does not
permit the Individual to arm himself to
redress his wrongs; and il is all the
more important that mass movement
10 the same end be restrained as a
public protection"
Judge Woods added that he believed
these men had been actuated bv ha-
l1of hn haI AL.
Grafton the evident fact that they had
been unduly influenced in a wrong
direction by leaders, and that the pur-
pose of the sentence was to give them
an opportunity, not oppressive, to think
1t over. None of the defendants had
anything to say before being sentenc-
ed.
The efforts for new trials were based
on alleged bias on the part of the
jurors, error in the courts instruc-
tions, error in admittance and rejec-
tion of certain evidence, and on the
grounds that the State was not prop
erly represented in the prosecution
because of the absence of the Jeffer-
son county prosecuting attorney.
On Saturday Judge Woods select
ed Morgan county as the place for
holding the trial of c. Frank Keeney,
president OF the miners union, now
under Indictment. No date was set
for the trial. The regular term of the
Circuit Court begins January 2, 1923.
Morgan county is in Judge Woods
circuit, and he will preside at the
trial, as he has in the four cases al
ready tried. Neither side has ever
found any fault with his conduct OF
the trials.
Judge Woods eliminated all counties
in the southern and central portions
of the State as the scene of the trial
because of the fact that the case had
been sent here from that section orig
inally from Logan county, and he in
ferred that officials there had good
cause for sending it out of the entire
section. The counties of Hardy and
Pendleton he eliminated because of
their inaccessibility. Counsel for
both State and defense had indicated
in their discussion of possibilities for
the trial, their willingness to 60 to
Morgan county in case Judge Woods
decided to keep the miner cases in the
Eastern Panhandle.
Discussion arose Saturday as to
the granting of change of venue for
the other l20 cases on the docket
here which the defense seeks to have
moved with the Keeney case and which
Judge Woods has indicated he will
move. The question arose as to the
method of procedure, the showing of
good cause in affidavits for the re-
moval and>the position of the State in
the matter. Speaking for the prose-
cution, Col Forrest w. Brown said that
the State would not agree to any re-
moval, but the Court indicated it rec
ogniZed this fact and the cases would
be moved by order of the Court and
over the objection, if necessary, of the
State. 1t was also virtually agreed
that the same affidavits submitte1 in
support Of the Keeney motion for a
change Of venue would be accepted as
sufficient cause for removal of the
others. The question Of just how
these affidavits should be submitted
and whether the cases could be NOV
ed en- bloc were details which the
Court promised to examine and pass
upon later.
DEGREES were entered in the fol-
lowing cases:
D. w. Clerdening VS.. Forrest B. Sc
christ, bill of complaint dismissed
and costs assessed to the plaintiff.
Edith Irene Pearson VS.. Conrad
Pearson, decree of absolute divorce
and plaintiff given the privilege OF
resuming her maiden name.
Eugene Brady, guardian VS.. Ruth
w. Hartman; sale of real estate, sub
ject of the plaintiffs petition, TO G.
y. White for $1,000 confirmed, and
the fund arising from the sale to be
invested for the benefit Of ward.