Posted on: Jackson County, WV Query Forum Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/WV/Jackson/1743 Surname: Green ------------------------- The following discription of an execution, published in 1883, is indicated as the first hanging in Jackson County, WV (see note on source at end). EXECUTION OF CHARLES GREEN The only public execution that has ever taken place in Jackson county was that of Charles Green, who expiated his crime on the scaffold Friday, May 10, 1850, for the murder of Timothy Fox, in Parkes Lane, about one mile above the town of Ravenswood, on the Ohio river. It was one of the most unprovoked murders an account of which is recorded in the criminal annals of Virginia. He was arrested a few days later, and placed in the county jail to await trial. An indictment for murder was returned against him on the 26th of March, 1850. On the same day he was arraigned before the bar to answer to the charge. His counsel demurred to the indictment, but the demurrer was overruled, and a jury composed of the following named gentlemen was at once empaneled: Leonard R. King, Thomas Paxton, Henry Lane, John Lee, Abraham Pfost, Jacob B. Hyre, William Harpold, John H. Chase, George W. Fields, Elisha Stewart The jury was placed in charge of Nehemiah Smith, high sheriff, and Mathias B. Armstrong, his deputy, and the prisoner was remanded to jail until the next day. At 9 A. M. the next day the jury and prisoner were brought into court, and Charles Green was placed on trial for his life. Throughout the day the trial continued evening came, the prisoner was removed to be returned on the third day, when it was continued. Late in the evening the argument for both State and prisoner closed, and the jury retired. In a short time it returned and rendered a verdict of “Murder in the direst degree in manner and form as in the indictment against him alleges.” He was returned to jail to await sentence. On the 1st day of April he was again brought into court, and when asked if he had anything to say why judgement should not be pronounced against him, he replied, “Nothing but what I have already said.” Judge David McComas then sentenced him to be taken by the sheriff of Jackson county, from the jail on the 10th day of May ensuing, to a scaffold to be erected in or near the town of Ripley and there hanged until dead. During the period of his incarceration pending his execution he wrote a full confession of his crime, which when published, covered nearly forty pages of a large pamphlet. At length the fatal day arrived; the scaffold had been erected in a ravine (ever since known as Greens Hollow) about one half mile northeast of the court-house. It was a beautiful May morning and ere the sun had risen above the eastern hills, hundreds had arrived upon the scene, and by the hour of 11 o’clock fully 3,000 persons from this and adjoining counties were swarming upon the streets of Ripley. One hundred State militia formed a hollow square about the jail. At 1 P.M. a wagon containing a coffin was driven within the square, and the doomed man walked forth, and mounted upon his own casket, was driven to the fatal spot. Arrived there, he dismounted, and, with his spiritual adviser, ascended the scaffold, where he delivered a short address to the multitude. The black cap was then drawn, the rope adjusted, the signal was given, and Charles Green swung into eternity. Twenty minutes later Drs W. B. McMahon, F. A. Holt and N. Ragnaud pronounced life extinct. The body was then cut down and interred about thirty yards from the scaffold. Thus terminated the first and last execution in Jackson county. SOURCE OF THE ABOVE QUOTATION: The above information was extracted from the Jackson County supplement to Hardesty’s Atlas published in 1883. In the areas of the United States where this Atlas was sold those individuals purchasing a copy were entitled to have their biographies published in a supplement which varied by location. In addition articles on the history of the region, commerce, newspapers, and notable events were given. The information was organized by county and each Atlas supplement might include sections on two or three counties. All those known to have been issued for West Virginia counties have been extracted and reprinted, notably by Jim Comstock (Richwood, WV). The material on the Charles Green hanging quoted above is found on pages 11 and 12 of Comstock's Volume 4, on Jackson, Kanawha, and Barbour counties. >From the supplement for Jackson county we discover that the first paper for Jackson county was not published until 1853, over three years later (pages 12 and 14); therefore, further information on this event must be looked for elsewhere. It would be interesting to know whether the pamphlet of the confession mentioned above has survived. As a place name Green’s Hollow seems to have faded from the collective memory, but one-half mile northeast of the Courthouse would be in the general vicinity of the of the Early Settlers Cemetery and that little valley which parallels the current road up to Pine Hill Cemetery (whose sides would make a suitable amphitheater for the attendees). And there was certainly a grave of an unknown individual discovered in that cemetery (news article in the Jackson Herald the first or second year after the Historical Society was organizaed.).