KINGWOOD — Voices of the past mixed with those of the present Saturday as Preston County celebrated its 200th birthday.
The daylong celebration was centered in the county seat but included a 5K walk/run in Arthurdale and music festival at Alpine Lake.
Residents re-enacted the trial of Elihu Gregg, known to generations of Prestonians as the man convicted of burning down the courthouse on March 7, 1869, to avoid having his land on Gregg’s Knob sold at the courthouse door to satisfy a $100 judgment.
Judge Lawrence Miller Jr. and his wife, Susan, took information from local histories to write the play. Miller acted the part of Judge John A. Dille. Bruce Wiley portrayed Gregg.
A jury was pulled from those attending the performances, led by jury foreman Nancy Copney. The performances were outside the Preston Academy — where Gregg’s actual trial was held.
“There’s a lot of really interesting issues in this when you look back at it in 2018,” Judge Miller said.
Gregg was indicted by a special grand jury on July 12, 1869, and tried the same day. He was represented as a scalawag, a liar and, as witness A. Lee (Bruce Helsley) said, “Mr. Gregg is mighty mean.”
His defense attorney was George O. Davenport, a Wheeling lawyer (portrayed by attorney Kristen Antolini) who happened to be in Kingwood that day and was drafted to the job. The prosecutor was sick, so Judge Dille picked his friend William G. Brown (attorney James “Jay” Shay Jr.) to fill in.
The prosecutor said Gregg’s “heinous act” destroyed all the records of the county and those of the Preston County Journal, which was housed in the courthouse. It also destroyed the rooms where Peter Voltz (Michael Lipscomb) lived in the courthouse.
Gregg denied his guilt, and his defense attorney pointed out no one saw him set the fire, which began on the courthouse steps and ran up the second floor steps to the records. Some said they saw him later that night with ice in his beard.
James H. Carroll (Nathan Jones), attorney for the man who had the judgment, said he suspected Gregg. Special Constable Andrew B. Menear (Joe Stiles) said he went to Pennsylvania to arrest Gregg, who was “quarrelsome,” “litigious” and said to carry a weapon.
They didn’t have a warrant for Pennsylvania, but while following a shortcut Gregg pointed out to that state’s courthouse, passed through Preston County and charged him on the spot.
Noah Titchenell (Jason Jenkins) said Gregg told him he was going to burn down Kingwood. Lee said Gregg told him there were three ways to stop the county taking his land, “and one of them will work.”
The Guseman family (John Hayes, Paige Miller Hayes and Brayden Hayes) said Gregg had a jug of oil when he stayed with them. Pharmacist Lazier (Dr. Fred Conley) said Gregg bought a gallon of oil from him. Jessica Lipscomb was the narrator and Porter Stiles the bailiff.
Judge Dille sentenced Gregg to hang on Sept. 3. Gregg appealed to the State Supreme Court, and a new trial was ordered. He was found guilty again in October 1869 and ordered to hang on Jan. 28, 1870. He escaped and sent the sheriff his regrets for not being able to attend.
In 1877, he was arrested in Rice’s Landing, Pa., where he shot his son-in-law three times and his daughter twice because he thought they told police where he was. He was sentenced to death a third time in 1880 but was given leniency and then pardoned by the governor in 1886.
Gregg was found shot through the chest in December 1887, and his exploits were written up in the New York Times.
County bell
The dedication of a monument holding a bell cast in 1870 that was used in the former courthouse was also held Saturday. The bell had been taken down and forgotten until last year, when it was discovered in the courthouse basement while workmen were repairing leaks.
Artist Jamie Lester and Vandalia Bronze restored the bell and built the concrete monument on the Main Street side of the courthouse lawn.
County Commissioners Craig Jennings, Dave Price and Don Smith; Abbie Belanger, the Preston High student who designed the logo for the celebration; and Pastor LaDeana Teets each rang the bell once.
Smith said that Preston is “a beautiful place because of the beautiful people and the beautiful scenery.” He said those present were looking at history but also at the future.
Jennings said Prestonians today share the same love for citizens, community, county, country and rural living, and a willingness to help one another, as those 200 years ago.
“We are just like them: Standing together, working together and celebrating together,” Jennings said. “The Lord has blessed us beyond measure and we are proud. We are Preston County proud.”
Susan Hardesty read a history of the bell, Price read from the proclamation that created the county, the West Virginia National Guard Band performed the National Anthem, the Preston County Community Choir performed two songs, and Teets gave the benediction at the bell ceremony.
