When was the last public hanging in West Virginia?
GHENT, WV (WVNS) — Public executions are often viewed as a thing of the past, and as they started to disappear as a whole, they also became far less common in West Virginia.
So, when did the last public hanging take place in the Mountain State?
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According to the West Virginia Encyclopedia, the last public hanging in West Virginia happened on December 16, 1897, when John F. Morgan was hanged after being found guilty of murdering Chloe Greene and two of her three children.
The events leading up to Morgan’s hanging started on November 3, 1897 in the Grass Lick area of Jackson County. Morgan attacked and murdered Chloe Greene, Jimmy Greene, and Matilda Pfost with a hatchet. Alice Pfost, another daughter, was also attacked by Morgan, however she managed to escape and inform their neighbors. Morgan was then arrested and put in jail in Ripley.
Morgan was charged, tried and found guilty, and sentenced within a span of three days from November 4 through November 6. However, Morgan escaped two weeks before he was to be hung, and it was two days before he was caught.
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Despite Morgan’s attempts to avoid his execution, he was hanged on the scheduled date of December 16, 1897. The West Virginia Encyclopedia stated that his hanging was watched by more than 5,000 people, one of which included a New York Sun special reporter.
This was the last public hanging to occur in West Virginia before public executions were later banned and became private.
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