The following events happened on these dates in West Virginia history. To read more, go to e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia at www.wvencyclopedia.org.
July 31, 1932: Actor Theodore Crawford “Ted” Cassidy was born in Pittsburgh but was raised in Philippi. He was best known for his role as Lurch on The Addams Family.
Aug. 1, 1921: Baldwin-Felts detectives shot and killed Sid Hatfield and Ed Chambers as they approached the McDowell County Courthouse in Welch. As Matewan’s police chief, Hatfield had assisted the United Mine Workers’ campaign to organize Tug Fork miners.
Aug. 1, 1940: Justice Franklin Cleckley was born in Huntington. In 1994, he became the first Black justice to serve on the West Virginia Supreme Court. The Supreme Court once referred to Cleckley’s handbooks on evidence and criminal procedure as “the bible for West Virginia’s judges and attorneys.”
Aug. 2, 2009: Golfers Sam Snead and Bill Campbell became the first two inductees into the West Virginia Golf Hall of Fame.
Aug. 3, 1897: Fire destroyedmuch of downtown Lewisburg. The town rebuilt and evolved in the next century into the hub of one of the state’s major farming areas and a center for education and the arts.
Aug. 3, 1907: Harley Orrin Staggers Sr. was born in Keyser.Staggers served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 32 years.
Aug. 4, 1824: John Jay Jackson Jr. was born near Parkersburg.Jackson was a prominent judge who became notorious among those trying to organize labor unions in West Virginia. He blocked an effort by Mother Jones and United Mine Workers leaders to organize the miners of northern West Virginia.
Aug. 4, 1897: Musician William Jennings “Billy” Cox was born near Charleston. Cox, known as the “Dixie Songbird,” ranked as one of West Virginia’s premier country music vocalists and songwriters during the 1930s.
Aug. 4, 1930: Lewisburg set the record for the state’s hottest temperature ever: 112. Six years later, Martinsburg would tie it.
Aug. 5, 1958: Jennings Randolph defeated former governor William Marland in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Randolph soon became the senior senator from West Virginia and served for 26 years.
