DODDRIDGE COUNTY’S
DAYS OF DISCONTENT, 100 YRS. AGO
PART ONE
Have you ever felt like our world is spiraling out of control sometimes? Do you ever wish for life to just be the way it was back “in the good ole days”? When people were more kind to each other, it made for a much kinder and friendlier community. Right?
Well… Not always. It was 1920 and a presidential election year. Republican candidate, Warren G. Harding (our 29 president), was running against Democratic candidate, James M. Cox. Let me tell you about the local political environment that was headline news in June of 1920, just months before the November elections.
First of all, I want to say that I do not purport to indicate who was right and who was wrong. I’ll leave that for the reader to decide. That said, let’s continue. It all started on June 1, 1920 when Absalom C. Stickel of Greenbrier, Eli Nutter of West Union and former sheriff, Doc C. Snider of Grove District, Henry Ash (Proprietor of the Columbian Hotel), A. W. Robinson of New Milton District, and G. B. Vanscoy of West Union appeared with council, Law & McCue in court and petitioned the court against Doddridge County Commissioner Joseph J. Graham of Central Station, who was elected Doddridge County Commissioner and took over his duties on January 1, 1917. Commissioner Graham was present with his council, J. Ramsey, Hoffheimer and Templeman. The court ordered the case continued to such date as would be determined after June 22, 1920, after which time, the date scheduled to hear the case was December 15, 1920.
In the petition, the six Doddridge County men (Stickel, Nutter, Snider, Ash, Robinson, and Vanscoy) claimed that Commissioner Graham had wasted public funds as well as other complaints which will be highlighted later in this article.
Commissioner Graham stated that he believed the men were simply trying to advance their own political careers because they were each a candidate for nomination for county offices at the upcoming primary election. Graham went on to say that no reputable newspaper would publish the libelous statements in the petition on the responsibility of the owners of the said newspapers. It seemed obvious to him that this was the case because the petition was not published until it was set forth in a paper in the nature of a petition and filed in the Court. This, of course, allowed whatever protection the law afforded for publishing such slanders when it was contained in an alleged document filed in such proceedings of a legal character. It was for this reason that Commissioner Graham filed an answer to the petition.
In his answer to the petition, Commissioner Graham denied that he was guilty of any misconduct, or gross neglect of his duties, and in so far as he might with modesty say that he was not incompetent to fill his current position.
In answer to the complaint that Graham was responsible for or contributed to the gross or useless waste of the public moneys of Doddridge County for the hiring of deputy, janitor, and fireman for service to the Courthouse, Graham provided the cost for the same in 1913 – $5,138.51; 1914 – $4,964.70; 1915 – $5,199.67: and in 1916 – $6,320.75. He added that in voting for the next year’s allowances, there were no dissenting votes and no difference of opinion as to the fact that said allowances were exceedingly moderate.
The six men who petitioned the court believed the sheriff did not need two deputies. Graham and the other commissioners gave allowance for 2 deputies. Justifying the allowance, Graham stated that the sheriff could not sufficiently discharge his duties adequately with only one deputy. Likewise, they disagreed that the sheriff also needed a clerical assistance in his office as may be required to properly care for the voluminous and detailed books of record which the law requires of a sheriff in the discharge of his duties. He stated that S. L. Ford, the sheriff at the time, and his predecessor who received compensation largely in the way of commissions, employed two deputies in the discharge of his official duties.
Commissioner Graham further stated in his answer that before making the allowances for assistants to the sheriff for the year 1917, inquiries were sent out by the County Court of Doddridge County to officers in numerous other counties. Inquiries were made of the representatives and employees of the State Tax Commission in order that the Court might be informed in a general way of the amounts allowed by different county officials for the payment of deputy sheriffs and assistants to the sheriff under the act which became effective on January 1, 1917.
In making the allowances complained of in the petition, the Court had before it information in a general way of the number of deputies appointed and the compensation allowed in many of the counties in the State of West Virginia, and the allowance made by the County Court of Doddridge County were below the general average for like services allowed by the County Courts of different counties and the number of assistants was fixed at what the County Court believed to be the minimum, if the public is to be served in a satisfactory manner. By way of comparison of the allowances made by the County Court of Doddridge County, Commissioner Graham showed the allowances made by the County Court of our neighboring county of Harrison.
It was noted that Harrison County was twenty-three (23%) greater in size and area than Doddridge County, and the different parts of Harrison County were much more accessible than the different parts of Doddridge County. Eight of the ten magisterial districts in Harrison County were traversed by railroad lines, and seven districts were traversed by interurban electric lines.
The allowances made by the County Courts of the two counties for the years 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920 were as follows:
Doddridge County Harrison County
Year Allowance Year Allowance
1917 $3,628.50 1917 $20,500.00
1918 $4,500.00 1918 $21,000.00
1919 $5,350.00 1919 $21,000.00
1920 $5,400.00 1920 $21,500.00
Commissioner Graham justified the costs by stating that the cost of living had increased a great deal since 1917, including the cost of labor. He stated that compensation allowed to deputy sheriffs was much less than that which was earned by unskilled labor in the most ordinary employment. The chief deputy sheriff of Doddridge County has received only about ½ the compensation which the average coal miner, during the same period was able to earn working on a six or eight hour a day basis, and less than the monthly compensation fixed as the schedule for unskilled labor throughout WV which was paid to boys driving a mule or a horse in a coal mine, or other like employment. He stressed that the allowances made by the County Court for the services received were penurious and no repetition or waste of qualifying adverbs or adjectives can stamp those penurious allowances with the character of a waste of the public money.
“PART 2 – ANSWERING COMPLAINT REGARDING THE IMPROVEMENT OF ROADS” continues in next week’s article.
God Bless and Stay Well
Patricia Richards Harris
