Dwight Williamson

IN 1932 THURMAN CASE…Trial Evidence Showed Tight Logan Community

Logan Banner, Monday,  September 2, 1985 By Dwight Williamson Part 15 of a Series It was early afternoon, Thursday, Oct. 14, 1932 when the prosecution started calling its last witnesses to the stand during the murder trial of black handyman Clarence Stephenson. He was accused of what could be the crime of the century in […]

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Thurman’s Death Certificate Uncovered

Logan Banner Tuesday, September 3, 1985 By Dwight Williamson If you don’t have it on paper, you don’t have it. Just about any government bureaucrat will tell you that. You may be standing and breathing before one of ’em and if you don’t have a birth certificate, you aren’t officially alive and couldn’t prove it

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Frank Hall was a legendary moonshiner

By Dwight Williamson The original mountaineers of this part of what became West Virginia brought with them many skills; one of which was the art of making their own corn liquor known as moonshine. Even after the coal industry started booming in the county, there were many residents who made a decent living making the

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Random thoughts on Logan history and people

By Dwight Williamson Let’s just call this week’s splattering of words as “hit or miss” Wednesday because as I sit down to write, I have not decided what to write about, and that’s not because I don’t have enough material to choose from. Oh, well, let’s see… How about we start with an interesting letter

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Longing for the good old days

By Dwight Williamson At various points in my life, from childhood to adulthood, the phrase “the good old days” has been used by persons referring to various times in their pasts when things just seemed to be a little better than they were in actuality. Still, for those of us who are fortunate to be

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Some early history of the Logan area

By Dwight Williamson A mere dot on the United States map is about all that Logan County represents to most people, but the fact is that it is eerily uncanny how much history has been made in the confines of this Appalachian region that – as of the 2010 census – shows a population of

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Thurman Case Testimony Reads Lot Like A TV Soap Opera

Logan Banner, Wednesday, August 28, 1985 Special thanks to Mark Edward Jones for providing a clipping of this article. By Dwight Williamson Part XI of a Series Testimony in the Mamie Thurman Murder Trial reads more like a soap opera than evidence. It fueled tongue waggers and gossipers in 1932 Logan. And, the trail raised

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They Lined-Up Early To Get A Seat At The Thurman Trial

The Logan Banner, Tuesday, August 27, 1985 Special thanks to Mark Edward Jones for providing a clipping of this article. By Dwight Williamson Part X of a Series. Logan was spellbound. The Mamie Thurman Murder Trial of 1932 held the country in its grip. And, the Friday, Oct. 14 edition of The Logan Banner reported

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Prison Inmate Remembers Convicted Stephenson

Logan Banner, Monday, August 26, 1985 Special thanks to Mark Edward Jones for providing a clipping of this article. By Dwight Williamson Murder and murder trials were by no means unusual for Logan County in 1932. But there was one which stirred more than the usual interest and reached into the very heat of Logan

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Real Drama Provided In 1932 Trail

Special thanks to Mark Edward Jones for providing a clipping of this article. The Logan Banner, Friday, August 23, 1985 By Dwight Williamson Eighth in A Series Harry Robertson had an impressive list of credentials. He was President of the City Commission, banker-sportsman and treasurer of the Logan Woman’s Club’s public library…add to that the

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