John F. Morgan was the last man hanged publicly in West Virginia, on Dec. 16, 1897

John F. Morgan was the last man hanged publicly in West Virginia, on Dec. 16, 1897

John F. Morgan was the last man hanged publicly in West Virginia, on Dec. 16, 1897, after he was convicted of murdering Chloe Greene and two of her three children in the Grass Lick area of Jackson County. The execution drew more than 5,000 spectators, including a New York Sun special reporter assigned to cover the spectacle. The chain of events that led to the hanging began less than six weeks earlier on Nov. 3, 1897. Morgan, an orphan who had lived 5 years with the Greene family and stayed the night with them, was armed that morning with a hatchet. One by one he attacked his victims, delivering fatal blows to Mrs. Greene, Jimmy Greene and Matilda Pfost. Another daughter, Alice Pfost, was attacked but survived. It was she who alerted neighbors to the crime. Morgan was arrested within hours and incarcerated in Ripley. He was indicted on Nov. 4, tried and convicted the following day, and sentenced the day after that. Two weeks before the hanging, Morgan escaped. He was at large two days before he was finally captured. Excitement was aroused by Morgan's repeated oaths that he would never hang, at least not on the scheduled date, but the springing of the lever came on Dec. 16. He is buried in an unmarked grave. Shortly after the hanging, the West Virginia state legislature passed a bill prohibiting public executions. It was among the first states to do so. Sadly, Morgan left behind a wife and infant son. Rebecca was given $25 by Ripley merchant O.J. Morrison in exchange for the jailhouse interview with Morgan. Morrison hurriedly published the book and sold copies for 25 cents at the hanging. She reverted to her maiden name of Hall and died in 1945 at age 74. Young Albert grew up to marry and have two children. He died in 1942 as a patient at Spencer State Hospital. Rebecca and Albert have separate footstones but share a common headstone in a cemetery near Fairplain.

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