From the Archives of
The Pocahontas Times
Wise men are cautious about new legislation and rightly so, for self interest is at the bottom of most of it. If there were need of it, it would have forced itself through and made itself felt in the long weary years that have passed. Too often in the course of a law practice or in the course of a businessman’s experience, he sees where a new law on a certain subject would advance the interests of some, and he suggests that it be made into a law, never giving a thought to those who would be worsted by the law.
Having said which, we now make a few suggestions for new laws which deserve the attention of the legislature about to assemble:
1. A law repealing the statute requiring a free born man to sue out a hunter’s license before he can carry a gun. It may be a small thing, but it is the most autocratic law we ever had experience with, and it is out of place anywhere except in Bedlam and Berlin.
2. The statute of limitation should be amended so as to exclude the time between April 6, 1917 and November 11, 1918. Forbearance to sue helped to win the war and such a man ought not to be penalized.
3. Land surveyors ought to pass practical examinations and be registered just like doctors, lawyers, pharmacists and the like.
4. A tax of one dollar per year ought to be assessed against every piece of unoccupied land including town lots to be known as the unoccupied land tax.
5. A law should be passed either exonerating the railroad companies from all damage for killing stray stock upon the track, or making them liable to pay the assessed value of the stock so killed absolutely.
6. The sheep and dog law should be amended so as to require the canine teeth of all dogs to be extracted so as to render the dog harmless to sheep.
7. Severe penalties should be imposed upon women for hanging their old clothes on the old man’s nail in the closet.
8. Any person who tells a child there ain’t no Santa Claus should have his tobacco taken away from him.
January 1929
BIG BEAR
Lonnie and George Trainer, of Anthony Creek, were in town Tuesday with the head and pelt of one powerful big old bear to claim the bounty of thirty dollars. This bear was killed on Laurel Run on the had of Anthonys Creek Monday. It weighed over 400 pounds.
George Trainer and Ross Hefner got in the final shots…
This is probably one of the old sheep killers, which have cost the shepherds of that part of the Allegheny Range so dearly the past few years. The other hunters in the chase were Lonnie, Cloris and Albert Trainer, George and Summers Ryder…
SUMMER WHITE HOUSE
Hon. William Sawyers, of Hinton, has written a letter to President Coolidge strongly urging that the summer White House be located at White Sulphur Springs, as Senator Guy D. Goff has introduced a bill in Congress providing for the expenditure of a half million dollars to be used in buying suitable land, erecting or remodeling a suitable house in West Virginia as a summer home for the President…
In discussing the matter with Col. H. R. Wyllie, China Company of Huntington, he said, “Of course, the appropriate location would be in Greenbrier or Pocahontas Counties. The altitude is about 2,500 feet above sea level, the section is accessible by good hard surfaced roads or by railroads, five hours from Washington, wonderful scenic surroundings, wild game in the forests, fish in the stream, hospitable people, near two of the finest health resorts in the world, White Sulphur and Hot Springs. ..
“I have an estate in Pocahontas County, Wyllie Manor, which comprises 4,700 acres. For the past three years, I have spent five months of the year at this place. And after traveling all over the country, visiting hundreds of summer resorts, I can truthfully say I have never found a place that is more ideally situated for a summer home than in this section of West Virginia…
INFLUENZA
The influenza epidemic, which has been general throughout the country, has reached Pocahontas County. There are at the present time several hundred cases of this disease in the county, probably more cases than have occurred at one time since the year 1918, when a pandemic of this disease swept the whole world.
Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County ~ 1901
By William T. Price
BIOGRAPHIC
ALEXANDER WADDELL
One of the pioneers of our county from whom quite a number of our people trace their descent was Alexander Waddell. He was of Scotch-Irish descent and was among the earliest settlers in the neighborhood of Marvin Chapel. His wife was a Miss Rouss. He came from Augusta County before the Revolution, but in what year is not certainly known. He came out to examine the country, and looked over the Levels and the lands beyond Buckeye and around Sewell’s Cave, and selected the place so long known as the Waddell Place, where the public road reaches the highest point on the mountain in passing from Buckeye to Millpoint. When he first explored the Levels all was mainly vacant or unclaimed, and he might have entered the greater part of it. He concluded it was too level, and so he preferred the lands north of Millpoint where he could be high enough to keep in the dry.
Their daughter, Martha, married the late John Barlow of Edray, mentioned elsewhere.
Elizabeth Waddell married William Sharp near Edray.
Ann Waddell married Squire James Sharp of Beaver Creek.
Each of these sons-in-law of the early pioneer are specially mentioned in this book as men of prominence in the affairs of the county.
Jennie Waddell married Josiah Brown, near Edray…
Mr. Waddell seems to have been a fervently pious person. It was his intense desire to live one hundred years and he made this desire for longevity a matter of special prayer. He died in Ohio at the age of one hundred two years, thus receiving a full measure and more of borrowed time…
