Hugh Ocheltree: The Leapfrog Murder: Unsolved

by David Parmer

Somewhere in the vicinity of Riffle Run, the bones of Hugh Ocheltree are slowly dissolving into the soil. Memory of this victim of a senseless, brutal act of murder has faded, and soon, even the moldering bones of the son of Oley H. Ocheltree will no longer mark his final resting place, wherever that may be.

Oley Hays Ocheltree

Oley Hays Ocheltree was born on Riffle Run in 1876 to Charles and Margaret (Hefner) Ocheltree. He devoted most of his working life to the mercantile business, primarily in small country stores. Oley and his wife, the former Ellenora J. King, had six children. Hugh, the oldest son in the family, had three sisters, Edna, Sylvia, and Virginia, and two brothers, Thomas Edward, known as “Eddie”, and the youngest, Fred.

Oley Hays Ocheltree was a well known resident of Orlando during its heyday. Oley, or O. H. which he was sometimes called, was a quiet and efficient clerk in Charley Knight’s store during the 1920s and early 1930s. He and his family lived in Orlando and rented the former M. A. and Lizzie Rush home, which had been the Rush Hotel in the previous decade. The Rush house was located near St. Michael’s Catholic Church along the right of way of the Coal and Coke Railroad line.

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For a view of the Rush house where the O.H. Ocheltree family lived, see the Nov '07 entry The Dolan Hotel

For more on Charley Knight's store, see the Feb '07 entry Charlie Knight's Store
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Above to the left is Oley Ocheltree and his sister Effie (who married the veterinarian Ord Conrad).

For more on Effie see the Mar '07 entry Doc Ordy Conrad, Veterinarian and Story Teller

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Above to the right is Oley Ochetree's mother Margaret (Hefner) Ocheltree.

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To the left is Oley and Nora's daughter Virginia Lucille who was about six years old when her mother died of diabetes, and eleven when her brother Hugh was murdered.

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By 1923, Oley was a member of the Orlando United Brethren Church and had become a trustee of the church. He continued to maintain his close ties with the Riffle Run community which was just over the hill from Orlando. During the summer of 1931, the year of his son’s tragic death, his eldest daughter, Sylvia, who married Guy Riffle, was living in a residence which Oley owned on Riffle Run.

Hugh Ocheltree

Hugh Ocheltree, the victim of this story, was born in 1901 on Riffle Run. He was a bachelor and lived with his parents when he was not working away from home. Like his father, Hugh was soft-spoken and polite, and not inclined to cause trouble. In July 1931, Hugh was visiting his parents in Orlando and decided to visit his sister, Sylvia (Ocheltree) Riffle, on Riffle Run which was an easy walk from Orlando. There were two usual routes to Riffle Run from Orlando. One route, and probably the most traveled, was to go to the head of Road Run and then go over the hill. Another route was to go up Clover Fork to the first branch coming from the south, go up this branch and over the hill. To visit his sister, Hugh chose the route over the hill at Road Run. After setting out on this walk to Riffle Run, Hugh Ocheltree would not be seen by his family again.

Riffle Run

Riffle Run is a small tributary of the Little Kanawha River. At the mouth of Riffle Run, there was a bend in the Little Kanawha River, as well as in the Burnsville-Napier Road. A United Brethren Church sat in the bend of the river at the mouth of the run. A general store operated by Jim Riffle sat a short distance up Riffle Run from the church at the mouth of the run. Near the store was a two story frame residence of Joe Ocheltree, who was a brother of Oley Ocheltree. This two story house had been the home of John Conrad, and later was a parsonage. Further up Riffle Run from the Joe Ocheltree residence, the creek branches, with a left fork and a right fork. Sylvia (Ocheltree) Riffle and her husband Guy Riffle lived on the right fork of Riffle Run.
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Click on the map to enlarge it.

On the right, Oley's brother Joe who was the father of Glenn Ocheltree

Rumors

Hugh’s father, Oley Ocheltree, contacted Constable D. W. “Duke” Riddle of Burnsville and reported that his son had not reached his sister Sylvia’s home on Riffle Run and was missing.

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Shortly after the disappearance of Hugh, rumors began circulating suggesting that he had been murdered. According to newspaper accounts of the day, law enforcement officers Constable Riddle and Sheriff C. N. Rollyson began checking on rumors that Hugh Ocheltree had been the victim of foul play.
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Rumors continued to be rampant about the disappearance of Hugh Ocheltree and certain names of suspects were repeated over and over. After a search of the Riffle Run neighborhood that turned up no evidence of foul play or the body of Hugh Ocheltree, the search came to a stand-still.

There is No Corpus Delicti

In 1931, crime detection was in its infancy. Few resources were available to assist law enforcement officers for investigation. For example, there were no DNA tests available to determine whose blood stained the floor of Glenn Ocheltree’s house nor whose body had lain for a short time in the shallow grave which Riley Lipps showed to law enforcement officers. An example of the scarcity of crime investigative resources is also illustrated by the method used by law enforcement to search the Little Kanawha River for the body of Hugh Ocheltree. The search was conducted by thirteen year old Waitman Collins, Denzil McNemar, a high school boy from Burnsville, and Bud Riddle, the brother of Constable D. W. Riddle. These young men, because they were known to be good swimmers, were asked by the investigators to dive into the “swirl hole” near the United Brethren Church to search its depths for a body. Although, according to Collins, the “swirl hole” was about ten or twelve feet deep, the dives and searches were done without the aid of scuba equipment or any other diving apparatus.
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To prove a crime of murder, it is generally essential to have the body of the alleged murder victim, known as the corpus delicti. Despite the efforts of law enforcement to locate the corpus delicti by a search of the surrounding country and the river, the search came up empty.

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Riley “Mutt” Lipps – An Unreliable Witness

Riley Lipps was one of the persons who was rumored to have been involved in the death of Hugh Ocheltree. During the investigations of 1931 and 1932, Lipps had been extensively questioned by law enforcement officers about the disappearance of Hugh Ocheltree and he had related details of the murder to the officers. He had taken the police investigators on a number of ‘wild goose chases’ looking for the burial spot of Hugh Ocheltree and had even showed them the spot in the river where the body had allegedly been dumped. Efforts to locate the body of Hugh Ocheltree came to naught. Nothing further was done by the law enforcement officials of Braxton County to pursue justice in this case.

The Game of Leapfrog Leads to Murder

However, in 1933, while Lipps was serving a sentence in the West Virginia State Penitentiary at Moundsville on an unrelated robbery charge, state police investigators visited him there to question him again about the 1931 death of Hugh Ocheltree. Lipps said “his conscience was bothering him’ and he agreed to make a statement. At that time, Lipps gave a voluntary confession to the investigators implicating himself; Glenn Ocheltree, cousin of Hugh; Glenn’s wife, Mrs. Susie (Brown) Ocheltree; William Brown; Miss Bernice Brown; Mack Riffle; Mrs. Nellie Ratliff; and James Morrell. Lipps related that on the day of Ocheltree’s disappearance, there was a party going on at the home of Glenn Ocheltree and that everyone in attendance was intoxicated. According to Lipps, the party-goers observed Hugh Ocheltree walking by and invited him to join in a game of leap-frog. Lipps reported that Hugh declined the invitation which incensed the drunken participants. To show their displeasure, they hurled rocks at him. One of these missiles struck Ocheltree in the head, rendering him unconscious. The rock throwers then carried the unresponsive victim into the Glenn Ocheltree house where they unsuccessfully attempted to revive him. Lipps stated that William Brown for some unknown reason whipped out a pistol and shot the unconscious Ocheltree in the head. Lipps then recounted that the lifeless body was taken into a wooded area near the Glenn Ocheltree house and buried in a shallow grave. Additionally, Lipps claimed that a couple of weeks later, aware that searches for the burial spot were being made on foot by law enforcement officers, the body was dug up, wrapped in two gunny sacks, tied to an iron wagon axle, put in a boat, and dropped into the ‘swirl hole’ of the Little Kanawha River near the United Brethren Church.

The statement given by Lipps, implicating himself and others with the death of Hugh Ocheltree, was essentially the same story that Lipps had told the law enforcement officers in 1931 and 1932. The written confession seemed to be sufficient to prompt the prosecuting attorney to proceed to formal charges of murder against the individuals named in the statement. Mabel (Posey) Henline, who lived in the area of Riffle Run, however, recalls that Riley Lipps had the reputation that “he would say anything, about anybody to get himself out of trouble.”

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Indictments

More than two years after the death of Hugh Ocheltree, during the December 1933 term of Court in Braxton County , the prosecuting attorney, James Cutlip, finally presented evidence to the grand jury concerning the 1931 murder of Hugh Ocheltree. After deliberating, the grand jury returned an indictment against Riley Lipps, Glenn Ocheltree, William Brown, and Mack Riffle for first degree murder. The indictment also was returned against Miss Bernice Brown, Mrs. Nellie Ratliff, Mrs. Susie (Brown) Ocheltree and James Morrell for being accessories after the fact. The indictment was based primarily upon the voluntary confession and earlier statements made by Riley Lipps.

The Trial

Although the lack of a corpus delicti presents a problem in the prosecution of a murder case, it is not an absolute necessity. For example, the oral statements and the signed voluntary statement by one of the perpetrators, implicating himself and others for a crime, and indicating a plausible reason for the lack of the body of the victim, amounts to strong circumstantial evidence that the crime was committed. Although this evidence had been within the knowledge of law enforcement officials for nearly a year and a half, nothing had been done to move the matter forward in the circuit court of Braxton County. At this time we do not have a clear explanation for the failure to prosecute the case in a timely manner, but one thing is certain, the failure to prosecute earlier was an advantage to the defense.
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Another puzzling lapse by the prosecuting attorney is the lack of trial preparation. The prosecuting attorney failed to determine whether the Mack Riffle who was selected for the first trial had an alibi for the time of the murder. After the trial of Riffle for the murder of Hugh Ocheltree had commenced, it was proven by sworn depositions to the satisfaction of the court that the defendant had been working in Akron, Ohio for the Colonial Furniture Upholstery Company at the time the murder supposedly was committed. The prosecuting attorney’s failure to ascertain this crucial fact before setting the trial for Mack Riffle was a critical mistake and doomed the prosecution of all of the persons indicted for the murder of Hugh Ocheltree. It is no surprise that Judge Jake Fisher tossed all of the indictments out of court. No further indictments were returned against any of the persons originally indicted, or against anyone else.

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A Re-Visit Twenty Years Later

The notorious failed prosecution of the Hugh Ocheltree murder was re-visited by the Charleston Gazette in a February 17, 1952 article. The newspaper story took a second look at the infamous murder case and attempted to determine what went wrong. Those in the legal profession would most likely agree that when there is a murder of an innocent party which is witnessed by more than a half dozen people, there should be virtually no likelihood that the culprit or culprits would not be convicted at trial. Perhaps the incongruity of such a failed prosecution prompted the Gazette’s re-visit of the murder of Hugh Ocheltree. The news article of 1952 basically re-hashed some of the evidence that a crime had been committed.
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. . . . · One theory pursued by this retrospective article suggested that witnesses were intimidated and consequently were frightened to come forward to give evidence. The article reported that in 1931, shortly after the murder, a woman from Burnsville (no name given) had been told an account of the murder by a female witness to the act. The Burnsville woman reported that she had been told that four men were involved in the murder and there were four women who witnessed the event. However, when questioned by law enforcement officers, the Burnsville woman suddenly denied all knowledge of the matter. The newspaper article reported that the woman had been paid a visit by one of the men said to have been involved in the affair. When questioned by law enforcement whether he had paid a visit to this woman, the man acknowledged the visit, but only out of concern “to prevent any harm coming to her.”
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. . . . · The Gazette article also reported that a resident of nearby McCauley Run reported that a resident of Riffle Run at the time laughed off the suggestion of murder and said that it was just gossip by women and that Ocheltree had gone to South America and that his papers had been “fixed up by Lafe Mick and Morgan Riffle.” The 1952 newspaper article reported that this theory was followed up by law enforcement officials in 1931 who had interviewed Lafayette ‘Lafe’ Mick, a well respected Burnsville school teacher, and Morgan Riffle, a well-known farmer of Triplett Run, and both denied anything of the sort.
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On the left is Morgan Riffle, on the right is Lafe Mick.
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. . . . · The 1952 newspaper article also reported that in early 1932 Glenn Ocheltree had visited Doctor Stanton Trimble in Burnsville to secure sleeping potions because of his inability to sleep. Law enforcement officials had inquired of Doctor Trimble if this were so and he confirmed the visits by Ocheltree and the medicines prescribed. When confronted with this information, Glenn Ocheltree denied seeking medical services from Doctor Trimble.
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. . . . · The article also quoted Alvin Jake Graff who reportedly had approached Glenn Ocheltree two months after the murder of his cousin and informed him that he (Glenn) was being accused of the murder. Glenn was said to have “turned red in the face and acted as if he were going to faint.” This reaction of Glenn Ocheltree was confirmed by Mack Ratliff of Dutch who overheard the conversation.
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. . . . · The article also reported that Ollie Blake, a nearby farmer, had reported in 1931 that threats were being made against potential witnesses and that “there would be another separation or someone killed in the neighborhood.” Blake suggested that Hugh Ocheltree had been courting Glenn Ocheltree’s wife.
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. . . . · Dr. Ord Conrad also was quoted to have remarked that the day after the killing that Eva Riffle had said someone had been killed at the Glenn Ocheltree house and that there “was a lot of blood on the floor.”
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. . . . · Mr. and Mrs. Ray Kittle of Weston were quoted to have visited a female patient from Riffle Run in a Weston Hospital at about the time of the murder. When the subject of the Ocheltree murder came up in conversation the patient inquired about “what could be done to a person who knew about a murder and wouldn’t tell it?” After being told that the police would arrest such a person, she remarked that “she supposed she would be arrested after she got out of the hospital.”
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. . . . · Case Brown was quoted concerning a conversation he had had with Troy Wine and Riley “Mutt” Lipps while at a church sing in July 1933. Brown stated that Lipps had been intoxicated and had acknowledged a role in the murder and the disposal of Hugh Ocheltree’s body. Lipps also named the other culprits involved, Brown said.
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. . . . · The 1952 Gazette article summarized the body of evidence of the crime which was available and concluded that the prosecuting attorney of Braxton County was “cautious” and that he delayed the trial for over a year hoping that additional evidence would be uncovered and that the delay proved fatal to the success of the prosecution.

Afterword

It has been over eighty years since Hugh Ocheltree set out on foot from Orlando to visit his sister on Riffle Run. His death on that day, and the failure of justice, are certain. There is no marker in any cemetery which marks his final resting spot and no death certificate to confirm his death. But somewhere the bones of Hugh Ocheltree are dissolving into nothingness in the tranquil hills of Riffle Run and the “leapfrog” murder remains unsolved.

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Comment by Bobbi (Ocheltree) Nicholson
David, this is just wonderful. Your thoroughness and attention to detail are much appreciated by family. Thanks to you, we now know more than we’ve ever known about an incident that must surely have affected our family deeply, but which they rarely spoke about. My children and I realize there’s nothing to be done, but having been in the dark for so long about what happened, we’re feeling ….well, sad for the family who lived through it, frustrated by the state of crime detection at the time, and – despite the fact that we didn’t have the opportunity to know him – a little angry at the absence of justice. (The Gazette thought the prosecutor was being “cautious”? That seems charitable, given the circumstances.) Thanks again for your diligence and your interest. Someday, you’ll have to tell me how you tracked us down :-) .

Comment by Ruby Riffle
The first time I heard of the Hugh Ocheltree murder was the day after he disappeared. Audrey Riffle, Eva Riffle and I were walking from the Riffle Run area to Orlando to attend a Sunday School convention. Glenn Ocheltree was supposed to go with us but for some reason he did not go. As we were passing a house on the way over the hill to Road Run, Eva stopped at a house and went inside and talked with a woman. She stayed for a few minutes and then we went on to Orlando. When we came back from Orlando by the same route we heard that Hugh Ocheltree was missing and believed to have been murdered. I recall the law enforcement people dragging the river for Ocheltree’s body. There was a ‘swirl hole’ in the river near the United Brethren Church which was full of brush which had accumulated from floods. It was hard work for the people diving in search of a body.

Comment by Kathleen (Conley) Conrad
I was about seven years old at the time of the disappearance of Hugh Ocheltree. My family lived on Long Run, which was but a short distance from Riffle Run. My family heard that the law was searching the river in the area of the United Brethren Church for a body. My family went to the area where the divers were searching the river and watched the activity.

Comment by Dale Barnett
When I was a small boy, I used to go to the Oley Ocheltree home at Orlando and play with Fred Ocheltree who was the youngest son of Oley Ocheltree. I remember Fred as being tall and slender. Fred was killed during the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. I remember seeing Hugh Ocheltree who was much older than his brother Fred. Hugh seemed to be a quiet, loner type person.

To the right: Fred Ocheltree

Comment by Kathleen Conrad
James Riffle operated a general store at the mouth of Riffle Run at the time of the death of Hugh Ocheltree. At that time, Riffle was somewhat elderly. His wife was Marietta (Ocheltree) Riffle, aunt of both Hugh Ocheltree and Glenn Ocheltree. A few years after the ill-fated murder trial dismissed charges against the alleged perpetrators, James Riffle’s health failed and he lay on his death bed. Concerned that a death-bed statement might be made by Riffle, certain persons alleged to have been involved in the death of Hugh Ocheltree took turns sitting with Riffle in an apparent attempt to thwart any such death-bed statement.

Comment by Mabel Henline
I lived with my mother Ollie (Posey) Blake on Wolf Pen Run, near Riffle Run, in 1931 when Hugh Ocheltree turned up missing. Riley Lipps was known to be an unreliable tattle-teller. Lipps led the law on wild-goose chases all over the Riffle Run country. showing them first one place and then another as to where Hugh Ocheltree was buried or dumped in the river.

Comment by Ruby Riffle
Oley Ocheltree searched for years after the death of his son for someone to come forward and reveal the truth of his son’s disappearance. Close to twenty years after Hugh disappeared, Oley visited the Hub Conley home on Long Run seeking information about his son’s death.

Comment by Sergeant J. W. Jeffries, WVSPD, Retired
When I attended the State Police Academy approximately forty years ago, Captain Harold Ray was an instructor of the state police cadets. Captain Ray was involved in the investigation of the murder of Hugh Ocheltree and spoke of the case. Captain Ray said that there were several suspects and that the suspects conspired with one another to cover up information about the crime. Captain Ray mentioned that he had received information that the body of Hugh Ocheltree was dumped in a well on Clover Fork but a search the well in question turned up empty. Captain Ray further discussed that the suspects worked together to make sure there would be no deathbed confession by any of those involved. If one of the parties became ill and approached death, the other parties would come and sit with the ill person until he passed away. Captain Ray did not name the suspects.

Comment by Lovie (Riffle) Bush
I recall that after Hugh Ocheltree disappeared the law came to every house on Riffle Run seeking information about the missing man. My father, Newton Riffle, and my brother Arthur Riffle, were both summoned to appear in court, as were most every person on Riffle Run.

Comment by Waitman Collins
It was common knowledge that the people involved in the disappearance of Hugh Ocheltree were concerned about ‘death-bed’ confessions. Anyone who might know something about the Hugh Ocheltree matter had ‘visitors’ while they lay on their death beds in order to prevent the conscience of the dying person to make a death-bed confession.

Oley Ocheltree during the mid 1930s worked for my father, J. L. Collins, in his Collins Store in Burnsville. Oley always ate his lunch at my home which was next door to the store when he was working. I remember him as a quiet fellow.

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Comment by Donna Gloff

Oley was 48 when his wife Norah died of diabetis in 1924. Their older children, Hugh, Sylvia and Edna, were in their 20s, but Virginia was only six and Fred was even younger. Six years later Hugh would be killed.

Christmas in Orlando

Merry Christmas!

Five Orlando-raised folks

tell us about Christmas on Oil Creek

during the 1920s to the 1940s.

by David Parmer

The Weather was Christmasy

Snow had usually blanketed the ground in Orlando by Thanksgiving, if not before. The Artic chill swept out of the north and settled throughout West Virginia creating a crust of ice on the old snow, and on each new layer of snow which fell. "Winters were much more severe then than they are today," said Ethel Doyle of Three Lick, "snow came early and it was bitter cold all winter long." Families in Orlando "usually got their coal in well before Thanksgiving," said Helen Jeffries. "People would take their pickup trucks to Gilmer and load up with coal at the tipple, or Darnall would deliver it." There was a striking difference between present day Christmas weather and the weather during the time of our grandparents in the early and mid 1900’s. The weather seems to come foremost to the minds of our older citizens when asked about Christmas of yesteryear in Orlando.

Above right, in front of the Christmas tree, are Amos and Mable (Posey) Henline with their young daughters Belinda and Olive Alice about 1945. For more on this family see the Jun '07 entry The Buzzardtown Tongue Twisters

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Winter Recreation

Mildred (Morrison) McNemar, who is now 74 years old, remembers Christmases in Orlando. "The boys and girls used to sled ride down the Orlando hill toward downtown, across the bridge and would usually came to a stop in front of Mike Moran’s wholesale building." "The boys would carry buckets of water and throw it on the hill to form ice on the hill. It would get so slick that cars couldn’t get up the hill," Mildred recalled. "It was lots of fun. You had to go across the bridge; you couldn’t turn the curve to go up Oil Creek because you would slide off the road and down the hill toward the creek."

The photo to the left is Forrest Allman, son of Orlando's telegrapher Gaver Allman. This wintery picture was snapped about 1837. For more about the Allmans see the Oct '07 entry Gaver Hamilton Allman: Telegrapher and Freight Agent

Ethel Doyle remembers one cold, snowy winter on Three Lick around 1930 when she was about fourteen that she and her sister Virginia, and Pid Henline’s children, Jessie, Ruth, Denver, Ernest and Ed, got out their farm sled, loaded it with hay, hitched up the horse and took a sled tour of Tulley Ridge. "It was a lot of fun," recalls Ethel. "There weren’t any paved roads, and you didn’t go anywhere in the winter time and winters lasted a long time. You stayed at Orlando."

Dale Barnett also remembers that Charley Knight would help bring a little noise to the Christmas holiday cheer in Orlando by stocking up on firecrackers and Roman candles in his store which were always a favorite of Orlando youth. Dale recalls that Charley Knight enjoyed Christmas time, in a true merchant’s way, by having displays of toys and other Christmas goodies, such as hard tack candy, nuts, and oranges, in his store.

To the left, On Christmas day in 1938, 10 year old Jane Stutler wrote a Christmas message in the autograph book of her sister Mary Stutler:

Orlando, W. Va.
Dear Mary,
The snow has been falling for Christmas. The hills are white. The house top and trees are white. School is out for one weekand I am glad of it. We had a program at school & Sando Clase & his wife was at school Fri.
Your sis
Jane Stutler

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Double click on the picture th enlarge it. Also, see more about this in the Apr '06 entry Oil Creek Christmas 1938.

Also, see a photo of Jane with her mom Edith and younger brother Bill during this era at March 22, 2007 Young Hobos Called to Account in Buzzardtown

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Schools Observe Christmas

The school in Orlando was the focal point of community activity. In this day of consolidated schools, small communities such as Orlando are deprived of the sense of togetherness which was present during the days of our grandparents, especially during the Christmas holiday. Dale Barnett remembers fondly the Christmas celebrations at the Orlando school. Dale went to school in Orlando from the late 1920s to the late 1930s. "Christmas was always a big to do," said Dale. "The school would have a big tree." Mildred (Morrison) McNemar, a tad younger than Dale, also recalls the trees which the school had each Christmas. "The tree would be decorated with red and green crepe paper which was twisted or interwoven to look nice, strings of popcorn wrapped around the tree, and a few ornaments filled in the spaces." Parents would come in and decorate the tree, Mildred remembered, especially Marguerite Moran who took a great pride in the Orlando School. Mildred remembers one Christmas when the students dressed like toys and circled the Christmas tree. "I was dressed like a top," Mildred recalls, "my mother was an excellent seamstress." "She fashioned red and green cloth material around a wire hoop which hung from my shoulders. A yellow stripe went around the middle of the top which gathered tightly around my ankles so that I could hardly walk." "I was so proud of my costume." Mildred recalls that practically the entire community would be at the school for the festivities of the day which included a Christmas program which included not only the students, but teachers and parents, as well." Mildred also remembered that for some reason at one Christmas pageant at the Orlando school the parents and audience sang My Grandfather’s Clock." [Click to listen to Burl Ives sing My Grandfather's Clock ] It is strange that I can remember that after all these years," said Mildred. Mildred also recalls a personal disaster at one of the Christmas pageants at the Orlando School . "Maggie Hamilton was one of the program directors, and was coaching me on a solo to be sung. It was ‘Away in a Manger.’ I went out to sing and saw all those people and I froze and couldn’t open my mouth. It seemed like I stood there an hour. Finally Maggie pulled the curtain down on me. That ended my singing days."

Dale Barnett remembers during his days at the Orlando School that Stewart Blake and his sons would come in and play music for the school. "That was an extra special treat", remembered Dale. Dale also remembers the Christmas plays which were given each year, followed by a party, and a visit by Santa Claus who would pass out packages of candy to all the school kids. Mildred (Morrison) McNemar also remembers the visits by Santa and the welcome gifts of candy.

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To the left are out of town cousins in Orlando for Christmas, 1978: Kimberly and Robbie Jeffries and Jason Parmer.

Rosemary (Riffle) Crutchfield of Burnsville went to the lower Clover Fork School which was beside the Clover Fork Methodist Church. Rosie particularly remembers her favorite teacher, Virginia McCoy Skinner, who arranged the Christmas programs. "Each student would have a memorized recitation to give." When Santa came, he would give each student an apple, or orange or candy bar or a pencil. "It wasn’t much but it meant so much to us." Rosie also remembers that she and her family would spend Christmas eves at the home of her parents on Clover Fork. "One evening when we were coming back to Burnsville, Penny and Timmy," her children, who were in the back seat, were looking into the sky as they approached McCauley Run, when they excitedly exclaimed "there goes Santa Claus in the sky." Whether it was an apparition, or a child’s fancy, Penny and Timmy were sure they saw Santa on his way to their house. Nevertheless, it is a wonderful memory of Christmas.

Helen Jeffries, who lived on Oil Creek, and whose sons went their early years to the Orlando School and their latter elementary years to Walnut Grove on Oil Creek, remembers somewhat embarrassingly, that her son John, now a retired state policeman, was dressed as Santa during a school program, and in the midst of some activity suffered a draft to his behind when his pants fell.

Mildred (Morrison) McNemar remembers during one Christmas season that John Brown, the Orlando principal, allowed Irene and Jane Conley to bring Christmas records to school to play on the school’s old record player. Students were allowed to stay after school to listen to the music. Mildred said that it was very nice because not many people had the opportunity to listen to phonograph music. Mildred remembers however that the real excitement for the school kids was when Santa would make his appearance. "It was a special time." Kids didn’t have much at home throughout the year, and this meant so much to us." Mildred also remembers that when she was about fourteen, her neighbor Helen Jeffries, crocheted a little cross book marker about four inches long, interwoven with red ribbon, for her as a Christmas gift which she treasures to this day. "Little things mean a lot at Christmas," said Mildred.

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Christmas Meals

In the olden days in Orlando, a Christmas meal was always special. "Charley Knight would always order oysters which were eaten in Orlando about once a year, and that was at Christmas," recalls Dale Barnett. "The train service was so good that Charley could order oysters one day and have them the next." Many families who lived in Orlando during the early to mid 1900s remember the pleasure of Charley Knight’s oysters. When Charley Knight closed his store, Deck Brown who had bought the old Bill Conrad Store after Denver Pursley had it a couple of years, continued the Orlando tradition of having oysters as a special treat for his customers.

Sandy (Burgett) Conrad, whose folks bought the store from the Browns, recalls also that for Christmas the store would get in salt fish and opera creams.

When asked if her family had turkey for Christmas dinners, Ethel Doyle of Three Lick, said "Oh, no, turkeys were to be sold for cash, we always had chicken for Christmas dinner." Helen Jeffries remembers that her family, a few weeks before Christmas, would pen up their largest rooster, and fatten it for their Christmas feast. Mildred (Morrison) McNemar remembers that the main course at her home was a "fattened up hen." The traditional mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, dressing, gravy, pies and cakes, were served along with the Christmas fowl. Helen Jeffries remembers one Christmas mistake when she took a notion to prepare a goose for the Yule-Day meal. "It was so fat, that after it rendered down, there was scarcely enough to go around." That was the last Christmas goose in that family.

As children of Orlando families moved away to Ohio or other places for work, Christmas was always a great time to go back to Orlando to celebrate the holidays with the aging parents. Cars with out of state licenses could be seen up and down Oil Creek, Clover Fork, Three Lick and all of the other small hollows around Orlando. It was a welcomed visit, and a happy one, and is the source of many memories of the Christmases in Orlando.

With Santa, to the right, are two of the grandchildren who came "home" with their folks for Christmas. The children of Oras and Edith (Skinner) Stutler emmigrated to Detroit in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Donna (Witzgall) Gloff and Joe Burgett were two of the nine grandkids Santa visited in the parlor of the former Dolan Hotel in 1951. The Sep '06 entry Joe's Song is about the little boy in the picture.

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Thanks to Dale Barnett, Rosemary (Riffle) Crutchfield, Ethyl Doyle, Helen Jeffries and Mildred (Morrison) McNemar for their memories!

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Comment from Donna (Witzgall) Gloff

Oysters! We couldn't have Christmas dinner without oysters on the table!

We made quite a fuss over finding good oysters in Detroit and being sure they were on the Christmas dinner table. This was very important to my monther Mary (Stutler) Witzgall, who was born in 1923 and grew up on Oil Creek.

Here's how my mother prepared oysters at Christmas.

. . . fresh oysters, already shucked and sold in a liquid (purchased in pint or half pint containers)

. . . egg wash (beat an egg or two with a little water)

. . . flour or cornmeal (as I recall, my mother always used white flour, but my sister mentioned corn meal as another popular choice.)

. . . butter

. . . Salt & pepper

1. In a cast-iron skillet, melt several large spoons of butter (a half stick or more).

2. One by one, dip the oysters into the egg, then into the flour, then place in the medium to medium-hot skillet.

3. Saute the oysters until golden brown. Do not crowd them, turn them to brown both sides.

4. Salt & pepper to taste.

Murder and an Old Water Well

by David Parmer

Clover Fork

Clover Fork was generally a tranquil place during the decade of the 1920’s. There was heavy trafficking in moonshine whiskey on Clover Fork, but no serious crime to speak of. About the most exciting thing to take place in this Orlando suburb was the steady rumble of train traffic along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the occasional deaths that occurred to freight hoppers along that rail right of way.

Of course, love and violence sometimes intervene and turn tranquility into turbulence, as it did in the late spring of 1928, near Chapman, on upper Clover Fork.

Click on the map to the left to enlarge it.

Below right is some of the moonshine apparatus confiscated from the hills of West Virginia.

Alvia Teter and Owen Vankirk

Alvia Teter was the son of Dan Teter and Arminta (Weaver) Teter who lived in the Lake Lane area of Braxton County, near the town of Heaters. Alvia was a chum of Owen Vankirk, the son of Robert M. Vankirk and Margaret Virginia (Wine) Vankirk, formerly of Dumpling Run, but later of the Walkersville area. Alvia and Owen had been making a living from the manufacture and sale of moonshine whiskey.

Moonshine Country

The area of upper Clover Fork and Knawls Creek was a moonshiner’s paradise with many hiding places and an area where lawmen and revenuers seldom ventured. Teter and Vankirk were also friends of the McCoy brothers, Basil and Raymond, who were also active in the art of moonshinery and bootlegging. Moonshiners often would sample their product as a matter of quality-control, and, as a result many of them were most often drunk, or near drunk. Teter and Vankirk were known to be regular users of their illicit product.

Irma Cosner

In the spring of 1928, Alvia and Owen were hanging out in an abandoned house belonging to Hanse Bennett, near Chapman, on upper Clover Fork. Hanse's niece Irma (Bennett) Cosner lived close by. Irma was separated from her husband, Virgil Cosner. She was the daughter of Mary Alice Bennett and granddaughter of George W. and Anne (Barbe) Bennett of Clover Fork who had raised her after her mother’s early death. She had inherited a 119 acre farm near Chapman from her grandfather upon his death in 1914. Irma had attracted the eye of both Alvia and Owen.

Left: Irma Cosner, at her grandfather George W. Bennett's funeral.

Where’s Alvia?

Alvia Teter had been missing nigh on ten days. His parents, Dan and Arminta Teter who lived at Lake Lane had not heard from him, nor had his sister and brother-in-law, Maude and Willis Townsend, who lived at Chapman on upper Clover Fork and with whom Alvia had been living. Alvia was very faithful about staying in touch with his family and his absence was worrisome to them.

Alvia often visited Will Pritt’s store at Knawl which was just over the ridge and a short distance further from the abandoned house Alvia had been frequenting with Owen Vankirk. Willis Townsend visited the Pritt Store and asked Will Pritt if he had seen Alvia. Pritt told Townsend that he had not seen him. Pritt did relate that Owen Vankirk had been in the store and had told Pritt that he had sent Alvia “up into the mountains to get a load of moonshine a few days ago and that he had not returned.” Vankirk expressed to Pritt that he was worried that something must have happened to his pal, Alvia Teter. Pritt told Townsend that Vankirk was acting very strangely and appeared to be “nervous and fidgety, pacing back and forth” and that he suspected that Vankirk knew more about Alvia Teter’s absence than he was revealing. Agreeing that Alvia’s disappearance was suspicious, the Teter family contacted A. M. Berry, the Sheriff of Braxton County.

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The Search

In the meanwhile, Alvia’s brother in law, Willis Townsend; another brother, Guy Teter; Walter Taylor, the Knawl blacksmith; Tony Mick, and Harry Fleming began combing the countryside for traces of Alvia Teter. The searchers insisted that Owen Vankirk accompany them on the search and Vankirk did so.

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Left: Walter Taylor, the blacksmith

It was reported that Owen encouraged the searchers to scour the hillsides for Alvia since, according to Vankirk, “that was where Alvia most likely would be.” The searchers did scout the hillsides looking for the missing person but found nothing.

During the search for Alvia Teter, Willis Townsend kept in the back of his mind that Owen Vankirk, on a previous occasion, while he was half-drunk on moonshine whiskey, had bragged that if he ever killed anyone and wanted to dispose of the body, he would dump the corpse down a well and toss debris on top of the victim. Willis Townsend began gravitating the search toward the old abandoned Hanson "Hanse" Bennett house where Owen Vankirk and Alvia Teter had been known to visit. Sensing that the search was headed toward the old house Vankirk resisted and said the search would be more fruitful if they stayed on the hills with the search and that he was familiar with the old house and that “there was nothing there.” Nevertheless the search party continued toward the old Hance Bennett house.

The Discovery

Arriving at the house, one of the first things the searchers noticed was wood ashes which had been scattered on the ground in an effort, it appeared, to cover dark stains on the ground. The stains led into the abandoned house. Inside the house, the searchers found part of the wood flooring had been torn off and dropped under the floor joists. There were dark stains on the floor boards which had been removed. Returning to the outside of the house, the half-covered stains on the ground were followed to the old water well, where more stains were found on the curbing of the well. Surveying the inside of the well, the searchers noticed that a clutter of debris concealed the water. With jerry-rigged grapples, the searchers removed enough debris to reveal a corpse, head down in the well. The searchers securing the scene sent for help from the Braxton County Sheriff A. M. Berry. Deputy Sheriff Spurgeon White, Prosecuting Attorney J. E. Cutlip, and County Coroner Doctor H. S. Brown came later in the day from Sutton to investigate the scene of the crime and to remove the body.

The Accusal

All eyes were on Owen Vankirk whose actions and mannerisms prior to and during the search and discovery of the body had pointed the finger of blame at him. Deputy Sheriff White, evidently having been apprised of the probable culpability of Vankirk, armed Walter Taylor and Tony Mick with pistols and told them to “keep an eye on Vankirk.” Vankirk responded as if he were a cornered animal and became quite agitated and distraught. Asking if he could go up on the hill to get a drink from a spring, the Deputy told Taylor and Mick to go with him and “If he tries to make a run for it, shoot him.” Later, Shorty Ocheltree who had come onto the scene was lowered into the well and secured ropes around the lifeless corpse. As the body of Alvia Teter was being lifted from the old water well, it is reported by Nellie Cayton that her father Walter Taylor recalled that Deputy Sheriff White turned to Vankirk and said “We ought to hang you right here and shoot you full of holes.”

The Interrogation

State police from Sutton came by train to Orlando and traveled up Clover Fork to the crime scene. After the recovery of the dead body of Alvia Teter was secured, the State police and Prosecuting Attorney Cutlip took Owen Vankirk to the present home of Charles Bennett on Clover Fork which had belonged to his great-grandfather, George W. Bennett, during his lifetime. Charles Bennett recalls his late father, Pete Bennett, told him the State Police and the prosecuting attorney brought Owen Vankirk to the Bennett home and questioned Vankirk all night long in the parlor of the house. The next day the State police took Vankirk to Sutton and lodged him in the Braxton County jail.

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The Trial

Vankirk was held in the Braxton County jail without bond and was indicted during the July 1928 term of court in Braxton County on the charge of first degree murder

One of the state’s witnesses for the trial was Guy Teter, brother of the murder victim. Guy Teter was well known to the law as a moonshiner and during the pendency of the trial of Vankirk, he was serving a sentence for moonshining. However, as the trial of Vankirk approached, Guy Teter who had been working on a road gang, escaped from custody and was not available for the trial. The prosecuting attorney asked the court for a continuance in the trial because of the absence of the material witness and the trial was delayed. Eventually, Guy Teter was retaken into custody and testified along with Erma Cosner, Willis Townsend, and several other law enforcement witnesses.

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The evidence presented to the court theorized that Vankirk was jealous of the attention being given to Alvia Teter by Irma Cosner. The state also gave evidence that Vankirk and Teter were roasting potatoes in the fireplace of the abandoned Hance Bennett house. During the course of the potato roast, Vankirk suggested that Teter go to the Irma Cosner house and borrow some salt and butter to season the potatoes. The state further theorized that when Teter returned with the salt and butter and was bent over at the hearth of the fireplace in the process of seasoning the potatoes, Vankirk struck Teter over the head with a fatal blow from a fireplace andiron. The state then alleged that Vankirk disposed of the body by dumping it down the well.

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The Verdict

After the evidence was given and the case turned over to the jury for deliberations, the jury returned a verdict of second degree murder against Owen Vankirk. The court sentenced Vankirk to the West Virginia State Penitentiary for an indeterminate term of from five to eighteen years.

With the conviction of Owen Vankirk, the murder of Alvia Teter was solved. Alvia Teter was buried at the Prince Cemetery near Lake Lane in Braxton County.

Epilogue

Owen Vankirk served his sentence for the murder of Alvia Teter. By 1941 he had been released from prison and was working on a construction job near Sutton. During the construction work, Vankirk was struck by the falling beam and dipper of a steam shovel. His injuries were serious and fatal. He died August 1, 1941 and was buried in a family cemetery near Walkersville.

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Note From the Author

Where’s Alvia?
Sometimes dialing a wrong number pays dividends. For many years I had in the back of my mind the tale of the young man who was murdered on Clover Fork and his lifeless body was then dumped down a well. The years had eroded my recollection of the facts of the case and I couldn’t even put names to the tragic event. Years ago, when I first heard of the dastardly deed, while my first thought was for the victim of the crime, my second thought was, “What a terrible thing to do to a water well where people get their water.” A few months ago, while I was mulling over this story in my mind, I thought that I would call my best source for old Orlando happenings, my cousin, Dale Barnett. Dale, true as ever, spotted me the last names of some of the people involved in the murder, and gave me a kick start on the story. This story had laid dormant in my file for sometime while I wrote other stories but eventually I got back around to it. One of the witnesses who testified at the murder trial in Braxton County was Willis Townsend. Through a little research I determined that Willis Townsend, who was probably long dead, had a daughter Nellie, who had married Dee Cayton. Checking the telephone directory for the central West Virginia area, lo and behold, I found a listing for “Nellie Cayton.” An elderly sounding woman answered my telephone call and I asked if I were speaking with Nellie Cayton. She replied in the affirmative. I told Nellie the purpose of my call and the memories of the murder of young Teter came flowing back to her. Nellie told me that she was eighty seven years of age and was a young child at the time of the murder of Alvia Teter. Obviously she had listened carefully as adults around her had talked of the grisly events of 1928. In detail Nellie told me with remarkable minutia of the events surrounding the murder of Alvia Teter. I couldn’t believe my good fortune as a researcher to find such an animated recollection of an event which took place nearly eighty years ago. Nearing the end of the fascinating conversation with Nellie I asked her if she had a photograph of her father, Willis Townsend, who had been a witness during the murder trial. Nellie then advised me that she was the daughter of Walter Taylor, not Willis Townsend, and that I should speak with her sister in law, whose name was also Nellie Cayton. Nellie came to my assistance and told me that the Nellie Cayton I had intended to call was her late husband’s brother’s widow, who was just a little younger than she, and that she was the daughter of Willis Townsend. I thought to myself what a stroke of good luck I had when I dialed the wrong telephone number.

Comment

After the conclusion of the murder trial of Owen Vankirk, Irma Cosner relocated to the Cincinnati area where she met Herb Hill, a carpenter. Irma and Herb married and lived the rest of their lives in the Cincinnati and later in Indianapolis. Irma had twin daughters, Sadie and Nelle, who were born while she was still married to Virgil Cosner.

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Comment by Nellie Cayton
My father, Walter Taylor, was a blacksmith at Knawl. When I was young I used to help my father at the blacksmith forge by pumping the bellows to keep air flowing across the coals. He often talked to me about the Alvia Teter murder and the events surrounding it. I remember that I was shocked to hear the tale and could scarcely believe anyone would do such a thing.

Owen Vankirk did not take kindly to Willis Townsend and Tony Mick participating in the search for the murdered Alvia Teter. Vankirk reportedly threatened to kill both Townsend and Mick which caused them to be afraid for their own lives. Townsend refused to go outside after dark for years after the murder of Alvia Teter.

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Comment by Donna Gloff
National Prohibition ran from 1920 to 1933, but West Virginia became a dry state in mid 1914. For more on moonshine, see the Jun '07 entries The Moon Shines Along Oil Creek and Uncle Zeke’s War on Booze

Jesse Bragg Reporting

by David Parmer

Jessie (Riffle) Bragg wrote the Orlando News for the Braxton Democrat for many years. She began writing the column in the 1930’s and continued writing the column into the 1960’s. In May 1959, Jessie wrote about fierce windstorms which caused a great deal of damage to dwellings on Clover Fork. The following is Jessie’s interesting account of the Clover Fork cyclones.
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Storm Hits Clover Fork

May, 1959

"Folks in the Clover Fork community suffered much damage due to a severe electric storm along with high winds and a downpour of rain Tuesday afternoon of last week. The worst hit was the Denzil (Dee) Posey home. Porches of the home were blown off, chimney tops were blown away and roofing was blown from the home. Small buildings were upset. Most of the furniture and clothing in the Posey home was ruined, along with most of the walls.”

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Above: A recent photo of Dee Posey's home on Clover Fork.

Below: the Pres and Jessie (Riffle) Bragg home on Clover Fork. The two lads in the photo are their sons Joe Bragg and John Bragg. During the tornado, the Bragg garage, not pictured, was moved off its foundation.

“On Meadow Run, near the Short Riffle home, large trees were uprooted. Electric lines were torn down. Orlando residents, as well as Clover Fork folks were without electricity for over five hours. A garage belonging to P. J. Bragg, which is located near the late Sam Alkire farm, was blown from its foundation.”

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A week later, in her Orlando column, Jessie wrote of a second storm which came a week after the previous storm.

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“The Orlando community, as well as the Clover Fork community, again suffered a severe lightning, thunder, rain and hail storm last Sunday evening. The hail storm ruined gardens and small fruit trees and remained on the ground in drifts for several hours. Old folks in the community said it was the most severe storm and the largest, and most hail, they had ever experienced.”

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Comment 1 by Donna Gloff

Jessie Riffle 1912-1965, was the daughter of Joe and Betty (Skinner) Riffle. Jessie is an example of the closeknit community which had developed along Oil Creek. All of her great grandparents were pioneers on Oil Creek and Clover Fork. There was a Riffle, a Blake, a Walton, a Conrad, a Posey, and a Robinson and two Skinners. To learn more about these Oil Creek pioneers whose fiber continues to shape the community see the Nov '06 entry First Settlers.

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Jessie was a central figure in Orlando in her day. She was active in the Methodist Church, Ladies' Aid and the Orlando School's 4-H club, the "Tip Toppers".

To the left, l to r: Jessie (Riffle) Bragg, Vergie (McNemar)Henline, Josie (Riffle) Beckner, Irene England (wife of the UB preacher), Opal (Jeffries) McCrobie.

To the right is a celebration in Burnsville with members from the several Methodist churches which were charges of Rev. Forrest Armentrout. Preacher Armentrout is in the center, Jessie is to the left in the photo. Preacher Armentrout's son John married Jessie and Pres' daughter Margaret.

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Jessie's husband Pres Bragg (to the left) was the mail carrier on the southern Orlando route that served the commuunity around Knawls Creek. See the Feb '07 entry, Pres Bragg's Retirement Party. Pres taught Sunday School at Mt. Zion Methodist Church.