at Boggs's Run, near Benwood Junction on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; that the movement of trains was obstructed, and threats made against private property; that the civil power was helpless; and that military force was needed. The upheaval was general: it was the time of the great coal strike of 1894. "After becoming satisfied," says the Governor, "that such was the case, the entire First Regiment, under command of Colonel Fast, and Companies E, F, G, and I of the Second Regiment, under command of Colonel Hodges, were immediately ordered to Boggs's Run, the whole being placed under the command of General B. D. Spilman, Brigade Commander. The action of the troops prevented Several times a conflict seemed

great lawlessness.

inevitable, but was fortunately averted. Trains were stopped, obstructions were placed on the track, vast crowds collected, and the trains were moved with the aid of the soldiery."

6. Other Calls for the Military.-In 1894 occurred the migrations of "Coxey's Army," "Kelly's Commonwealers," and other organizations of hobos. There were calls for military force to repel invading miners from Ohio, at New Haven Mines in Mason County, and to protect the Norfolk and Western bridge at Kenova. At another time two companies were sent to Kenova, under command of Major Banks, where the advance guard of Kelly's Army were taken from a train which they had captured, and were driven out of the State. The remainder of the gang, after this experience, did not attempt to pass through West Virginia.

7. Coal Strike at Flat Top.-In the Spring of 1895 a strike was declared in the Flat Top region on the Norfolk and Western Railroad. The chief disturbances were on the Virginia side. It was reported that the West Virginia miners were organizing to cross the line and compel the Virginia miners to cease work. Governor O'Ferrall asked permission to send troops into West Virginia to break up these organizations. Governor MacCorkle courteously declined to accede to the

request. No act of violence had taken place which was sufficient to call for troops; but the Second Regiment was held in readiness in case of an emergency. The strike on the whole was peaceable, the Governor declined under the circumstances to send troops to the scene, and in the end the whole trouble was adjusted.

8. Election of a United States Senator.-The Joint Assembly met in the hall of the House of Delegates on January 23, 1895. Stephen B. Elkins had been nominated for the United States Senate in a caucus of the Republican members. The Houses did not make a choice voting separately. In the Joint Assembly Mr. Elkins was declared elected, having received sixty votes, while Johnson N. Camden received twenty-nine, and Wirt R. Neal received two. Mr. Elkins was the first Republi

can Senator elected since Boreman in 1869.

9. Election of 1896.-In the election of 1896 George W. Atkinson, the Republican candidate for Governor, received 105,629 votes to 93,559 cast for Cornelius C. Watts, the Democratic candidate, a plurality of 12,070. The entire Republican State ticket was elected, including L. M. La Follette for Auditor; M. A. Kendall for Treasurer; James Russell Trotter for State Superintendent of Free Schools; and Edgar P. Rucker for Attorney General.

IO. Surrender of Democratic Control.-In his last message Governor MacCorkle candidly says: "After about twentyfive years the party which has been in power turns over the reins of government to the party with which it has been contending. It is with no fears that I turn over to the Republican party the affairs of the State believe there is just as much love for the State, and as much interest in its development in the one party as in the other. The only difference between us is the question of methods."

I

CHAPTER XXI.

ATKINSON'S ADMINISTRATION (1897-1901).

1. Inauguration of State Officers.-Governor Atkinson and the other executive officers took the oaths of office and entered upon their respective duties on March 4, 1897. The usual inauguration ceremonies were observed. Governor Atkinson was the first Republican Governor who had assumed the duties of the office during twenty-six years. The Democratic administration had been uninterrupted since March 4, 1871, when Jacob became Governor. But Democracy reached its high water majority in 1880, since which time its majorities steadily declined, with one or two exceptions, until the balance of votes was on the Republican side.

2. Policy of Governor Atkinson.-Some of the more important subjects to which the new Governor gave his sanction are the following: laws supplementing our public school system by a system of free public libraries; the establishment of a state public library commission; the adoption of some system of permanent road building; laws regulating the employment and hours of labor; laws to encourage the propagation of fish and game; the construction of a fireproof building for the use of state offices; a board of pardons; the care of indigent children; radical amendment of the election laws; a constitutional amendment to distribute the school fund; an immigration bureau; a state commissioner of revenue; repairing and improving the Capitol and the adornment of the grounds.

3. The War With Spain. The war with Spain emphasized the importance to the State of maintaining a well organized volunteer soldiery. Two regiments were called into the service

One was under com

of the United States from this State. mand of Col. B. D. Spilman and the other of Colonel D. T. E. Casteel. Both regiments were made up of admirable soldiers, who bore an excellent name for efficiency. The call by the United States would have exhausted the National Guard had not these regiments been recruited largely from the unorganized militia. Since the war the National Guard has been. reorganized under the command of Brigadier General George W. Curtin.

4.

Public Executions Abolished.-In its issue of December 19, 1897, the New York Sun gave an account, "made up of a skillful blending of some unpleasant facts and much libelous fiction," of the hanging of John F. Morgan in Jackson County, in the presence of "5,000 people, on foot, on horseback, in wagons, up trees, and on fences," where they had congregated to satisfy a morbid curiosity; and the reporters seizing upon the event, wrote it up in a style to satisfy the equally morbid appetite of the readers of a great metropolitan journal. At the next session after this event, Mr. J. S. Darst, a member from Jackson County, introduced into the Legislature a bill requiring all executions of the death penalty to take place within the walls of the Penitentiary, within an enclosure to be prepared for the purpose, and in the presence of a limited number of witnesses. Copies of the Sun's article were circulated among the members; they were stung by the unpleasant notoriety which such scenes gave to the State, and the bill became a law.

5. United States Senator Chosen.-At the session of 1899 Nathan Bay Scott, being the nominee of the Republican caucus, was elected a Senator of the United States in Joint Assembly, receiving forty-eight votes to forty-six for John T. McGraw, the Democratic caucus nominee, and one vote cast for Nathan Goff. The full membership of both Houses aggregates ninety-seven votes. Only ninety-five votes were represented in the Joint Assembly. Mr. McGraw filed a protest in