Left to right Bill Blizzard, Fred Mooney, Bill Petry, C. Frank Keeney
Throughout the history of the United States, untold numbers of people have been convicted of a vast number of crimes and punished in various ways. Perhaps the rarest of crimes however is the crime of treason. How many people can you name who have faced trial for treason? Aaron Burr comes to mind as does the infamous John Brown. Then there were the Rosenburgs. Beyond that it gets a little sketchy.
A crowd gathers in front of the Jefferson County Courthouse on day one of the Blizzard trial.
But did you know that in the summer of 1922, three treason trials took place in Charles Town, WV only a short distance from our Nation’s Capital? These trials took place in the same courthouse where the abolitionist John Brown had been tried some 60 odd years before. In the first trial a man named Bill Blizzard was acquitted. In the second trial a man named Walter Allen was convicted. In the third trial a man named C. Frank Keeney faced the hangman’s noose but fortunately for him, the trial was aborted midway through. Though long-forgotten now, these trials were a national sensation at the time. Who were these men and what had they done? Find out at coalcountrytours.com.
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