Six Turn of the 20th Century Hangings

In Wise County Virgina

The Hangings at Gladeville (Now Wise)
By Luther F. Addington

No one knew better the gruesome tales of the hangings at Gladeville than the late Charles Renfro, whom the writer interviewed.

Charles Renfro said:

"When I was made a member of the Wise County Vigilantes back there in 1892, I little dreamed that I was to become the scaffold maker or noose knot tier for all the six men who were to die on the gallows in my country. But it was that way.

The Vigilantes had been organized in Big Stone Gap, Virginia by Josh Bullitt as a protection against the bad men of the hills when the first coal boom came. John Fox, Jr., the author of the Trail of the Lonesome Pine, was a member of the guard, I recollect.

To read this very colorful and detailed account: Click Here.

Note: Despite the reference to vigilantes, these were legal, court-ordered executions, not lynchings.