http://libertarianpapers.org/2010/1-mendenhall-moundsville-penitentiary-reconsidered/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=1-mendenhall-moundsville-penitentiary-reconsidered An Online Journal for Libertarian Scholarship Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:20:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://libertarianpapers.org/2010/1-mendenhall-moundsville-penitentiary-reconsidered/comment-page-1/#comment-6770 Carol Taylor-Lanza Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:29:38 +0000 http://libertarianpapers.org/?p=1269#comment-6770 Hello Allen, I found your essay about the Moundsville Penitentiary while doing some research for my book called: "The Wagon Gate" I am the great-granddaughter of a man that was incarcerated there in 1866 until 1881 for 2nd degree murder. His name was Newton Gilbert Sims. He was a Civil War soldier and fought for the union. He joined the 9th W.V. Infantry in 1861 and got out when the war was over in 1865. He killed a man in Charleston, WV in a shoot out. They all wore sidearms back then. He spent 14 1/2 years of a 18 year sentence. His story is so riveting that I have been compelled to write the story. I so appreciated you take on your tour of the prison. My husband and I visited there a few years ago and since we got to town late there was not enough time to take the tour. I want to go on the tour but since my great-grandfather helped to "build" the prison while he served his time and suffered there, my reason for going is not to be entertained and I totally agree with you opinion on this. It does not educate or inform on the history of what really happened there or on the "human beings" that suffered the painful separation from their families. Back in 2001 I sent for my great-grandfather's Civil War pension records, not knowing what might be in them. Was expecting a few papers in an envelope as I had in the past with other family member's records. His came in a BOX and contained over 320 pages of records. I'm using much of that and my own research on the history of the prison, history of the war and my own family history to reconstruct his life. I called it "The Wagon Gate" because that's the first thing a criminal would see when they arrived, that dreaded Wagon Gate, the entrance to Hell. I hope you will look for my book someday, hopefully this next year it will be published and some of the stories of at least one prisoner there will be told. I've left my e-mail if you would like to get back to me. Thank you again! Hello Allen, I found your essay about the Moundsville Penitentiary while doing some research for my book called: “The Wagon Gate” I am the great-granddaughter of a man that was incarcerated there in 1866 until 1881 for 2nd degree murder. His name was Newton Gilbert Sims. He was a Civil War soldier and fought for the union. He joined the 9th W.V. Infantry in 1861 and got out when the war was over in 1865. He killed a man in Charleston, WV in a shoot out. They all wore sidearms back then. He spent 14 1/2 years of a 18 year sentence. His story is so riveting that I have been compelled to write the story. I so appreciated you take on your tour of the prison. My husband and I visited there a few years ago and since we got to town late there was not enough time to take the tour. I want to go on the tour but since my great-grandfather helped to “build” the prison while he served his time and suffered there, my reason for going is not to be entertained and I totally agree with you opinion on this. It does not educate or inform on the history of what really happened there or on the “human beings” that suffered the painful separation from their families. Back in 2001 I sent for my great-grandfather’s Civil War pension records, not knowing what might be in them. Was expecting a few papers in an envelope as I had in the past with other family member’s records. His came in a BOX and contained over 320 pages of records. I’m using much of that and my own research on the history of the prison, history of the war and my own family history to reconstruct his life. I called it “The Wagon Gate” because that’s the first thing a criminal would see when they arrived, that dreaded Wagon Gate, the entrance to Hell.
I hope you will look for my book someday, hopefully this next year it will be published and some of the stories of at least one prisoner there will be told. I’ve left my e-mail if you would like to get back to me. Thank you again!

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