Fred Fizer and the WV State Penitentiary

WV State Prison (1914) Source: WV History on View

Hey, everyone! It’s been a while. Between illness and a bunch of other stuff going on, I haven’t found the time to keep up with the blog. But this evening that changes with a history-based entry on one of West Virginia’s most haunted hot spots: The West Virginia State Penitentiary!

Fred Fizer was a 34-year-old husband and father to four small children, living near Martinsburg in Berkeley County. However, something snapped in the relatively young man, and he was convicted of malicious wounding due to an attack on his 14-year-old housekeeper, Ottie Myers, as well as C.T. Beatty, with whom the young girl was seeking refuge when driven from the Fizer home. Myers was shot with a pistol, but after a prolonged hospital stay, survived her injuries. Fizer’s lawyers tried to enter a plea of insanity, but that was rejected, and Fizer was sentenced to four years at the WV State Penitentiary in Moundsville.

After only a month or so of confinement at the prison, Fred Fizer made a difficult decision. On Monday, June 29, 1914, he took his own life in his cell. When he was found the next morning, staff were perplexed at the strange way Fizer managed to complete the deed. He had used his underclothing to fashion a rope. With one side looped around his neck and the other tied securely to the top of his cell, Fizer found that there wasn’t enough room for him to actually hang himself. So, he leaned forward vertically and slowly strangled himself, an act estimated to have taken hours to complete.  Warden Brown stated that Fizer really hadn’t been on his radar, but that a few members of the staff did mention that he was having difficulties adjusting to prison life.

Meanwhile back in Martinsburg, Fizer’s wife, Valley, received a rather terse telegram stating that her husband was dead and if she wanted his body, please send $40. If not, he’d be buried in the prison burial yard. His body was brought home and laid to rest, with many of his old friends and neighbors convinced that Fred HAD been insane.

The story doesn’t end there, however. Not long after his death, a letter made its way out of the prison, presumably from another inmate. This inmate claimed that Fizer couldn’t “make task.” That basically meant that he was having trouble keeping up with the physical demands of labor given to the inmates. As a result, he was locked in the ‘dungeon’ for several days with his wrists handcuffed. It is here in the dungeon where he took his life. 

The letter made it to Governor Hatfield, who amazingly took it seriously. By September, local newspapers were announcing that sweeping prison reforms were underway, sparked by the tragic and unfortunate end of Fred Fizer. 

The Wheeling Intelligencer 1 July 1914

The Fairmont West Virginian 18 September 1914