The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

State News

November 24, 2009

State gears up to mark anniversary of John Brown

By the Associated Press

A re-enactment of abolitionist John Brown’s hanging in Charles Town will have just about everything the original did — except an execution, of course.

Students at the Harpers Ferry Job Corps Center are building a gallows based on drawings of the scaffolding on which Brown was hanged.

A John Brown re-enactor will be led to the courthouse steps on Dec. 2, with other re-enactors following him on horseback.

Alice Keesey Mecoy, a descendant of Brown’s, will be at the ceremony, where a wreath will be laid.

Brown was executed for trying to lead an anti-slavery revolt, an action which helped lead to the Civil War two years later.

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