By: Keith Kappes
Columnist
Carter County Times
As a retired weekly newspaper publisher and occasional book author, my search of old files rekindled some painful memories when I found a news release from 2016 about my involvement in a book released that year by the Jesse Stuart Foundation.
“Appalachian Murders & Mysteries” is an anthology of 23 major crime stories from Kentucky, West Virginia and Southern Ohio. I was among 17 authors who contributed individual chapters.
Mine was entitled “Gene Markel died as he had lived…a hard charger.” It recounted the tragic death of former Ironton Police Chief Walter E. (Gene) Markel during a jailbreak at the Lawrence County, Ohio, jail on Dec. 2, 1966. The book is still in print at jsfbooks.com.
I covered the story for nearly two years while working as a reporter for the Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, West Virginia, and later for The Associated Press in Columbus, Ohio.
Carl Edward Halleck, the career criminal convicted of killing Markel during the attempted escape, was sentenced to life in prison after two trials. He died there 43 years later, and his unclaimed body was buried in the prison cemetery.
While researching the article, I had personal interviews with Chief Markel’s widow and adult children. To my discredit, I told that family I was considering a book about the husband and father they lost. Sadly, I’ve never found the time to write that book.
I had a similar experience with the family of Army Sgt. Donald R. Long of Blackfork, Ohio, a 26-year-old black man who died in Vietnam on June 30, 1966, when he threw himself on an enemy grenade to save the lives of eight white soldiers. He was awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor.
Covering the Markel and Long stories had a major impact on me as a journalist and author. I’ve always felt the full stories of these brave men who died to protect others should be preserved.
Perhaps it is time to ease my conscience by determining if enough source material is still available, nearly 60 years later.
Contact Keith at keithkappes@gmail.com.
