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<\/a>The photograph, and its inscription, pose an interesting question: how did a black man become a city police officer in turn-of-the-century, segregated Wheeling \u2014 a town that wouldn\u2019t elect a black man to its city council until 1970?<\/p>\n
As it turns out, Bill Turner was quite the Renaissance man. He may have been, at various times, a brawler; a bartender; a bouncer; a barber; a baseball player, coach and umpire; a drummer; a singer in a quartet; a Republican Party activist; a member of several fraternal societies; and a cake-walker<\/a>. Most importantly, he was probably Wheeling\u2019s first black police officer.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The Civil War had recently ended and the state of West Virginia was just over two years old when William Alexander Turner was born to Alexander and Amelia Mason Turner on Saturday, November 25, 1865[2]<\/a> in Ward 2 on the Chapline Street block between 10th<\/sup> and 11th<\/sup> Streets, an area that would long remain Wheeling\u2019s black neighborhood, and the beat Patrolman Turner would later walk as a policeman.<\/p>\n The 13th Amendment, formally abolishing slavery, had been passed by Congress just 11 months before his birth and would be ratified by the states just a few days after. But by the time Bill Turner reached adulthood, Wheeling had passed its own set of \u201cJim Crow<\/a>\u201d segregation laws, following the standard set by the former Confederate states in creating a \u201cseparate but equal\u201d legal status for blacks. In practice, the laws prohibited blacks from eating at the same restaurants, staying at the same hotels, or drinking from the same public water fountains as whites. That was the Wheeling in which Bill Turner grew up and the Wheeling in which he managed to serve as a police officer, presumably enforcing the very laws that rendered him a second-class citizen.<\/p>\n The first mention of a \u201cBill\u201d Turner in the newspapers was found in the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer<\/em> for December 26, 1885, which read, \u201cBill Turner, the well known colored youth yesterday got into a fight with Alex Gardner, the colored wrestler, and Alex came out second best, or rather second worst, if reports are reliable, for they say Alex was pretty badly used up.\u201d It\u2019s interesting that at just 20 years of age, Bill was already \u201cwell known.\u201d It\u2019s unsurprising, however, that he could take care of himself, as it\u2019s apparent from few the existing photographs that he was a big man, physically imposing for his era \u2013 easily more than six feet tall and weighing more than 200 pounds.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n Young Bill must have been something of a scrapper (which may partly account for his notoriety), as the April 14, 1887 Intelligencer <\/em>reported: \u201cBill Turner is in jail. Last year sometime he was fined by Squire George Arkle for assault and battery. Bill promised to settle the fine and costs, but forgot it, and although his memory was jogged several times he still did not keep his agreement. Accordingly, a commitment was issued and Officer Watson found William at a ball given at the Second ward market hall for the benefit of the colored brass band, and waltzed him off to the county jail, where he is wasting his sweetness on the desert air.\u201d We also know that he later worked as a doorman or bouncer for at least one pool-room and one saloon.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n In 1886, young Bill married Elizabeth Virginia at Simpson M.E., a church his father helped found and in which Bill remained very active. The Turners had two children, daughter Minnie[5]<\/a>, born in 1886, and son William, born in 1888.<\/p>\n Bill Turner was apparently also active in local sandlot baseball, even as his notoriety was increasing. On October 3, 1887, the Intelligencer<\/em> reported: \u201cThe game of ball played at Island Park Saturday by the Wheelings and the Keystones, of Pittsburgh, an alleged crack colored club, was won by the home nine by a score of 12 to 6. It was a funny game, and those who witnessed it had many a laugh over its amusing features. Major Bill Turner, a somewhat noted colored celebrity, umpired with a stentorian voice and an agility that was marvelous. The home team very foolishly put Sol White[6]<\/a> in to pitch, in the eighth, and the Pittsburghers who had not been able to make even scratch hits off Morrison, pounded him for runs in a fast and furious manner. There was more kicking than has been seen on the grounds the entire season; but in a game such as this one was, the kicking but added to the amusement.\u201d<\/p>\n Another baseball reference from the April 24, 1896 Intelligencer<\/em> proclaimed that the amateur Col. Bill Turner baseball club defeated the Green B. Jefferson team at the old fair grounds by a score of 26 to 10. And from May 6, 1896, the \u201cHotel Waiter\u2019s baseball club\u2026challenge Col. Bill Turner\u2019s team for a game this week.\u201d We know from his obituary that Mr. Turner was \u201cfamiliarly known throughout the city\u201d as \u201cColonel Bill.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to baseball, Bill was also active in Republican politics. In September 1891, for example, Bill Turner\u2019s quartet sang during the big Emancipation Day celebration at the fair grounds on the Island and later at Turner Hall.[7]<\/a> Seven years later at the 1898 Emancipation Day an \u201celegant programme of athletic sports\u201d was planned for the fair grounds. \u201cBicycle races, wheelbarrow races, fat men\u2019s races, catching the greasy pig, etc.,\u201d were held. The bicycle races were \u201copen to colored riders,\u201d and William Turner managed the athletic events. Many years later, Bill was selected as a delegate by Governor Hatfield to represent \u201cthe colored people of\u201d West Virginia and Wheeling in the big 50th<\/sup> anniversary celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation held in New York City in 1913 (Clarksburg Daily Telegram<\/em>, Oct. 4, 1913).<\/p>\n Also in 1892, Bill Turner\u2019s quartet was back to sing a number of \u201cappropriate airs,\u201d including \u2018Harrison is the Man\u2019[8]<\/a> for the staff at the Intelligencer<\/em>. \u201cThe boys sing well,\u201d the newspaper reported on June 11. \u201cThis quartette, it is to be hoped, will be heard often in the opening campaign.\u201d In October 1892, officers of the marching Clubs for the William McKinley[9]<\/a> parade selected Bill Turner as one of the aides. Eight years later, Turner attended the State League of Republican Clubs gathering in Parkersburg as a representative from Wheeling.<\/p>\n Bill was also active in black fraternal societies. In 1892, he was one of the \u201cyoung colored people\u201d who met to organize the Magnolia Social Club, whose mission was to \u201cgive social entertainments.\u201d He was a charter member the Wheeling chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police and a charter member of Lodge No. 74 of the National Independent Benevolent Protective Order\u00a0\u201cColored Elks,\u201d for whom he was serving as \u201cGrand Esquire\u201d when he died.<\/p>\n It seems he was also active in the \u201cPlumed Knights,\u201d probably the black order of the Knights of Pythias, as a drummer.[10]<\/a> \u201cThe Plumed Knights\u2019 colored drum corps,\u201d said the Intell.<\/em>, \u201c[was] headed by that paragon of grace and agility, Drum-Major Bill Turner\u2026\u201d In 1900, his drum corps participated in a \u00a0\u201cWood-Sawing contest\u201d at the \u201cGrocers\u2019 Day Outing,\u201d an annual picnic for retail grocers at Mozart Park. At the same event, Bill also led the professional cakewalk<\/a>\u00a0on the dance floor of the pavilion, and \u201call the colored artists of Wheeling and surrounding towns being listed and the $10 prize will result in the best foot being put forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Even before he was hired as a Wheeling police officer, Bill Turner was performing heroic deeds. As the Dec. 6, 1889 Intell<\/em>. reported: \u201cTwo men poured gin on a sleeping man and lit him on fire at Jim Hunt\u2019s barber shop at Chapline and 16th<\/sup>. He started to run about the shop vainly endeavoring to beat down the flames that were eating their way into his breast and causing him the most intense pain, and would probably have burned to death had not Bill Turner, a well known young colored man who happened to be in the shop, knocked Robinson down and smothered the flames with a heavy overcoat.\u201d[11]<\/a><\/p>\n Just before being hired as a policeman, Bill had been working variously as a laborer, bartender, porter and janitor. He was manager of a poolroom owned by Robert Clark for several years, and even opened a barbershop on 11th<\/sup> Street. He started working for the city of Wheeling at the \u201cartificial gas-plant<\/a>\u201d on 18th<\/sup> Street, then became a janitor at the city-county building.<\/p>\n His first foray into police work began under Captain Bentz. On August 12, 1899 the Intell.<\/em> Reported: \u201cOfficer William Turner donned his helmet last night and went on duty in the Second Ward for the first time. \u2018Bill\u2019 makes a brave appearance in his police togs.\u201d<\/p>\n We don\u2019t know exactly why he was hired. We do know he was something of a local celebrity who clearly became familiar to the police while working at City Hall. Perhaps Captain Bentz wanted someone to walk the beat in the African American neighborhood \u2013 someone respected and familiar to act as liaison in a segregated city. Whatever the reason, Officer Turner\u2019s early, often heroic, activities garnered some coverage by the press.<\/p>\n On Oct. 16, 1899, Turner \u201ccovered himself with glory\u201d arresting a Pittsburgh man hiding in the Second Ward who had been charged with criminally assaulting a fourteen year old girl. On March 22, 1900, he responded when a 35-year-old woman who lived in Alley C \u201ctook a dose of sugar of lead with suicidal intent.\u201d When alerted by her friends, Turner called doctors who managed to extract the poison, saving the woman\u2019s life.<\/p>\n In a June 14, 1900 the Intelligencer <\/em>ran an article headlined \u201cThe Lovers Triumphed, How Youthful Pair Fooled Officer \u2018Bill\u2019 Turner and Escaped to the Ohio Side and Matrimony.\u201d The piece is illustrative of the prevailing attitudes of the age toward both African Americans and Italian immigrants.<\/p>\n It told of the unhappy parents of Charles Gillissa, a 19-year-old Italian immigrant of East Wheeling who worked at Wheeling Stamping, and his 16-year-old paramour, Miss Hess, who were attempting to elope. \u201cOf late,\u201d the Intell wrote, \u201c[Gillissa] became enamored of a Miss Hess and with the characteristic ardor of his countrymen, he pressed his suit\u2026And how they gave a Wheeling policeman the slip showed the fine Italian hand of young Gillissa\u2026It was learned that they were in a hotel in the second Ward, and last night about 8 o\u2019clock, Officer William Turner, the colored member of the force, bearded the elopers in their room.\u201d Gillissa produced a marriage license claiming it was a marriage certificate and Turner left. Realizing he\u2019d been deceived, Officer Turner returned, but the two lovers had absconded via streetcar to Bridgeport, where they were married. \u201cTheir trip to the other side of the river took the case out of the hands of local authorities,\u201d the Intell<\/em>. continued, \u201cwhose ears, however, were dinned with a ceaseless song for an hour by the parents of the Italian and his bride. Young Gillissa\u2019s mother spoke such good English that it was doubted whether she was an Italian.\u201d<\/p>\n William Turner\u2019s first stint as a Wheeling Police Officer apparently lasted only about 3 or 4 years, from 1899 until 1902 or 1903. He lost his position \u201con the change of administration,\u201d around that time.[12]<\/a> For nearly a decade, he swallowed his pride and began working again as a bartender or again as a janitor at the city building. It must have been a difficult transition from wearing the uniform and walking the beat to janitorial work in the same building. But Bill persevered, and by 1919, was hired as a police officer again, working in that capacity for another ten years until his death.[13]<\/a><\/p>\n Bill Turner was still a working police officer when he was stricken with a \u201cstomach ailment\u201d in early 1928. After battling this \u201clengthy illness\u201d for eight months, William Alexander Turner died at his home at 114 Twelfth Street (just behind the \u201cBlue Church<\/a>\u201c) on September 27, 1928 at the age of 62.[14]<\/a> It was a Thursday evening. After services at the home organized by Kepner Funeral Home, he was buried at Peninsula Cemetery.[15]<\/a><\/p>\n The Fraternal Order of Police, Wheeling Lodge No. 38 adopted the following Resolution of sorrow and respect to honor Officer Turner:<\/p>\n \u201cDeath again has beckoned and William A. Turner, for 20 years a faithful and conscientious member of the Police Department of Wheeling has followed across the border. His life was marked by loyalty to duty and with friends, by a cheerfulness and optimism that was unmarred by the suffering of illness and by a racial pride that sought to rally always the better qualities of his people.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In the passing of William A. Turner, there has been removed an excellent citizen and a member of Wheeling Lodge No. 38 Fraternal Order of Police, and therefore, be it resolved<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n That we take this means of expressing our sorrow at the passing of William A. Turner and convey to his family our deepest sympathy\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In his will, Mr. Turner left his Elk\u2019s charm and diamond horse-shoe pin to his grandson Oliver T. Shannon, his daughter Minnie\u2019s son. He left all else to his wife, Virginia.<\/p>\n Many thanks to the Upper Ohio Valley NAACP and particularly to Mr. Darryl Clausell for providing images, dates, and biographical information.<\/em><\/p>\n Note:<\/strong> This is the first entry in our series on African American leaders of Jim Crow Wheeling that also included\u00a0Ashby Jackson<\/a>, Wheeling\u2019 first black firefighter; Dr. Boswell H. Stillyard<\/a>, Wheeling\u2019s first black city council member; Henry Boose Clemens<\/a>, musician Will H. Dixon<\/a>; political activist and beloved barber; Harry H. Jones<\/a>, lawyer and writer; Dr. J. Katherine Pronty Davis<\/a>, respected physician; Dr. Robert M. Hamlin<\/a>, dentist, and his wife, Alga M. Wade Hamlin<\/a>, renowned physician.<\/p>\n Collectively, these posts supplement the video<\/a> of our Lunch With Books Livestream<\/a> program of February 2, 2021 entitled, Archiving Wheeling Presents: Lesser Known Legends of Wheeling \u2013 African American Legends<\/a>.<\/p>\n Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n [1]<\/a> According to an image found in a Wheeling Police Pension Fund publication (ca. 1933) and captioned,\u00a0\u201cWheeling Police Force in 1908,\u201d an African American man named Alexander Gardner was serving as a police officer that year. Little is known about him and more research is warranted. Wheeling also had a female police officer as early as 1923. The October 5, 1923 Intelligencer<\/em> published a report headlined, \u201cWheeling Policewoman Makes Her First Arrest.\u201d Working near the old market on 10th<\/sup>, Officer Minnie Coyle arrested William Lowther on a charge of \u201cannoying a lady on the street\u201d when he asked her is she\u2019d like to have him for company that night. \u201cPerhaps never before in the history of Wheeling,\u201d The Intell.<\/em> reported, \u201cdid an arrest attract so much attention as did the first arrest of Wheeling\u2019s first policewoman.\u201d Several hundred people immediately crowded near the Stone & Thomas store on Market Street where Lowther was arrested, and it was well after 10 PM on a Thursday!<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Bill\u2019s younger brother John Turner was born in 1867.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> The Intelligencer<\/em> ran a correction two days later: \u201cIt was big Dennis Gardner, instead of Alex, whom young Bill Turner \u2018licked the stuffen out of\u2019 the other night. This seems more reasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> But was this the same William Turner? The custom in the city directories of that era (as with the newspapers) was to distinguish listings by race, using terms and stereotypes that are often jarring and offensive to modern eyes. Though a common name, there was only one \u201ccolored\u201d William Turner listed in Callin\u2019s Wheeling City Directory<\/em> for 1887, and he lived at 68-11th<\/sup> Street.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Bill\u2019s daughter, Mrs. Minnie Turner Shannon, still living at her father\u2019s home at 114 12th<\/sup> Street, was interviewed at age 83 for the \u201cWheeling Bicentennial Edition\u201d of the Wheeling News-Register<\/em> that ran on June 10, 1969. \u201cMrs. Shannon\u2026focuses upon her memories of a patrolman father. Mrs. Shannon was reared in Wheeling and recalls that the black community was always \u2018where it is now\u2026we have lived in the same house for 50 years.\u2019\u201d Mrs. Shannon graduated from West Virginia State College, and her son, Oliver, was a professor of mathematics.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Sol White, of course, was a highly regarded sandlot player from Bellaire, OH, who, after playing for the Wheeling Green Stockings, distinguished himself as a player, manager, and executive in the Negro Baseball Leagues. The author of \u201cSol White\u2019s History of Colored Baseball,\u201d he lived long enough to see the color barrier broken by Jackie Robinson.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> As a reminder of Jim Crow\u2019s impact even on high profile events drawing people from all over the country, the Intell<\/em>. reported: \u201cThe hotels that will accommodate Afro-Americans are as follows: Hotel Windsor, St. Charles, Ohio River house, Old Home, Mr. Hearn, under the Grand Opera House, and Lasch\u2019s hotel.\u201d<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> Republican Benjamin Harrison would lose to Democrat Grover Cleveland who had his own unfortunate Wheeling connection<\/a>.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> Then governor of Ohio, William McKinley was in town to campaign for Benjamin Harrison.<\/p>\n [10]<\/a> In November 1888, for example, Turner participated in a Belva Lockwood\u00a0parade. He was drum major of the plumed Knight\u2019s drum corps. \u201cThe chief marshal was mounted on a horse and his staff on-a bucking mule, which made lots of fun. Brooms, umbrellas, and parasols, of all sizes and shapes, ages and colors, tin horns, and lots of other things, were carried. It was a grotesque carnival, about as lacking in organization as a Democratic procession, but there was more enthusiasm about it. The streets were about as well filled with people as on the occasion of any parade made this campaign and everybody was jolly and had lots of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n [11]<\/a> Explanation in the newspaper: \u201cIn a number of saloons it is the custom to get rid of loafers or \u201csleepers\u201d by giving them the \u201cleg-burn\u201d that is putting a few drops of gin on the leg of their pants and then firing it. This is supposed to be what It was proposed to practice on Robinson, but too much of the liquid was poured on, and besides a close-fitting cotton undershirt is an entirely different thing to pour the stuff on and then light than a heavy pair of pants.\u201d<\/p>\n [12]<\/a> The 1898 Callin\u2019s<\/em> listed a Wm. A Turner, working at the City Gas Works who lived at 1034 Eoff Street. The 1901 edition listed him as a \u201cDeputy Sergeant,\u201d in 1903, a \u201cLaborer,\u201d in 1904 a \u201cClerk for Robert Clark,\u201d in 1909 a \u201cJanitor at the Court Theatre\u201d and in 1911 a \u201cJanitor at City Hall,\u201d all at the same Eoff Street address.<\/p>\n [13]<\/a> Although it\u2019s possible to find references to Officer Bill Turner in the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer<\/em>, circa 1899-1900, in the searchable database offered online by the Library of Congress, that database currently ends at 1900 making it virtually impossible, without specific dates, to find such references during Turner\u2019s service from 1919 through 1927. When those newspaper editions are digitized and searchable we will inevitably learn much more about Officer Turner.<\/p>\n
\nBill Turner\u2019s Wheeling<\/h2>\n
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\nA Man of Local Celebrity<\/h2>\n
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\nEmancipation Day and More<\/h2>\n
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\nOfficer Bill Turner, Wheeling Police<\/h2>\n
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