Milton J. Ferguson
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A legendary trial attorney and political
figure, Milton J. Ferguson
was the elder statesman of Wayne County’s Ferguson clan.
File photo | The Herald-Dispatch
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wayne County political patriarch Milton J.
Ferguson, who died in 1995 at age 92,
was a skilled trial attorney, a powerful politician, a knowledgeable
historian
and, as his family and friends would gladly attest, a heckuva storyteller.
Born into a family whose history was rich
in politics and the law, he became the
elder statesman of the Ferguson clan. After attending Marshall College and
Morris Harvey University, he followed family tradition by graduating
from the West Virginia University College of Law
and embarked on a 45-year legal career.
Over the years, he tried more than 100
murder cases. “Luckily,
none of my clients was hanged,” he joked.
After an unsuccessful bid to become West
Virginia governor in 1956,
Ferguson was nominated to be a U.S. Attorney by his longtime
friend U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va. President
Lyndon Johnson then appointed him to the position.
In 1968, as U.S. Attorney for the Southern
District of West Virginia, he
prosecuted former Gov. W.W. Barron and several members of his
administration on bribery and corruption charges. Barron was
acquitted but in 1971 pleaded guilty to an indictment
charging him in connection with a bribe paid to the
foreman of the jury that had acquitted him.
Barron then spent nearly
four years in prison.
At various times in his long career,
Ferguson served as state tax
commissioner, mayor of Wayne, a delegate in the West
Virginia Legislature and Wayne County prosecuting
attorney. He served for 32 years on the Tri-State
Airport Authority, which named its Milton J.
Ferguson Field in his honor.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Note: This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on Feb. 1, 2022.
-----------------------------------------------------------
[ Back ]