EARL ELLICOTT DUDDING'S

GRIPPING STORY
OF HIS OWN LIFE EXPERIENCE IS
STRANGER THAN FICTION, TRUER THAN LIFE, SADDER THAN DEATH, MORE TRIUMPHANT THAN FAME AND FORTUNE

ILLUMINATING AND STARTLING
ARE HIS THEORIES OF THE 'CHEMISTRY OF SIN’,
'CRIME, PUNISHMENT, BIRTH CONTROL’,
'THE LAND OF ETERNAL DREAMS’,
AND NUMEROUS OTHER VITAL SUBJECTS

BY
EARL ELLICOTT DUDDING
FOUNDER OF THE
PRISONERS RELIEF SOCIETY
 
EDITED BY
 
WILLIAM WINFRED SMITH, A.M., LL.B.
 
ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS AND ETCHINGS
PRICE $2.50
 
PUBLISHED BY THE
PRISONERS RELIEF SOCIETY,
 

HUNTINGTON, WEST VIRGINIA, WASHINGTON, D. C.
1932

 
Webmaster's note: Hamilton Morris Dudding, my grandfather, was
Earl Ellicott Dudding's oldest brother, born 04 Jul 1867
a little more than four years before Earl's birth on 16 Oct 1871.
Earl's death on 23 Jul 1974 made him three months shy of being 103.
(Click on a thumbnail for full size picture)
 

Title and Credits Page

This is the complete title and credits page from The Trail of the Dead Years

 
 

Charles Lewis & Josephine Madeline Dudding

The author's parents and Lloyd Ivan Dudding's great grandparents were pioneer farmers in West Virginia before and during the U.S. Civil War.

 
 

The Dudding Homestead

Near Culloden, West Virginia where Dr. Earl Ellicott Dudding, the author of, "The Trail of the Dead Years", was raised.

 
 

West View of the Dudding Homestead

 
 

The Author Before It Happened

Earl Ellicott Dudding, the author of, "The Trail of the Dead Years", was a prosperous business man before his ordeal.

 
 

Carson, Pirie, Scott & Company -- Chicago

Earl Ellicott Dudding, the author of, "The Trail of the Dead Years", is in charge of a delegation of West Virginia merchants buying trip to Chicago.

 
 

Where It Happened

Chesapeake & Ohio Passenger Train Station in Huntington, West Virginia where the tragedy took place.

 
 

Cabell County Courthouse, Huntington, WV

Earl Ellicott Dudding's trial took place.

 
 

Jail and Relatives

Cabell County Jail and Author's sister Effie Mae Dudding Hosey and Mrs. Maggie Dudding, Author's wife, Margaret.

 
 

Jail Rear View & Author's Family

Cabell County Jail and Author's wife, and two children.

 
 

Graphic Story of the Author's Dead Years

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad station, boarding the train for prison, ready to move, arrival at prison and finally return to Huntington five years later.

 
 

Where the Dead Years were spent

Front view, West Virginia State Penitentiary.

 
 

Walls of North Hall

West Virginia State Penitentiary, where the Author did his time.

 
 

Convicts of West Virginia State Penitentiary

This photograph includes Dr. Dudding and was taken when he had 22 more months to serve.

 
 

Noonday Rations

Convicts about to partake of the vile grub, blacks and whites intermingled.

 
 

Convicts in line waiting to be flogged

 
 

The Author ready to leave prison

January 2, 1914, having turned 42 in October, pale and worn; but eager to start on the trail after the Dead Years, is Earl Ellicott Dudding.

 
 

Judge John T. Graham & William Winfred Smith, Esq.

Left: Judge John T. Graham, Huntington, WV, for ten years Judge of the Cabell County Circuit Court. Lifelong friend and attorney of the Author.

Right: William Winfred Smith, Esq. Attorney at Law of Huntington, the Editor of this book; picture taken on Court House lawn by Dr. Dudding.

 
 

First Huntington National Bank Building & Miss Evalyn Abbott

Left: First Huntington National Bank Building, where the Prisoners Relief Society was organized, and where the Editor, W. W. Smith, has his law offices.

Right: Miss Evalyn Abbott, while Secretary of the Prisoners Relief Society.

 
 

The Author

The Author at the time he was doing intensive prison reform work.

 
 

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad bridge

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad bridge, spanning the mouth of the Little Kanawha River, at Parkersburg, West Virginia on the road to Moundsville Prison.

 
 

Convicts at work & penitentiary walls

Top: Convicts at work in prison shop.

Bottom: Inside view of the penitentiary walls.

 
 

Miss Letha Watts and Dr. Dudding

Miss Letha Watts and Dr. Dudding in the Huntington office working out prisoners' relief problems.

 
 

Directors of the Prisoners Relief Society

Directors of the Prisoners Relief Society on an inspection tour, West Virginia Penitentiary.

 
 

South Hall, Moundsville Prison

South Hall, Moundsville Prison, showing tower where men were flogged marked X

 
 

Baltimore & Ohio crack train

Baltimore & Ohio crack train, Capitol Limited, New York to Chicago, west of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia (air conditioned).

 
 

The family of a prisoner

The family of a prisoner being cared for by the Prisoners Relief Society.

 
 

Dorothy M. Brown

Dorothy M. Brown, Secretary Treasurer, Prisoners Relief Society, The youthful financial executive, taken at the front entrance of the West Virginia Penitentiary, Moundsville, West Virginia, November 1931.

 
 

The Author, Dr. Dudding

The Author, Dr. Dudding, as he looks dressed in prison garb.

 
 

Chesapeake & Ohio train No. 2

Chesapeake & Ohio train No. 2 (now air conditioned George Washington Limited on main line between Huntington and Washington D.C., on which the Federal Institution for Women, at Alderson, West Virginia, is located.

 
 

View from the Hawks Nest

View from the Hawks Nest, West Virginia, of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway jn the New River canyon.

 
 

Prison Band and Battalion of Trusties

Prison Band and Battalion of Trusties in the Maryland Penitentiary, thoroghly disciplined under Warden Leonard.

 
 

Group of women inspecting the site

Group of women inspecting the site where the Alderson Institution now stands, including Judge Mary O'Toole and Miss Dorothy M. Brown, October 21, 1923.

 
 

John W. Loontz & Earl Ellicott Dudding

Left: Mr. John W. Loontz, one of the early Vice Presidents of the Society.

Right: The Author, Earl Ellicott Dudding, as he appeared about the time the Society was removed to Washington D.C.

 
 
 

 

Monday, Oct. 30, 1933 In August 1933, Earl Ellicott Dudding, ex-convict of Huntington, W. Va., issued cards inscribed as follows:

PRENATAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Dr. & Mrs. Earl Ellicott Dudding announce that on Oct. 16 Miss Chemical Dudding will arrive and will be the world's most scientific baby. The object sought is to produce a child free from criminal traits. Dr. Dudding is president of the Prisoners Relief Society. The fetation was made by injecting the sporoblast into the blood stream with a hypodermic needle. We expect a substantial gift. Gifts should be mailed to Miss Chemical Dudding, Post Box 462, Huntington, W. Va.

Earl Ellicott Dudding explained that the "sporoblast" was a serum concocted from the leaves and sap of a cherry tree. He announced that he would start a chemical baby farm after Miss Chemical Dudding was born. Said he : "If I gave out the formula, half of the doctors in the country would start bootlegging chemical babies. They would use this as a money-making scheme, and I will not stand for that. I have developed this system after many years' research in an effort to pro duce a new race, free from sin and crime, and I do not intend to have it commercialized."

Last week Earl Ellicott Dudding issued the following statement: "I have been making soundings and measurements with calipers, and find an error of 30 days in my calculations, and so our daughter will arrive Nov. 15."

 
Monday, Nov. 13, 1933

To news of bygone weeks, herewith sequels from last week's news:

To the announcement by Earl Ellicott Dudding, ex-convict of Huntington, W. Va., that his daughter Miss Chemical Dudding, conceived by injecting into Mrs. Dudding's veins a serum made from the leaves and sap of a cherry tree, would be born Nov. 15 (TIME, Oct. 30): an announcement by Ex-convict Dudding addressed to "my friends, interested and curious watchers, eyebrow lifters, I-told-you-so nonbelievers, and whatnot," stating that Miss Chemical Dudding would be stillborn. ''Now our prospective chemical baby sleeps in death. We are consoled by the thought that there is no fault on our part. We did all we could and lost." C. To the attempt to discover whether mosquitoes were the carriers of the St. Louis encephalitis (sleeping sickness) epidemic by letting them bite ten short-term convicts' in Jackson, Miss.: pardons from Mississippi's Governor Martin Sennett ("Sure Mike") Conner for two of the volunteers, suspended sentences for the rest.

 
The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., article on Sun., September 1, 1918
 
The Ada Evening News, Ada, Oklahoma, article on Thursday, June 5, 1919
 
The News, Frederick, Maryland, article on Monday, July 2, 1923
 
The Olean Herald, Olean, New York, article on Wed., August 14, 1929
 
The Lima News, Lima, Ohio, article on Tuesday, April 22, 1930
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
According to Dr. Earl Ellicott Dudding of Washington, DC, the original family name was DUDDINGTON. A. Earl DUDDINGTON with his brother-in-law, John ELLICOTT sailed from England to Virginia in 1650. A. Earl DUDDINGTON settled on the Potomac River where the Nation's Capitol now stands. He built the DUDDINGTON Manor on what is called "DUDDINGTON PASTURE". The CARROLL Family occupied this manor and said it was named after the Duke of DUDDINGTON, who was a near relative.
Alfred Wellington DUDDINGTON, son of A. Earl DUDDINGTON, changed his name to DUDDING to escape persecution from the English authorities when he was a young man. Alfred then moved to the back country of Virginia after this incident. After this records on Alfred Wellington DUDDINGTON/DUDDING disappeared.
 
 
 

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