Robert D. Newell, former chief of the Parkersburg Police Department, poses with his third and latest book, “In the Heat of the Valley: Disasters in the Ohio Valley.” The book is about major fires and disasters in the region. (Photo by Jess Mancini)

PARKERSBURG — A retired police officer from Parkersburg has written a book about local arsons and disasters.

“In the Heat of the Valley: Disasters in the Ohio Valley” by Robert D. Newell is about major fires and disasters. Newell, a former chief of the Parkersburg Police Department who also was mayor of Parkersburg, writes about the events in the last 60 years, many of those while he was with the police department.

The book contains about two dozen events, including the deaths of Steven Spade and Judith Petty.

“At first, I didn’t think there were that many,” Newell said.

Among the events is the January 1972 explosion of two empty gasoline barges on the Ohio River under the railroad bridge. Two people were killed, others injured, in the blast that blew out nearby windows.

(Image Provided)

“That happened when I started as a cadet” with the police department, he said.

Newell interviewed many of the officers involved in the investigations, including Charlie Lawrentz and L.C. Gibson, who was the commander of the detective bureau and a former police chief.

The book includes stories of infamous arsons such as the June 1969 fire that killed Charles and Ruby Bailey and 10 of their children.

Newell interviewed Lawrentz, who as a young patrolman was the first to arrive at the fire, set by two of the Bailey children.

“As far as I can find, it is still the largest family homicide on record,” Newell said.

Newell also writes about disasters caused by accidents. In that category is the January 1970 fire at the Harmar House in Marietta where 31 residents of the home died.

Former Marietta Mayor Joe Matthews, who was a firefighter at the time, told Newell about the confusion, difficulty to reach the structure because of the steep entrance and a lack of ambulances to transport victims.

“According to Joe Matthews, it was the worst call he had experienced during his time on the fire department,” Newell wrote.

Then in October 1971, a boiler exploded at the First Baptist Church in Marietta, causing a ceiling to collapse, killing four students in a class taught by Michael Murphy, who also was killed.

The cause was a boiler on the first floor malfunctioned and exploded.

“The boiler could not have been in a worse location at the time,” Newell wrote. “It was installed on the first floor directly above the classroom in the educational wing and there was another floor above. When the blast occurred,debris from the top floor as well as the first floor fell into the basement.”

In March 1976 a young mother, Harriet Sisk, in Point Pleasant was arrested for the murder of her baby. She was put in the Mason County Jail where her husband, Bruce, armed with a shotgun, forced jailers to let him see her.

He was carrying a case supposedly with a change of clothes for her, but it contained 15 pounds of stolen dynamite. A standoff ensued and, after allowing another prisoner in his wife’s cell to leave, Bruce Sisk detonated the TNT.

Instantly killed were the Sisks and a chief deputy while the sheriff and a jailer died a few days later from injuries. More than a dozen people were hurt.

Newell, Officer Bob Pickens, Police Chief Charlie Plum and the police chaplain, the Rev. Bill Sutphin, went to Point Pleasant for the funerals of the deceased officers.

“We were able to learn more from local officers about the events that led up to the explosion,” Newell wrote.

“In the Heat of the Valley” is Newell’s third crime-related book. The others are “Violence in the Valley” and “As I Walk Through the Valley of Meth.”

The books are $14.99 and can be purchased on Amazon, J&M Books and Play, the PAC 713 gift shop at the Parkersburg Art Center and all Peoples News locations. The books also are available at the Parkersburg-Wood County Library.

Jess Mancini is available at jmancini@newsandsentinel.com.