From the 16-day, 111 roll-call vote deadlock to elect a president in 1913 to the infamous Senate "kidnapping" two years earlier, West Virginia has a brief but colorful history of deadlocked state Senates.
With the potential that the Senate could again have a 17-17 tie among Republican and Democrat members, retired Goldenseal editor John Lilly revisited Wednesday an article he wrote in 2011 about the 1911 Senate.
That year, a 15-15 tie in the then-30 member Senate, along with a Democratic majority in the House of Delegates provoked one of the most outrageous episodes in legislative history, when Republican Gov. William Glasscock took steps to sequester Senate Republicans to keep the Senate from having a quorum needed to take any action.
For the first six days of a 13-day standoff, the Republicans barricaded themselves in the governor's reception room in the old Capitol, protected by guards armed with guns and clubs.
"The main contrast I see to today is that there was so much drama in 1911," Lilly said Wednesday. "Sen. Henry Hatfield, who would go on to become governor, vowed that he would not be taken alive."
When Democrats obtained arrest warrants to compel the Republicans to attend Senate sessions, Republicans snuck out of the Capitol in the early morning hours and boarded a train to Cincinnati, where they took up exile in the luxurious Hotel Sinton until a deal was worked out a week later.
There have been some rumors that present-day Senate Democrats might take similar action, if Senate leadership would refuse to seat a Democrat to fill the seat vacated when Sen. Daniel Hall resigned on Jan. 4 to become a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association.
"It's all in a trump card you'd hate to play," Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, said of the potential that Democrats would refuse to attend legislative sessions, leaving the Senate without a quorum needed to conduct business.
Kessler said Wednesday he's confident that scenario won't occur. After initial posturing about potentially refusing to seat a Democrat, Kessler said both Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, and Finance Chairman Mike Hall, R-Putnam, have said the leadership will abide by whatever decision the Supreme Court hands down on the Hall vacancy.
"I'm confident the Republicans will recognize that the fact of the matter is, there are 17 elected Democrats and 17 elected Republicans in this body," Kessler said.
Kessler said he finds it disconcerting that the whole controversy is driven by one individual whom he said was "very disloyal to the Democratic Party" and who also effectively abandoned the Republican Party with his resignation from the Senate.
Hall was elected from the 9th Senatorial District as a Democrat in 2012, and switched party affiliation after the November 2014 elections to break a brief 17-17 deadlock, giving Republicans control of the Senate for the first time in 83 years.
Louis Southworth, a Charleston lawyer and lobbyist who researched the potential 17-17 deadlock in the Senate following the 2014 elections, said circumstances are different now, should the state high court rule that a Democrat must replace Hall.
"It's totally different than what I wrote back in 2014," he said. "Bill Cole was elected Senate president for a two-year term. He continues as Senate president, and appoints all committee chairs, vice chairs, and makes all committee appointments."
Southworth said nothing in Senate rules requires an even number of Republicans and Democrats on committees in the event of a 17-17 split, although Kessler said he will push for a rules change to have even representation on committees if the 17-17 deadlock occurs.
In a tied Senate, he noted, even if Republicans maintained majorities on all committees, they would still need an 18th vote from a Democrat to pass any bills on the Senate floor.
"Ironically, it might be the best thing to lead to compromise legislation that will benefit all people of the state," Kessler said of the potential for a deadlocked Senate.
Lilly said he finds it interesting that, unlike the current situation, no one sought guidance from the state Supreme Court on how to resolve the 1911 impasse.
He said he also sees another key distinction between 1911 and 2016:
"One thing that strikes me about the resolution of the 1911 case, which I would hope would happen now, is the spirit of compromise, and recognizing that both side's arguments have merit," Lilly said. "I get the sense that in modern day politics, the art of compromise isn't what it once was. It's 'winner take all' these days."
Ultimately, the 1911 impasse was resolved with a series of compromises, Lilly's article noted.
Hatfield was elected Senate president, while committee chairmanships were assigned in a bipartisan manner. Resolving a key point of contention, the Senate reappointed Democrats William Chilton and Clarence Watson as U.S. senators - with the 1911 session held prior to ratification of the 17th Amendment and the popular election of U.S. senators.
Two years later, the Senate again found itself with a 15-15 deadlock, prompting a 16-day impasse with the Senate unable to elect a president after 110 tie roll-call votes.
As in 1911, senators eventually reached a compromise, with Republicans throwing their support to Democrat Samuel V. Woods for president on the 111th roll call vote, in exchange for being allowed to select the Senate clerk and sergeant-at-arms, and appoint all committee chairmen.
Reach Phil Kabler at philk@wvgazettemail.com, 304 348-1220, or follow @PhilKabler on Twitter.