 Gregg had been convicted by the Preston County Circuit Court of burning the county courthouse and the public records therein, and causing the death of a janitress asleep in the courthouse at the time of the fire.Gregg was sentenced to death for these crimes, but following his sentence, he escaped to Greene County, Pennsylvania, to the company of his friends and supporters, as the Gregg family was prominent in the region.Gregg's extradition was ordered by West Virginia Governor Henry Mason Mathews, and White argued successfully the case before Pennsylvania Governor John F. Hartranft for Gregg's extradition back to West Virginia.