More leniency was given to the other Allens and their family members. Sadler knew the family lore that Judge Massie had died in his grandfathers arms, and that Gilmer had helped transport the judges remains back to Pulaski, and he even helped a mortician examine the corpse. They were arrested by Caleb Haynes and Oscar Monday of the Mount Airy police department and brought to the state line. That day was March 14, 1912, the day five people were killed in a shootout between members of the Allen family and court officials on the floor of a small-town courtroom, an event forever known as The Courthouse Massacre.. On March 17, 1916, he stopped for the night in a roadhouse near Mt. But the storys roots go further back and involve politics, rivalries, clannishness, thuggery, vengeance and even a little geography. We dont sell ads, or block you with a paywall. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/ramblinglibrarian/41284, 28 Aussens@iten by Stefan Kartenberg (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. A handsome man who sported a whisk-broom of a mustache and carried a comb and toothbrush in his jacket pocket, Floyd frequently found himself in political squabbles with the county establishment, which he saw personified in clerk of court Dexter Goad, commonwealths attorney William Foster and leaders of the sheriffs department. The exciting story of the Allen family and the officials who tried to bring them to justice. Felts and his team strode into action, quickly arresting a badly wounded Floyd Allen at a Hillsville Hotel during a staged scene for newspaper photographs. "Allen Boys Tell of Shooting", Bluefield, West Virginia: "State Closes Case In Sidna Allen Trial". He was with his brother when the shooting occurred and was in jail with him when a vigilante mob took his brother into the jail yard and killed him. Sadlers research took him to the Wythe County Courthouse, where he befriended Hayden H. Horney, the longtime circuit court clerk. Who shot whom? One shot. It lays the foundation of the events of that tragic story from March 1912.. The police of 1912 were not exactly professional. Sadler looked at Fosters cursive handwriting of Floyd Allens conviction and understood the documents gravity. The Allens could be a rough bunch, who fought with and shot at enemies which they had no shortage of, apparently and even each other. He was tried in federal court, found guilty, and sentenced to a year in federal prison at Moundsville, West Virginia. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [5] Floyd's body bore the scars of thirteen bullet wounds, five of them inflicted in quarrels with his own family. The author also hints there were issues between the Democratic Allens and the Republicans who made up much of the courthouse crowd. If thats the case, those against the Allens saw a way to get back at them. Blacksburg-based autonomous vehicle firm Torc to acquire Canadian company; more . It was Thomas and his father who swore out warrants for the Edwards brothers as a result of the fight at the schoolhouse/church the next day. [25], Deputy Sheriff George W. Edwards, who became the sheriff of Carroll County after Sheriff Webb's death, testified that, as a deputy sheriff at the time, he had spoken with Floyd Allen just after Allen learned of his indictment. I should do better and learn more about the area I call home. His mother was afraid theyd find him guilty of 1st degree murder, which carried the death penalty, so she convinced him to plead guilty to 2nd degree murder, which did not. Another of those events that have passed into history. The Hillsville Massacre By Seth Williamson Nobody knows who fired the first shot that cold, gray day, but before it was over, four lay dead, one was dying, and Carroll County would never be the same again. They were proud men, perhaps none more so than Floyd, who it could be said carried a log-sized chip on his shoulder. Just a Presbyterian Church and a store. For a while, Hillsville was at the top of the nation's newspaper. Floyd said he did it peacefully and lawfully, claiming that the deputies did not have proper warrants for arrest. As Foster followed the judges instructions to re-write the verdict on the indictment, Allens lawyer, W.D. One can wonder if that was a sign that she blamed her husband for the tragic calamity that befell the family. Not only the sheriff and deputies, but Goad and Foster. Floyd Allen jury member, John W. Farris, remarked that they wouldnt be back until they were brought back. Hall thinks that Sheriff Webb, who was carrying a borrowed gun, might have fired accidentally. [30], At Claud Allen's trial for the murder of Commonwealth's Attorney Foster, Judge David W. Bolen was again the prosecution's star witness. As the smoke cleared the sheriff, judge, and the common wealth attorney all lay dead. Allen rose to his feet and calmly said, "Gentlemen, I ain't goin'." Take care, my friend! Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Judge Massie, Sheriff Webb, Commonwealth's Attorney Foster, and the jury foreman (Augustus C. Fowler), were all hit and died of their wounds sustained in the crossfire. I dont know too much historical facts about where I live. Jack came to and shot Floyd which ended the affair. Theres Fosters handwriting and then you realize that within five or six minutes, he was dead. The handwritten note, scribbled hastily in pencil on a folded piece of paper, read: We the jury find the defendant Floyd Allen guilty as charged in the within indictment and fix his punishment at confinement in the penitentiary of this state for one year., Sadler knew that William Foster, the chief prosecutor in Carroll County, had written those words at the behest of a judge. How can you have seven murder trials in Wythe County and not have any exhibits whatsoever? Sadler often asked. The exciting story of the Allen family and the officials who tried to bring them to justice. Mr. Allen stood and declared, Gentlemen, I aint a goin. Gunfire, chaos, death ensued all in a moment. He found trial transcripts. Accounts differ as to whether this was for a lack of evidence, or because Marion became a state's witness and admitted his role in aiding the Allens. During the initial manhunt, several posses of detectives and local deputies searched the surrounding countryside. [1], Governor Mann immediately called on the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency to find those responsible for the shootings and arrest them. I like how youre reading books about where you live. A witness later testified that Floyd Allen had remarked that he "would not let any man talk to me that way."[14]. Marshall. Interesting story. [26] Gilmer said he heard Floyd Allen say two or three times, "I am shot, but I got the damn scoundrel. On the cold spring morning of March 14, 1912, shots rang out in the tiny, rural, mountain town of Hillsville, Virginia. Generations of Carroll Countians would grow up and grow old hearing about the shootout, arguing over who the true perpetrators were, creating and dismissing wild theories and resolving nothing. Hall has done an outstanding job researching this subjectt. [6] Governor Mann refused a request to commute the death sentences to life imprisonment, and Floyd Allen was electrocuted on March 28, 1913, at 1:20PM. On March 14, 1912, Floyd stood in the Hillsville, Va. courthouse, convicted of interfering with police business and assaulting a deputy sheriff. )[12], Foster called upon a grand jury to investigate the escape/pistol-whipping incident. Bolen had been standing next to Floyd Allen, and was facing Judge Massie when the first shots struck the judge's robes. Massie refused, saying he was there to prosecute, not persecute.. The exciting story of the Allen family and the officials who tried to bring them to justice. Wesley was sentenced to sixty days and his brother thirty, which were served outside jail on work-release. Sadler said that his grandfathers reputation was that of an attorney who possessed a great gift of gab and was a prolific letter writer, but he never left behind any record of what he saw or heard that day in the Hillsville courtroom. Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court 7,494 views Jan 8, 2011 42 Dislike Share Save Bill Perrine 320 subscribers A brief trailer for the upcoming documentary about the 1912 Hillsville. Spread the loveOne of the first writers to bring the real Appalachia to the world was John Fox Jr., who had come to the coal boom town of Big Stone, Spread the loveWe have a two-fer for you this week! The Allens were a notorious family from Carroll County, Virginia, who . Wesley and Sidna would be charged with assault, but before they could be arrested, they dashed across the state line, where Carroll County lawmen could not apprehend them. Two of whom, Sidna and his nephew Wesley, in Des Moines, Iowa where they were starting a new life. He asked her if she was hurt or mashed and her sister-in-law responded that she was just scared. [2], Floyd Allen met the buggy south of Sidna Allen's home as he was on the way to his own home. Massie had been urged by Foster and Goad to disarm the throng before the trail began. Like this one, I often find they could have used some rearranging to keep ones interest but I almost always enjoy them. While there, Wesley kissed a girl who was romantically linked to a local youth, Will Thomas, which led to an altercation between the two young men. [20] Sidna Edwards had scalded his foot some years before and was partially lame, and limped out of the courthouse, riding his mother's horse back to his home. The presentation will be held Sunday, March 12 at 2 p.m. at the Historic Carroll County Courthouse and will be led by Blacksburg . "Saw Claude Allen Fire First At Judge Massie". "There were five people murdered. The next witness was Sidney Towe, who largely corroborated the testimony of Sheriff Edwards. The historical societys museum resides on the first floor of the old courthouse, which no longer is a government building but still majestically commands the high ground of Main Street like it did in 1912. People who have researched the shootout long knew that Judge Massie had instructed Foster to re-write the jury verdict in proper legal language just minutes after it had been handed down, but no one knew precisely what Foster had actually written until the discovery of the Allen documents. Even the accused, Floyd Allen, carried a pistol. During my term of office Floyd Allen was several times charged with violations of law. Airy). Bolen, asked for bail and for Allen to be freed as they appealed the case. He apparently also hopes that the early hour will serve to dampen the spirits of the Allens. The jury could not agree on a verdict immediately as the trial ended, and were sequestered in a local hotel overnight. - After his release from prison in 1922, Friel Allen came back to Hillsville and had Attorney John Alderman arrange a meeting with Dexter Goad. For example, Betty Ayers, who was killed in the courthouse tragedy, was a 4th cousin to Dexter Goad (clerk of court), 4th cousin, twice removed, from Woodson Quesenberry (deputy clerk), 2nd cousin, twice removed, from Floyd Allens wife and a 3rd cousin to the Edwards brothers, Wesley and Sidna. Yep, I think we do have similar tendencies. While the state legislature still appointed circuit judges, the new system reduced the ability of individual delegates to ensure that their preferred judge was selected for their particular county; furthermore, judges could no longer practice law for private clients while on the bench, and as regional judges their susceptibility to local influence and public opinion was reduced. Check your inbox now to confirm your subscription. The judge hopes that since the normal court opening time is 9 a.m. the Allen case can be dispensed with rapidly and the normal caseload handled in due time. Wesley, the story goes, shucked a red ear of corn and proceeded to kiss the girlfriend of a Thomas boy who he did not like. Two were executed and a number went to prison for their part in the tragedy. The Carroll County prosecutor placed liens on all property owned by Floyd Allen and Sidna Allen for the heirs of the victims. Judge Thornton L. Massie called Constable Jack Allen (and Floyd Allen, who had been deputized by Massie about six months earlier) to the bar and proceeded to question them about the alleged intimidation. He also pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the shooting of Sheriff Webb, and was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment. In several instances he escaped indictment, I am satisfied, because the witnesses were afraid to testify to the facts before the grand jury. Floyd had been seriously wounded. The spotlight returned to the story of the shootout when the centennial of the tragedy was marked in 2012. - Carroll law officers did not cross into North Carolina to arrest the Edwards brothers as has long been claimed. There are still questions to be answered, but they probably never will be answered. Another entered the body at the cap of the left hip and passed through the abdomen. The U.S. Revenue Service had sent Deputy Agent Faddis to investigate reports of illegal liquor trafficking by the Allens. Perhaps the hardest thing for an outsider to understand is the frequently heard claim that the subject is dead. I recently learned that our town had a number of hiding spots on the Underground Railroad. In the case of J. Sidna Allen, one of Massies relatives complained that the raw bacon that was seized needed to be sold before it spoiled. Sidna Allen received a 35-year prison sentence, his nephews Wesley and Sidna Edwards and Friel Allen got lesser sentences. The last and fifth shot went into the calf of the leg and when his trousers were removed, a .32 caliber bullet was discovered. Friel Allen gave himself up to detectives in the company of his father, Jack Allen, who worried his son might be killed while being apprehended. Friel Allen was tried in August 1912 and after confessing to shooting prosecutor Foster, was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Who fired their pistol first? The battle of tradition against modernity seemed to be the heart of the rivalries: Would Carroll County be a 20th century civilized bastion of law, order and rules, or would the hidebound rugged frontier individualism of taking law into ones own hands and the bucking of authority prevail? [4] In September 1889, after pleading no contest to the assault, Garland and Sidna were fined $5 each plus court costs, and the prosecutor dropped the weapons charges. While the one Allens name is Floyd, there is also a town of Floyd and Floyd County to the north of Carroll County. 11218 The Roanoker - Hillsville Massacre Industrial Survey - Carroll County (NOTE a 1929 publication) Media The Carroll News In the second, a husband, Spread the loveOne hundred five years ago this month opposition against the draft was coming to a boil, including in Appalachia. He found the murder indictment against Sidna Allen, Floyds brother who would be convicted and serve more than 13 years in prison. 10994 Hillsville Masscre Sidna Allen, No. Later, Foster changed to the Republican party, and by 1912 was a prominent leader in the GOP in Carroll County, being elected the last time on the Republican ticket. Floyd Allen was the first to be brought to trial on a charge of murdering Judge Massie, Sheriff Webb, and Commonwealth's Attorney Foster. [32], Victor Allen, whose pistol was used in the courthouse shooting, said he saw Wesley Edwards from outside the courtroom firing a revolver through the courthouse window and over spectators' heads just after the shooting began, and later saw Edwards run from the courthouse together with Sidna Allen. However, Sidna Allen and his nephew, Wesley Edwards, fled Virginia. On the morning of March 14, 1912, Mr. Floyd Allen stood in the Carroll County courtroom to hear the verdict of his peers. At the 2020 census the population was 186247.5 Located in the Ninety seconds later, 57 bullets had been fired. They, too, were captured by Felts and his men, as Sidna Allen came to believe that Wesleys girlfriend back home had betrayed them. 1982-2023 The Carroll County Historical Society, INC. - The Carroll County Historical Society and Museum website, The Carroll County Historical Society and Museum, Welcome To The Carroll County Historical Society and Museum Website, Family Search.org | Carroll County, Virginia Genealogy, Family Search.org | Grayson County, Virginia Genealogy, Mount Airy, NC Museum of Regional History. . At a church service the next morning conducted by Wesley's uncle, Garland Allen, Thomas reportedly called out Wesley into a fight. Airy. When the jury returned a guilty verdict against with a sentence of one year in the penitentiary, Floyd Allen is reported to have said to Judge Massie: "If you sentence me on that verdict, I will kill you. Accounts differ as to who actually fired the first shot. [1] Others consider the alleged affidavit to be hearsay, made years after the event transpired, and worthless. [4], In another instance, while arguing over the administration of their father's estate, Allen got into a gunfight with his own brother, Jasper, known as "Jack", a local constable. The animosity derived from a feud between Thomas father, George W. Thomas, and Floyd Allen. [33] He denied firing a gun during the courthouse shootings, and stated that he did not see who fired the first shot, but thought that it came from the vicinity of Deputy Clerk Goad's desk. He was shot dead in the courtroom.. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Easter ran to an acquaintance's home, and he telephoned the sheriff at Hillsville. Allen, who was before the bar for sentencing after being convicted of taking a prisoner from a deputy sheriff, allegedly triggered the shooting at the Carroll County Courthouse in Hillsville on March 14, 1912. [4], Judge Robert C. Jackson, an attorney in Roanoke and Judge Thornton Massie's predecessor in the Carroll County courtroom, stated that, "Floyd Allen was perhaps the worst man of the clan overbearing, vindictive, high tempered, brutal, with no respect for law and little or no regard for human life. Gerald Goad said the documents needed to be back in Carroll County. Many accounts claim that Allen initiated the confrontation by pulling a gun in court. The pop of a single revolver. Again, no thorough investigation of the courtroom happened, and the scene was almost immediately compromised by people who dug bullets out of the walls with pocketknives to keep as souvenirs. In the space of 90 seconds, 57 bullets were fired into the Hillsville courthouse, killing five men and wounding three more. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Friel settled in Inglewood, CA where he married twice, but never had any children. On the cold spring morning of March 14th, 1912, shots rang out in the tiny rural mountain town of Hillsville, Virginia. There are many questions as to what led up to this event, but it seems to have begun with Wesley Edwards getting a red ear of corn at a corn shucking. [4], One night in December 1910 (some sources[1] say 1911), two of Floyd Allen's nephews, Wesley and Sidna Edwards, attended a corn shucking bee in Hillsville. Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court Great Video Historical documentary of the 1912 Hillsville, VA courthouse shootout between the Allen family and the officers of the court. It also hired Baldwin-Felt hired detectives (a group like the Pinkertons). Of March 14th, 1912, shots rang out in the tiny rural mountain town of Floyd and Floyd.. Sheriff Edwards judge Massie when the centennial of the Allens were a notorious family from Carroll County they starting! County and not have proper warrants for arrest all RIGHTS RESERVED judges to. 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