He found trial transcripts. 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. He wrote urging that the state should pay a stipend to Judge Massies widow, who had become destitute in the years since her husbands death. He was not in the courthouse during the shootings, but immediately ran to his dying friend and mentor. The detectives left at Hillsville have gone to the mountains, headed by Lee Felts. Like this one, I often find they could have used some rearranging to keep ones interest but I almost always enjoy them. Late in the day March 13, the jury had not reached a verdict, so Judge Massie sent them to the nearby Thornton Hotel for the night. . The ex On the cold Spring morning of March 14th, 1912 shots rang out inside the tiny mountain courtroom. Mr. Allen stood and declared, "Gentlemen, I ain't a goin'." [3] He had a history of violent altercations, including shooting a black man in North Carolina, beating a police officer in Mount Airy and later shooting his own cousin. I just can't bear to see anyone drug around."[13]. PARROW'S TRIAL POSTPONED Chicago Lawyer Will Not Appear Be fore Jan. 6. . In March 1912, there was a shooting at the Carroll County, Courthouse in Hillsville, Virginia. And the storys controversies, conspiracies, debates over justice and moral lessons have long outlived the verdicts and punishments that sought to settle matters more than a century ago. See details- ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK - HILLSVILLE 1912: A SHOOTING IN THE COURT: A FAMILY BECAME Buy It Now Add to cart Watch Sold bymoviemars (2843836)97.1% Positive feedbackContact seller About this product Product Identifiers Record Label CD Baby UPC 0884501678674 eBay Product ID (ePID) 28046038825 Product Key Features Artist Conner & Miller Format Eventually, most of the clan was captured, although Sidna Allen and his nephew Wesley Edwards, whose fight in a churchyard had lit the fuse on this powder keg in 1910, made it to Des Moines, Iowa, where they worked and lived under aliases. The animosity derived from a feud between Thomas father, George W. Thomas, and Floyd Allen. As the smoke cleared the sheriff, judge, and the common wealth attorney all lay dead. 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.. 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. Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court - Actors and actresses. 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? Two of whom, Sidna and his nephew Wesley, in Des Moines, Iowa where they were starting a new life. During the initial manhunt, several posses of detectives and local deputies searched the surrounding countryside. M arch 14, 1912, arrives just as badly as the day before. Most of the Allens and their cohorts escaped initially, but an emergency call to Virginia Gov. [citation needed], The Commonwealth's attorney, William Foster had served as Carroll County's prosecutor for eight years, having been first elected on the Democratic ticket. Floyd Allen jury member, John W. Farris, remarked that they wouldnt be back until they were brought back. 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. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio or on your favorite podcast app. A ghoulish spectacle occurred when the bodies of the two men were placed in public view at a Richmond funeral home, where as many as 5,000 people lined up to gawk at the mountain outlaws they had read about. Ronald W. Hall,The Carroll County Courthouse Tragedy(2013 printing, Hillsville VA: Carroll County Historical Society,1998). [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. The legend also claims that the marker was removed as a condition of Sidna Allens pardon in 1926 after he served 14 years. The Historical Society has gathered significant materials, published over the years, that attempt to interpret this event in our local history. He wept freely as the verdict was read. With the death of the Sheriff and so many of the Allens on the loose, the state sent help. [2] The federal court in Greensboro found him not guilty, while Sidna's alleged accomplice, Preston Dickens, was found guilty and sentenced to serve five years in federal prison. Friel settled in Inglewood, CA where he married twice, but never had any children. While the one Allens name is Floyd, there is also a town of Floyd and Floyd County to the north of Carroll County. Thats why the discovery of the trial exhibits and documents in Wythe County is significant. Contact us: By Mail PO Box 937 - Hillsville, VA 24343 | By Phone (276) 728 4113 | By Email carrollmuseum@yahoo.com | On Facebook https://facebook.com/CarrollMuseum | Or come visit us in the Historic Courthouse at: 515 North Main Street - Hillsville, VA 24343. Located in the Fancy Gap community near I-77 Exit 14. After years of being privately owned, Sidna Allens house was given to the Carroll County Historical Society in 2014 by siblings Stanley Widener and Bonnie Wood, whose mother, Marlene, often opened the house to the public for tours. Bringing in Sheaves: The Western Revivals of the Reverend A. Such an interesting, but tragic, history, Jeff! This sideline didnt add to the story. In 2015 or so, Sadler also found a .38 caliber bullet among the keepsakes. Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court On the cold Spring morning of March 14th, 1912 shots rang out inside the tiny mountain courtroom. The town's name was changed to Hillsville in the late 1820s to honor a local family. The grand posse, as Sidna Allen would mockingly call them in his memoirs, rode horses, carried shotguns and rifles and posed for pictures even though they spent a lot of time flailing through the woods in search of the Allens. [1] Others consider the alleged affidavit to be hearsay, made years after the event transpired, and worthless. Allen rose to his feet and calmly said, "Gentlemen, I ain't goin'." In the 1960s, a boisterous flea market and liquor store owner in Cana named Rufus Gardner took up the Allens cause and found two men who claimed one of Goads assistants admitted to firing first at Floyd Allen. Please visit their website for more information. Explore the latest videos from hashtags: #truckspottinginthe717 . Courthouse Productions will stage "Thunder in the Hills" again at the historic Carroll County Courthouse, North Main Street, Hillsville, Virginia, beginning April 7. Hall has done an outstanding job researching this subjectt. 12 talking about this. He died there in 1953. [citation needed], On the following Monday, Wesley and Sidna Edwards were turned over to the court by Floyd Allen, and the two Edwards brothers were soon tried and convicted of their crimes. As the smoke cleared the sheriff, judge, and the common wealth attorney all lay dead. Contact him at ralph.berrier@gmail.com. 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. Hall himself had asked Horney, who died in 2020, about the whereabouts of the trial exhibits while doing his own research. Barry Lopezs book (above) sounds good. An Appalachian Feud Blows Up in 1912 Step into True Colors -- a new series of Historical Stories of Romance and American Crime In Carroll . The answer would soon become obvious. The Carroll County Historical Society, INC. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Gilmer accompanied the body on a short train ride from Sylvatus to Pulaski, where a throng of mourners awaited, Sadler said. [34] He also said he went to Blankenship's Livery Stable after the incident, where he met other family members and left Hillsville with Claud Allen, Wesley Edwards, and Sidna Edwards. 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. Attorney Howard C. Gilmer, of Pulaski, Virginia, was at Hillsville Courthouse in a room adjoining Judge Massie's courtroom when the shooting broke out. Sheriff and Commonwealth's Attorney dead, court serious. But the storys roots go further back and involve politics, rivalries, clannishness, thuggery, vengeance and even a little geography. 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. A witness later testified that Floyd Allen had remarked that he "would not let any man talk to me that way."[14]. [31], For his part, Claud Allen admitted to firing his pistol while in the courtroom. However, Goad denied firing the first shot in the fusillade. At least two of the participants, Judge Massie and Sheriff Webb, had told friends that they expected trouble. To find the prized ear meant he could kiss any girl there. For a while, Hillsville was at the top of the nations newspaper. On the morning of March 14, 1912, Mr. Floyd Allen stood in the Carroll County courtroom to hear the verdict of his peers. Friel Allen sat in the back of the room, and the Edwards boys stood on benches next to the north wall. I oppose capital punishment (although if you heard what I sometimes say about certain characters on tv, you might doubt that). Floyd Allen grew up in a large family in southern Carroll County, raised on a farm wedged between the North Carolina border and the front wall of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Allens were unreconstructed Democrats, the county fathers were mildly progressive, albeit still conservative, Republicans. I dont know too much historical facts about where I live. Discover short videos related to Hillsville 1912 A Shooting in the Court on TikTok. J. E. Kearn, a traveling salesman from Roanoke, testified he sold Sidna Allen a lot of ammunition at the March term of the Hillsville court, specifically 500 each of .32 and .38 caliber pistol cartridges and 500 12-gauge shotgun shells. Did Floyd force their release or were they released into his custody? 10995 Wesley Edwards, No. The announcement of that sentence set off a gun battle that became one of the worst incidences of violence ever to occur in an American courtroom. Sidna Allen and Claud Allen stood on benches in the courtroom's northeast corner to see over the crowd. He pointed toward what appeared to Sadler to be a metal file. 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. After several months' chase, Baldwin-Felts detectives located them in Iowa after an informant's tip. Also, there were places where the author seemed to go out onto a tangent, such as explaining how electrocution became a means of capital punishment used on Floyd and Claude. 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. He defeated the son of Jasper Jack Allen for the position. The jury could not agree on a verdict immediately as the trial ended, and were sequestered in a local hotel overnight. On March 14, 1912, Floyd stood in the Hillsville, Va. courthouse, convicted of interfering with police business and assaulting a deputy sheriff. 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. The tale of the courthouse massacre is lengthy and complicated, covering more than two years beginning with a fight in 1910, followed by Floyd Allens trial and the shootout and culminating in Floyd and Claude Allens executions in 1913. This is another book that Ive read in order to learn about my new locale. The oldest, continuously operating . They were arrested by Caleb Haynes and Oscar Monday of the Mount Airy police department and brought to the state line. It lays the foundation of the events of that tragic story from March 1912.. Foster was a political enemy of the Allens, who had supported Jack Allen's son, Walter, as Democratic candidate for Commonwealth's Attorney against Foster in the last election. He was shot dead in the courtroom.. As the smoke cleared the sheriff, judge, and the common wealth attorney all lay dead. - Thomas Franklin Pink Samuel, the deputy from whom Floyd Allen released his nephews, moved to Amelia County and never testified at the trial. [29] Marshall also testified he had been standing near Sheriff Webb, but did not see any pistol in the Sheriff's hand. Entdecke 1960er Jahre ORLANDO FLORIDA MCCOY FLUGHAFEN ~ Delta Air Lines Flugzeug Start- und Landebahn ~ Postkarte ~ A5 in groer Auswahl Vergleichen Angebote und Preise Online kaufen bei eBay Kostenlose Lieferung fr viele Artikel! One shot. Judge Bolen confirmed his prior testimony that he saw Claud Allen fire the first shot at Judge Massie from the courtroom's northeast corner, whereupon Claud advanced toward the court officers to where Commonwealth's Attorney Foster was standing. Airy. Sidna Allen maintained until the end of his life that this informant was Maude Iroller, Wesley's fiancee, who provided information on the fugitives' location in exchange for $500 from the detective agency. [7] In 1908, while serving as special deputies, Allen and a relative, Henry "H.C." Allen, were charged with unlawful assault upon prisoners held in their custody who they claimed had resisted arrest. Court testimony says she was outside throwing up on the lawn when Doctor Nuckolls came by. He worked for the Edison Lighting Company. I enjoy learning about local history. Charges eventually were dropped against Sidna and Barnett before the trial.). Some of the detectives bragged about how many miners theyd killed. Deputy Clerk Dexter Goad admitted firing the second shot at Floyd, striking him in the pelvis. Jack came to and shot Floyd which ended the affair. A stolen kiss. Others state that Miss Iroller's father, who had never approved of his daughter's romance with Wesley Edwards, tipped off the detectives that Maude was going to Des Moines to marry him. Careful who you kiss, huh? Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court is a 70 minute film that will be presented to The History Channel and PBS, and entered in film festivals across the US. "You have no idea how much it means to me for you to be here today. He found the murder indictment against Sidna Allen, Floyds brother who would be convicted and serve more than 13 years in prison. Those old papers were lost or stolen, Horney replied. Former judge David Winton Bolen, who had been present during the shooting as one of Floyd Allen's defense attorneys, was the first witness the prosecution called at Floyd Allen's murder trial. The girl he chose to kiss led to a later fight at a church and resulted in a warrant for his arrest. The 1912 documents referred to in this story were scanned and digitally archived by Delilah Brady, a volunteer and director for the Carroll County Historical Society and Museum. A jury found Allen guilty, and on March 14, 1912, Allen went to his sentencing hearing before Judge Thornton L. Massie in the Hillsville courthouse. Just a Presbyterian Church and a store. In 1912 a Carroll County, Virginia, man was sentenced to serve a one year sentence in the state penitentiary. Carroll County Historical Society and Museum. The sheriff in Hillsville had the boys arrested there and handed over to his deputies at the state line. - Claude Allen did not take a gun when he went to Hillsville To Floyds trial. Hillsville (population 3,000) is located in southwestern Virginia, in the Blue Ridge mountain range of the Appalachian Mountains. In a fusillade of shots, Allen hit Jack in the head, which struck a glancing blow on Jack's scalp, while one of Jack's bullets hit Allen in the chest. A second shot entered the back about four inches lower, while a third shot cut the sheriff across the chin. [32] Claud testified that he saw Sidna Allen firing just about the time he saw Deputy Clerk Goad fire. March 14, 1912 - Hillsville Massacre Hillsville's history has a bit of a dark spot within it; the dark spot is known as the 1912 Courthouse Tragedy which was rivaled in the news only by the devastation known as the Titanic. Brothers Wesley and Sidna Edwards (not to be confused with their uncle, Sidna Allen, Floyds brother), attended a corn-shucking party, a country frolic where folks played music, drank liquor on the side and, yes, shucked corn. Witnesses said she never looked Floyds way. 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. Newport News nuprt - -prt -6 is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. When Floyd and Claude Allens bodies were brought back to the familys house in Cana, Frances Allen Floyds wife, Claudes mother entered the room dressed in black and fell across her sons coffin, embracing his body like a child. Was Clerk of Carroll County Circuit Court During the Famous Allen Trial. Tipton testified he saw Claud Allen in the courthouse with a pistol raised in both hands as if he had just fired it. [2] Wesley Edwards tried to grapple with Easter, but Easter got away and fired a shot at Floyd as he did so, wounding Floyd in the finger. View over 100 different photos - art pieces about the 1912 courthouse tragedy and Allen family from Cana, VA in this. The sensational coverage and gripping photos of the characters and events surrounding the courtroom shooting captured America's imagination in 1912 and until the sinking of the Titanic a month later, the "Hillsville Massacre" took up a good deal of front page copy in newspapers . Allen and several members of his family immediately fled the courtroom but were later captured and convicted of murder. - After his release from prison in 1922, Friel Allen came back to Hillsville and had Attorney John Alderman arrange a meeting with Dexter Goad. Elian Gonzalez is a more recent example. On the cold spring morning of March 14th, 1912, shots rang out in the tiny rural mountain town of Hillsville, Virginia. The jury set his sentence at one year. He lived to be the last surviving member of the jury, dying in 1963. The Allens were a notorious family from Carroll County, Virginia, who . 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. Seems like everybody from Carroll County has some connection to this story. Two were executed and a number went to prison for their part in the tragedy. He also wrote that as the judge lay dying, he told his young protg, Tell my brother Robert to take care of my family.. Two were executed and a number went to prison for their part in the tragedy. Floyd Allen agreed to testify and admitted 'roughing up' Samuels, but denied intending to release the prisoners: "That there Samuel[s] was abusing the boys. [2] Floyd then released the Edwards brothers. Preserving and Presenting the History of the County of Carroll, Commonwealth of Virginia. 11218 The Roanoker - Hillsville Massacre Industrial Survey - Carroll County (NOTE a 1929 publication) Media The Carroll News [6], Sidna Allen pleaded guilty and received a total of 35 years in prison for the voluntary manslaughter of Commonwealth's Attorney Foster, and for second-degree murder of Judge Massie. Menu. The end result was three people deadthe judge, the Commonwealth Attorney and the sheriff. Blacksburg-based autonomous vehicle firm Torc to acquire Canadian company; more . Five people died and seven were wounded in the gun battle that followed. 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. They didnt find Andrew because the cell was dark and he had climbed up between the chimney and wall near the ceiling. The play, which is. As historian Ron Hall wrote in his book: And for a moment, the world stopped.. Marshall. Nonetheless, the grand jury indicted Floyd Allen, Sidna Allen and Barnett Allen for interfering with the deputies, and Floyd Allen was also indicted for assault and battery upon Samuels. Those documents include indictments, judges instructions, grand jury indictments, trial transcripts, letters and other courtroom exhibits all words left by ghosts. In March 1912, there was a shooting at the Carroll County, Courthouse in Hillsville, Virginia. (Interesting Southwest Virginia side note: Initially, Floyds nephew Barnett Allen, the grandfather of legendary Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer, was charged along with his uncles Floyd and Sidna for taking the Edwards boys from the deputies. Maybe he didnt want anybody else rifling through those things, Hall said. Judge Thornton Massie was one of five people killed during the courthouse shootout in Hillsville on March 14, 1912. Wow. Floyd Allen was the first to be brought to trial on a charge of murdering Judge Massie, Sheriff Webb, and Commonwealth's Attorney Foster. Wesley Edwards drew nine years for each count of murder for the slaying of Foster, Massie, and Webb for a total of 27 years' imprisonment. Burden "Byrd" Marion, a cousin and neighbor, had all charges against him dropped. 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. Mann asking either that the Allens be given clemency or be executed swiftly. Virginia law held that when a sheriff died his deputies lost all legal powers, so the shooting left Carroll County without law enforcement. 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. Was it Floyds son Claude? The U.S. Revenue Service had sent Deputy Agent Faddis to investigate reports of illegal liquor trafficking by the Allens. Floyd said Goad and Foster were part of a privileged clique, according to Hall, one that would never include the likes of Floyd or his family. B. Because of his vision to preserve and protect these exhibits, theyll never be lost again.. The bullet came up under the skin of her right breast. )[12], Foster called upon a grand jury to investigate the escape/pistol-whipping incident. V. Ray Bowman, Self: Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court. The flood of indictments that came just days after the shootout wail with pain, the typewritten words seething on the page while claiming that the Allens unlawfully, feloniously, wickedly and maliciously killed the sheriff and others. "[1] Not long afterward, Allen shot and wounded Combs, and was indicted and tried on charges of assault. The home is owned by Bert and Marlene Widener, who offer tours by appointment. The book begins with character sketches of the various parties involved. [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. Sadler looked at Fosters cursive handwriting of Floyd Allens conviction and understood the documents gravity. 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