Many accounts claim that Allen initiated the confrontation by pulling a gun in court. One can wonder if that was a sign that she blamed her husband for the tragic calamity that befell the family. A nation-wide manhunt was called for by the Governor of Virginia which lasted six months. 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. The museum has extensive archive and reference materials in its resource section, as well as exhibits and artifacts that reflect the heritage of Carroll County. No one secured the courthouse as a crime scene. Most of the documents from the subsequent murder trials that followed the shootout had been lost or were thought to have been lost or stolen. The law provided that everything could be seized with the exception of a few bare essentials necessary for existence, for example, 1 cow, 1 pig, etc. [32] Claud testified that he saw Sidna Allen firing just about the time he saw Deputy Clerk Goad fire. - Lewis Franklin Webb, the County Sheriff killed in the Courthouse Tragedy, had just taken office in January of 1912, but had been a deputy numerous times. 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. [1], Governor Mann immediately called on the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency to find those responsible for the shootings and arrest them. Their trials took place in Wytheville. 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? 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. However, no extradition order was issued. - To illustrate the volatility of turn-of-the-century mountaineers, when Jeremiah Allen died in 1898, Floyd and Jack Allen got into a ruckus over a barrel of brandy when the estate was being divided. Located in the Fancy Gap community near I-77 Exit 14. The defense attempted to show that Deputy Clerk Goad shot Elizabeth Ayers in his exchange of fire with the Allens, a charge Goad denied. Supposedly Floyd said, as the Sheriff and the Clerk of the Court approached to take him into custody, Im not going. The shooting then started. 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. 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. What follows is a genuine effort to accurately summarize the tragedy and the events that led to the bloodshed. I bet there are lots of tales about Rochester, NY and the surrounding area that would make good reads as well. In the space of 90 seconds, 57 bullets were fired into the Hillsville courthouse, killing five men and wounding three more. I like how youre reading books about where you live. The execution of father and soon occurred in 1913. In April 1926, Governor Harry Flood Byrd pardoned Sidna Allen and Wesley Edwards. 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. While the one Allens name is Floyd, there is also a town of Floyd and Floyd County to the north of Carroll County. Far from the backward, murderous mob of hillbillies as they would later be portrayed in sensational news accounts, Floyd and his brothers were farmers, business people and even occasional lawmen who sometimes had their own run-ins with the law, usually stemming from their participation in the illegal liquor trade. A witness later testified that Floyd Allen had remarked that he "would not let any man talk to me that way."[14]. Terribly tragic. Did Floyd force their release or were they released into his custody? Virginia law held that when a sheriff died his deputies lost all legal powers, so the shooting left Carroll County without law enforcement. As the smoke cleared the sheriff, judge, and the common wealth attorney all lay dead. Elian Gonzalez is a more recent example. Eventually, Carroll County deputies Thomas Pink Samuels and Peter Easter nabbed the brothers in North Carolina, shackled them and loaded them on a wagon for the long ride up the mountain, passing by Sidna Allens home and store in Fancy Gap where they were met by none other than a hot-tempered Floyd Allen, who was angered that his kinfolk were hog-tied in a wagon like livestock being carted to market. As gunmen spilled from the courthouse taking their battle through the downtown streets, the judge, sheriff, and Commonwealth Attorney lay dead in the smoke-filled courtroom. Ninety seconds later, 57 bullets had been fired. That said, I am glad to have read the book and Ive learned more about this area. Justice came swiftly to the Allens, perhaps a bit too swiftly for those folks who began to believe that a grave conspiracy among county officials had provoked the Allens in order to bring them down. Elizabeth Ayers, a 19-year-old subpoenaed witness who had testified against Floyd Allen, was shot in the back while trying to leave the courtroom, and died at home the next day. Tipton testified he saw Claud Allen in the courthouse with a pistol raised in both hands as if he had just fired it. 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. Preserve America is a federal initiative that encourages and supports community efforts to preserve and enjoy our priceless cultural and natural heritage. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio or on your favorite podcast app. S. E. Gardner, a Hillsville undertaker who prepared the body of Sheriff Webb for burial, testified that the Sheriff was shot no less than five times. Contact him at ralph.berrier@gmail.com. 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. The new system appointed a full-time judge to hold court at scheduled intervals in a circuit of several counties. During the initial manhunt, several posses of detectives and local deputies searched the surrounding countryside. 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. Marshall. A large collection of portrait photos, newspaper accounts, and a marvelous diorama of the 1912 courtroom scene are on display in the historic courthouse, as is the collection of folk marquetry furniture made by J. Sidna Allen. On May 18, 1912, the jury found Floyd Allen guilty. March broke cold and rainy in the mountains. - As a result of the deaths that occurred in the courtroom in 1912, the entire estates of Floyd and J. Sidna Allen were seized in settlement of wrongful death suits by the families of Massie, Foster and Webb. Airy). There it was, the script of a doomed man, written in the final minutes of his life. 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. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. [10] Rather than face arrest, the two men fled over the state line to North Carolina, where they found jobs in a granite quarry. Upon conviction of interfering with an officer of the law, Judge Thornton Massie oversaw the jury's imposed sentence of one year imprisonment. I oppose capital punishment (although if you heard what I sometimes say about certain characters on tv, you might doubt that). Another of those events that have passed into history. This is the sort of history that gets lost a lot the sensational, headlining tale thats at the front of everyones mind until something even more sensational comes along. Is Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court (2011) streaming on Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Peacock, or 50+ other streaming services? But the documents do bring humanity to a story often told through tintype pictures, brittle newspaper clippings, hazy memories and fables passed down through generations. V. Ray Bowman, Self: Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court. [29] Marshall then related that Sidna Allen's bullet buried itself in the window about six inches above his head. He wept freely as the verdict was read. The detectives left at Hillsville have gone to the mountains, headed by Lee Felts. This is an interesting story of a time long past. - William Fosters daughter, Aline, married George Ellison Bud Edwards in 1917. He was not in the courthouse during the shootings, but immediately ran to his dying friend and mentor. The jury fixed the penalty at fifteen years in the penitentiary. Allen was noted for his generosity, but also his quick temper and easily injured pride. [21] Agent Faddis and four men raided Floyd Allen's property, seizing illegal stills and fifty gallons of moonshine. [1] Sentenced by the jury to an hour in jail and a $100 fine, plus costs, Allen immediately posted bail pending an appeal. 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. "Floyd Allen Defense Gets Well Into Case", Bluefield, W. Va.: "Accuses Dexter Goad Of Shooting Betty Ayers". Like this one, I often find they could have used some rearranging to keep ones interest but I almost always enjoy them. [11][10][40][41] A dispute arose between McGraw and Jack Allen about the Hillsville tragedy; during the confrontation McGraw drew a gun and shot Allen twice, killing him on the spot. As the deputies were taking the Edwards back to Hillsville, Floyd released the boys from custody. [37] Allen's death sentence was deeply unpopular with Allen supporters in the county, but many other residents were unsympathetic, surprised by the deaths of so many people over Floyd Allen's refusal to serve a year in prison. 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