Ronald W. Hall,The Carroll County Courthouse Tragedy(2013 printing, Hillsville VA: Carroll County Historical Society,1998). Sadler looked at Fosters cursive handwriting of Floyd Allens conviction and understood the documents gravity. ( Historic Resource | DHR | Carroll County) We depend entirely on donations. Floyd shot Jack in the head and then began to beat him in the head with a rock while he was out cold. [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. [29] Marshall then related that Sidna Allen's bullet buried itself in the window about six inches above his head. There are even questions as to what happened here. Another entered the body at the cap of the left hip and passed through the abdomen. The deputy clerk of Carroll County, Dexter Goad, obtained a new warrant for the brothers' arrest, notifying the sheriff in Surry County, North Carolina, who soon arrested both men. Did Floyd force their release or were they released into his custody? - Floyd Allen was tried in 1903 for shooting his first cousin, Noah Combs, and was sentenced to spend 1 hour in jail and pay a fine. 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. V. Ray Bowman is known for Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court (2011). - Old timers said that when Wesley kissed the McCraw girl at the cornshucking, it wasnt out of affection for her, it was to irritate her boyfriend, John William Thomas. Hillsville, Virginia is part of the Preserve America program. 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. As the smoke cleared the sheriff, judge, and the common wealth attorney all lay dead. Sadler also knew that, minutes after Foster laid down his pencil, he was dead. Virginia law held that when a sheriff died his deputies lost all legal powers, so the shooting left Carroll County without law enforcement. Despite taking his nephews to jail himself, Floyd was accused that he did feloniously and forcably [sic] rescue his nephews, according to a grand jury indictment. Most significantly, Sadler knew that he was reading a document that had been missing for more than 100 years. He told Sheriff Lewis Webb to take the prisoner. On May 18, 1912, the jury found Floyd Allen guilty. Mr. Alderman said Friel and Dexter met privately for about half an hour and shook hands at the end of their meeting. The significance of this event to Carroll County is profound, Sadler said. Explore the latest videos from hashtags: #truckspottinginthe717 . He was not in the courthouse during the shootings, but immediately ran to his dying friend and mentor. Autopsies were not conducted on the dead nor was any meaningful forensic investigation of the crime scene undertaken even though the science such studies existed in 1912 which only generated more questions, arguments, fights and conspiracy theories over the decades. Allen later denied this, but the reported threat caused Samuels to leave the state the same night it was delivered. The play was still occasionally performed before the pandemic. He found trial transcripts. People were struck, some were wounded, some killed instantly. An Allen or a member of the court? B. The exciting story of the Allen family and the officials who tried to bring them to justice. Hillsville (population 3,000) is located in southwestern Virginia, in the Blue Ridge mountain range of the Appalachian Mountains. - Nancy Elizabeth Betty Ayers was shot in the back just about the beltline and just to the right of her spine. 10995 Wesley Edwards, No. Then he found the original Floyd Allen indictment that bore William Fosters final written words. [20], Within a month, all suspected shooters were in custody, except Sidna Allen and Wesley Edwards. 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. - Almost everyone in Carroll County is related to everyone else. [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. 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.. In the great Carroll County shootout in Hillsville on March 14, 1912, a judge, a sheriff, a commonwealth's attorney, a juror, and a spectator were all killed by shots fired by Allen and others after Allen was convicted of assault. Sidna Allen and Claud Allen stood on benches in the courtroom's northeast corner to see over the crowd. A recent documentary film "Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court" won an independent film award last year and will be shown this week in Hillsville. The new system appointed a full-time judge to hold court at scheduled intervals in a circuit of several counties. As the smoke cleared the sheriff, judge, and the common wealth attorney all lay dead. Features three historians (two that have written books about the incident)and their interpretations of the events that led up to the shooting and the consequences. Yep, I think we do have similar tendencies. Samuels' departure forced Commonwealth's Attorney William M. Foster to rely on testimony from Deputy Easter. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 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. The following two tabs change content below. To be honest, nothing in the more than 180 pages of court papers adds any new information to the well-researched story of the shootout and its equally tragic aftermath. 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. Carroll County Clerk of Circuit Court Gerald Goad opened the formal transfer of the papers from Wythe County in the very room where the shootout occurred - a circle completed some 100 years, nine months and six days since traveling to Wythe County. 11217 Sidna Edwards, No. He said he thought Floyd's fumbling with his sweater buttons was a prelude to drawing his pistol. [citation needed], A Carroll County deputy sheriff, Thomas Samuels, and his driver, Peter Easter, traveled in Easter's four-seater buggy to the state line and received the brothers from Sheriff Haynes and Deputy Oscar Monday, who had arrested the brothers at work. - Andrew Howlett, one of the spectators who was wounded during the Courthouse Tragedy, was a brother to Mack Howlett, who shot and killed Carr Allen in 1898. On March 14, 1912, Floyd stood in the Hillsville, Va. courthouse, convicted of interfering with police business and assaulting a deputy sheriff. One can wonder if that was a sign that she blamed her husband for the tragic calamity that befell the family. "Allen Boys Tell of Shooting", Bluefield, West Virginia: "State Closes Case In Sidna Allen Trial". Officers often had a violent past. Too many other projects. 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'S TERM FIXED AT 35 YEARS; Head of Hillsville Clan Sentenced for Killing of Three Court Officials. Allen and several members of his family immediately fled the courtroom but were later captured and convicted of murder. [21] Agent Faddis and four men raided Floyd Allen's property, seizing illegal stills and fifty gallons of moonshine. [20], Sidna Allen denied that he shot Judge Massie, or that he fired at Commonwealth's Attorney Foster, Sheriff Webb, or at Juror Fowler. When it was over the judge and the sheriff laid dead. The exciting story of the Allen family and the officials who tried to bring them to justice. More leniency was given to the other Allens and their family members. The Commonwealth of Virginia posted rewards ($1000 for Sidna Allen, $1000 for Sidna Edwards, $800 for Claud Allen, $500 for Friel Allen, and $500 for Wesley Edwards) - dead or alive. Floyd, 56, a once proud man now destroyed, was strapped to the electric chair, a leather mask placed over his face and four, 1-minute bursts of 2,000-volt electrical shocks were sent coursing through his body until he was pronounced dead at 1:26 p.m. Claude, just 24, was electrocuted in the same chair 12 minutes later. Floyd stood up, his hands fidgeting with the bottom of his sweater, and he spoke his defiant words. When all the smoke cleared, there were five dead, seven wounded. About; Contact; Links; Search for: Tags. 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. 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. Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court; Videos; The Holstein Dilemma. Hillsville Courthouse. Because of his vision to preserve and protect these exhibits, theyll never be lost again.. A jury foremans handwritten verdict in blotchy ink condemns Claude Allen to death. I like that youre reading up on your new home. Supposedly, Andy Griffins father would take him up there when he was a boy (it was about 25 miles from Mt. As if entitled, they took what they wanted or needed. [36], For their roles in the shooting, Floyd and Claud were sentenced to death by electrocution. . How can you have seven murder trials in Wythe County and not have any exhibits whatsoever? Sadler often asked. 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. 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 On a different occasion, he heard Floyd Allen make the same threat of putting the biggest hole in the courthouse that any man ever had seen. 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. As the smoke cleared the sheriff, judge, and the common wealth attorney all lay dead. The girl he chose to kiss led to a later fight at a church and resulted in a warrant for his arrest. Allen once accused Goad of running liquor, which forced the clerk to resign from a prestigious post as federal commissioner. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The judge refused. Photo courtesy Carroll County Historical Society and Museum Howard Gilmer was a young attorney and protege of Judge Thornton Massie, who cradled the dying judge during his last moments in the courtroom. Allen had been convicted of a serious offense interfering with a deputy (beating up a deputy was closer to the truth) to release his nephews from custody but nothing so serious that rose to the level of instigating a deadly shootout. He also pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the shooting of Sheriff Webb, and was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment. 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. According to local legend, a headstone placed atop their graves read: Sacred to the memory of Claude S. Allen and his father, who was judicially murdered in the Va. Penitentiary March 28 1913 by order of the Governor of the State over the protest of 100,000 citizens of the state of Va.. Five people died and seven were wounded in the gun battle that followed. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. - William Sidna Edwards, the nephew of Floyd Allen, was sentenced to 18 years in prison as a result of the Courthouse Tragedy, although he never fired a shot. actually, theres a lot to read and learn even in a rural place. Find the cheapest option or how to watch with a free trial. Published in the SW VA Enterprise, Wytheville, Virginia Tuesday, July 4, 1939. 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. [2], Deputy Samuels was left lying unconscious in a ditch, and his horses were run off. [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. [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. [2] Sentenced to a $100 fine and one hour in jail for wounding Jack, Floyd refused to go, saying that he "would never spend a minute in jail as long as the blood flowed through his veins". All men were pardoned by Gov. [24], Yet another lawyer who witnessed the shooting, W. A. Daugherty of Pikeville, stated that several young men were standing on court benches at the back of the room firing their pistols "like Custer's cavalrymen at the Little Big Horn". 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. On 13 March 1912, in the Carroll County Circuit Court, . Claude had become a cause celebre in his final days, perhaps for his handsome looks that were regularly featured in newspaper photos and the fact that he was leaving behind a grieving fianc. I dont know too much historical facts about where I live. A second shot entered the back about four inches lower, while a third shot cut the sheriff across the chin. (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. He wrote a memoir, made beautiful furniture from delicately inlaid wooden pieces and spent the rest of his life telling people that the Allens did not shoot first. The sentence would have had Floyd do time. The Holstein Dilemma Trailer; The Holstein Dilemma Preview; The Holstein Dilemma Director's Cut DVD; Screening Dates and Locations; Electronic Press Kit; agriCulture Podcast; About Us. 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. In response, the judge told the two men that if the law could not be faithfully enforced in Carroll County by the county's deputized officers he would bring in state troops if necessary to maintain order. More by Ralph Berrier Jr. Support Cardinal News and connect with more than 13,000 of our most engaged readers by sponsoring a Cardinal News newsletter. The Allens were unreconstructed Democrats, the county fathers were mildly progressive, albeit still conservative, Republicans. Two of the participants were executed and the others received lengthy prison sentences. Not only the sheriff and deputies, but Goad and Foster. Bringing in Sheaves: The Western Revivals of the Reverend A. As the smoke cleared the sheriff, judge, and the common wealth attorney all lay dead. Edwards was one of those involved in the fight at the church with the Edwards brothers and went on to be County Sheriff for numerous terms. "Claude Allen Convicted: He Is Found Guilty of Murdering Commonwealth's Attorney Foster", Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Allen Clan Hillsville Courthouse Shootout", The Wheeling Intelligencer March 15, 1912 p.15, Transcriptions of contemporary newspaper articles, "Mug Shot Monday Special Edition: Floyd and Claude Allen", The UncommonWealth: Voices from the Library of Virginia at the Library of Virginia, The UncommonWealth: Voices from the Library of Virginia, "Hillsville Massacre - The UncommonWealth", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Floyd_Allen&oldid=1137936144, People executed by Virginia by electric chair, 20th-century executions of American people, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2020, Articles needing additional references from October 2020, All articles needing additional references, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from October 2020, All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from December 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Lewis Franklin Webb, Carroll County sheriff, William McDonald Foster, Commonwealth's Attorney, Augustus Cezar Fowler, juror (died of wounds), This page was last edited on 7 February 2023, at 04:22. [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. He was tried in federal court, found guilty, and sentenced to a year in federal prison at Moundsville, West Virginia. -- Sidna Allen, leader of the Allen clan, which shot up the Carroll County Court at Hillsville last March, causing the death of five person, was to-day found guilty of . He found the murder indictment against Sidna Allen, Floyds brother who would be convicted and serve more than 13 years in prison. The legend also claims that the marker was removed as a condition of Sidna Allens pardon in 1926 after he served 14 years. The jury found Allen guilty of assault on 14 March and sentenced him to one year in the penitentiary. Two months after the shootout, Floyd Allen was convicted in Wytheville of killing Foster, the commonwealths attorney. As gunmen spilled from the courthouse taking their battle through the downtown streets, the judge, sheriff, and the Commonwealth Attorney lay dead in the smoke-filled courtroom. "The Courthouse Massacre? 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. Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court watch movie for free Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court full movie *Watch Movie Online or Watch Best Free HD 1080p Videos on Desktop, Laptop, Notebook, Tablet, iPhone, iPad, Mac Pro and more. He proved to be right. 272 pages including sources and a few b&w photos. Floyd, with a concealed pistol, began to shoot, but only after the mayhem began. The Carroll County Historical Society will host a special presentation of "The Last Witness - A story of Friendship and Trust," an examination of the Courthouse Tragedy in Hillsville on March 14 1912.". 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