'"[11][17] At this point, shots broke out in the courtroom. He found trial transcripts. 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. To see this handwritten verdict, I knew it was the Holy Grail and Exhibit One in the commonwealths case against Floyd Allen, Sadler said. Bake . Floyd freed his nephews and took them himself to the Hillsville jail two days later. [11] There was only one set of handcuffs, and because Sidna Edwards had tried to escape a couple of times, Wesley was handcuffed in the front seat of the buggy and Sidna was tied in the back seat. Take care, my friend! Many accounts claim that Allen initiated the confrontation by pulling a gun in court. In his defense testimony, Floyd Allen stated that Sheriff Lew F. Webb fired first, but that the shot missed Allen, at which point Deputy Clerk Goad, the Clerk of Court, fired and hit Allen, causing him to fall. [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. The exciting story of the Allen family and the officials who tried to bring them to justice. Floyd Allen jury member, John W. Farris, remarked that they wouldnt be back until they were brought back. When all the smoke cleared, there were five dead, seven wounded. After the shooting, because of the number of Allens in Carroll County, they housed the prisoners in Roanoke. B. Two were executed and a number went to prison for their part in the tragedy. Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. March broke cold and rainy in the mountains. Sadler knew that tragic story, and he understood his familys connection to it. As the smoke cleared the sheriff, judge, and the common wealth attorney all lay dead. The play, which is. 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. After a fusillade of shots, the Allen clan left the courthouse, armed with pistols and 12-gauge pump shotguns and shooting as they ran. The Hillsville Courthouse Shootout 1,426 views Jul 30, 2021 In 1912 a Carroll County, Virginia, man was sentenced to serve a one year sentence in the state penitentiary. - 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. [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. - 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. Was it Floyds son Claude? 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. Blacksburg-based autonomous vehicle firm Torc to acquire Canadian company; more . Sidna was released from prison, but he never set foot in his fine house again. Hall has done an outstanding job researching this subjectt. 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. In several instances he escaped indictment, I am satisfied, because the witnesses were afraid to testify to the facts before the grand jury. Judge W. R. Staples presided over the courthouse shooting trials, which were prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Samuel W. Williams and involved attorneys Draper, Landreth, Poage and Wysor. [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. Built in 1873, the historic courthouse is the site of the tragic courtroom shooting of 1912 and is the current site of the museum. In 2015 or so, Sadler also found a .38 caliber bullet among the keepsakes. It is amazing how nothing changes Today, a story gets retold till its stale, unless something big happens to push it off the headlines. The Carroll County prosecutor placed liens on all property owned by Floyd Allen and Sidna Allen for the heirs of the victims. COOPERSTOWN NEW YORK POSTCARD~Orphanage Building/House~Cart 1911 (#185750574261) l***n (1544) - Feedback left by buyer l***n (1544). As the smoke cleared the sheriff, judge, and the common wealth attorney all lay dead. [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. [35] In July 1912, after three separate trials, Claud Allen was convicted of first-degree murder for the killing of Commonwealth's Attorney Foster, and for second-degree murder for the killing of Judge Massie. 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. 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. The spotlight returned to the story of the shootout when the centennial of the tragedy was marked in 2012. Ralph Berrier Jr. is a writer who lives in Roanoke. 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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. This story could have been written in a Creative Non-Fiction genre. 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.. But it turned out that he actually had left behind one document about what he saw and heard on March 14, 1912. Fearful of the Allens' reaction, and having received death threats, many officials of the court armed themselves. We must have similar tendencies as I like to pick up a few books about the history of any area I spend some time in. On 13 March 1912, in the Carroll County Circuit Court, . 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. But the governor refused. [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". On the cold spring morning of March 14th, 1912, shots rang out in the tiny rural mountain town of Hillsville, Virginia. However, once the story began, it flowed better. Seems like everybody from Carroll County has some connection to this story. If the Blacksburg-Roanoke-Lynchburg area wants a regional tech hub, here's a chance to help write the rules, Beware the Ides of March; bloom-busting cold likely lurks. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. [5] Floyd's body bore the scars of thirteen bullet wounds, five of them inflicted in quarrels with his own family. Upon conviction of interfering with an officer of the law, Judge Thornton Massie oversaw the jury's imposed sentence of one year imprisonment. Sadler, a real estate broker in Blacksburg who lives on a family farm in Pulaski County, had taken an interest in the shootout story after looking at old scrapbooks kept by his grandmother, Howard Gilmers daughter. Allen also had political run-ins with Foster, who switched parties from Democrat to Republican in order to defeat an Allen relative for the prosecutors post. The detectives left at Hillsville have gone to the mountains, headed by Lee Felts. [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. Just a Presbyterian Church and a store. The definitive history, Mr. Ron Halls Carroll County Courthouse Tragedy is still published and is available at the Museum bookstore. [13], The rumor that the Allens were intimidating witnesses was called to the attention of the court. Bringing in Sheaves: The Western Revivals of the Reverend A. [32], Sidna Edwards testified that he was not armed on the day of the shooting and that he did not like to carry guns. Commonwealth's Attorney, Sheriff, some jurors and others shot on the conviction of Floyd Allen for a felony. As historian Ron Hall wrote in his book: And for a moment, the world stopped.. Discover short videos related to Hillsville 1912 A Shooting in the Court on TikTok. The courtroom buzzed. After the Edwards were charged with assault, they fled across the North Carolina border to Mt. The book begins with character sketches of the various parties involved. [21] V. Ray Bowman is known for Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court (2011). To this day, 110 years later, nobody who has studied this notorious event can say with any assurance who fired that catastrophic first shot. Horney told Sadler he decided to take one more look in the basement for the lost documents, moving more than 700 boxes. As the smoke cleared the sheriff, judge, and the common wealth attorney all lay dead. Find out where you can buy, rent, or subscribe to a streaming service to watch it live or on-demand. [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". The defense attempted to show that Deputy Clerk Goad shot Elizabeth Ayers in his exchange of fire with the Allens, a charge Goad denied. The announcement of. The animosity derived from a feud between Thomas father, George W. Thomas, and Floyd Allen. At least two of the participants, Judge Massie and Sheriff Webb, had told friends that they expected trouble. How can you have seven murder trials in Wythe County and not have any exhibits whatsoever? Sadler often asked. PARROW'S TRIAL POSTPONED Chicago Lawyer Will Not Appear Be fore Jan. 6. The documents found their way to Wytheville because that was the site of the ensuing trials that followed the shootout, the venue having been moved from Hillsville where anger against the defendants boiled. He was not in the courthouse during the shootings, but immediately ran to his dying friend and mentor. 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. Floyd once got in a tangle over a business deal with his younger brother Jasper Jack Allen, who might have been the toughest Allen of them all, and the two men shot and wounded each other. Mr. Allen stood and declared, "Gentlemen, I ain't a goin'." Director Rick Bowman Writers Rick Bowman Bill Perrine Stars "Floyd Allen Defense Gets Well Into Case", Bluefield, W. Va.: "Accuses Dexter Goad Of Shooting Betty Ayers". 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. After those five shots, he dropped to his knees and reloaded his revolver. [26] Though wounded by four bullets himself, Goad recovered. Sidna Allen and Claud Allen stood on benches in the courtroom's northeast corner to see over the crowd. So, in late 1910 when two of Floyd Allens nephews got in a little trouble with the law, the consequences would be deadly. [4] Sidna was retried and found guilty of perjury in his trial testimony, and was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. 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. Massie, Foster, Webb and juror Augustus Fowler died in the courtroom. The sentence would have had Floyd do time. Site of the Bloody Massacre Photo by Author, Thelma Raker Coffone. Hall himself had asked Horney, who died in 2020, about the whereabouts of the trial exhibits while doing his own research. Follow Us. The jury fixed the penalty at fifteen years in the penitentiary. All men were pardoned by Gov. Massie sentenced Allen to one year in prison. - Commonwealths Attorney, William McDonald Foster, was a brother-in-law to one of Floyd Allens defense attorneys; Walter Scott Tipton. "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. 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. . [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. Mann asking either that the Allens be given clemency or be executed swiftly. The was never a barber shop in this Mayberry, however. Menu. [citation needed]. Floyd Allen was going to trial. [4] His defense team included former Commonwealth's Attorney Walter Tipton and recent County Court Judge Oglesby. The men were gunned down during one of the most notorious events in Southwest Virginia history. M arch 14, 1912, arrives just as badly as the day before. Barry Lopezs book (above) sounds good. For a while, Hillsville was at the top of the nations newspaper. The goals of the program include a greater shared knowledge about the nation's past, strengthened regional identities and local pride, increased local participation in preserving the country's cultural and natural heritage assets, and support for the economic vitality of our communities. The identification label on the drawer bore a large A and an X. Horney pulled the label out from its slot, flipped it over and read the typed words on the other side: (Claudes name was frequently spelled with and without an E.). Airy). Howard, I believe thats what youve been looking for, Horney said. 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. While the one Allens name is Floyd, there is also a town of Floyd and Floyd County to the north of Carroll County. Harry F. Byrd Sr. in the 1920s. [34] Sidna Allen and Wesley Edwards then left Virginia, eventually reaching Des Moines, Iowa. Two months after the shootout, Floyd Allen was convicted in Wytheville of killing Foster, the commonwealths attorney. [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. 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. . Although some stories say she didnt know she was shot and some say she said I am killed, no documentation exists to confirm either. About; Contact; Links; Search for: Tags. Roanoke, Va., March 16, --The prisoners from Hillsville are not expected here before 3 o'clock Sunday morning. Indications are that they will clash with the Allen's tonight or early in the morning. He also pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the shooting of Sheriff Webb, and was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment. Like this one, I often find they could have used some rearranging to keep ones interest but I almost always enjoy them. Democratic Governor Elbert Lee Trinkle pardoned Friel Allen and Sidna Edwards in 1922. Published in the SW VA Enterprise, Wytheville, Virginia Tuesday, July 4, 1939. 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. Elian Gonzalez is a more recent example. Mr. Alderman said Friel and Dexter met privately for about half an hour and shook hands at the end of their meeting. Atop a shelf, he saw what looked like a drawer among the boxes. You do have some interesting local history. Mt. [18], Seven others were wounded, including Deputy Clerk Goad and Floyd Allen. 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. 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. [1] 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. View over 100 different photos - art pieces about the 1912 courthouse tragedy and Allen family from Cana, VA in this. A few weeks ago, that trove of documents related to the shootout and subsequent trials made its way back to Carroll County, where the whole mess started. Another entered the body at the cap of the left hip and passed through the abdomen. 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 the Circuit Court Gerald Goad sits behind the drawer that holds long-lost documents from the murder trials that followed the infamous "Courthouse Massacre" in 1912. No autopsies were ever performed and rumors flew of friendly fire casualties. [11] On the way to the courthouse, the buggy passed by several properties owned by the Allens. Not only the sheriff and deputies, but Goad and Foster. He also wrote that as the judge lay dying, he told his young protg, Tell my brother Robert to take care of my family.. [20], Sidna Allen denied that he shot Judge Massie, or that he fired at Commonwealth's Attorney Foster, Sheriff Webb, or at Juror Fowler. Hillsville Courthouse. [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. 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. Two were executed and a number went to prison for their part in the tragedy. This sort of isolation probably meant that Floyd and his siblings grew up independent, resourceful and perhaps overly prideful and defiant. See production, box office & company info. Mr. Alderman said he was not privy to what they discussed. On May 18, 1912, the jury found Floyd Allen guilty. [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. [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. With the entry of the United States into World. Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. Jack came to and shot Floyd which ended the affair. In the space of 90 seconds, 57 bullets were fired into the Hillsville courthouse, killing five men and wounding three more. Allen rose to his feet and calmly said, "Gentlemen, I ain't goin'." 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. Friel Allen was tried in August 1912 and after confessing to shooting prosecutor Foster, was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court (2011) Plot Showing all 1 items Jump to: Summaries (1) Summaries On the cold Spring morning of March 14th, 1912 shots rang out inside the tiny mountain courtroom. [34] Allen claimed that when the shooting began, he drew his own revolver and fired five times at Deputy Clerk Goad and Deputy Sheriff Gillespie, because both men were firing at him. 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. "Floyd Allen Defense Gets Well Into Case", Bluefield, West Virginia: "Defense Continues Efforts To Disprove Conspiracy". 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. 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. Barely one year after the courthouse shootout, Floyd Allen and his son Claude were executed minutes apart at the Virginia State Penitentiary in Richmond. We dont sell ads, or block you with a paywall. [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] In May 1889, Floyd's brothers, Garland and Sidna Allen, were tried for carrying concealed pistols and assaulting a group of thirteen men. I like that youre reading up on your new home. 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. 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. "The Courthouse Massacre? William Hodges Mann from Hillsvilles one outside line brought the famed Baldwin-Felts detectives to town the next day. Hillsville began as a trading post known as Cranberry Plains. 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. [38], Victor Allen and Barnett Allen were acquitted. One can wonder if that was a sign that she blamed her husband for the tragic calamity that befell the family. 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.. The shooting began after the jury had found the defendant, Floyd Allen, guilty of forcefully releasing two prisoners (his sisters sons) from law enforcement as they were bringing the prisoners back from Mt. 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. 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