Officers often had a violent past. B. Earle, 1866-1867. As the smoke cleared the sheriff, judge, and the common wealth attorney all lay dead. [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. However, no extradition order was issued. 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. Floyd freed his nephews and took them himself to the Hillsville jail two days later. As Sadler studied his grandmothers old scrapbooks, he found a copy of a letter that he had written to state legislators nearly 20 years after the shootout. 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. 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. 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. The Historical Society has gathered significant materials, published over the years, that attempt to interpret this event in our local history. [citation needed]. - Commonwealths Attorney, William McDonald Foster, was a brother-in-law to one of Floyd Allens defense attorneys; Walter Scott Tipton. They, too, were captured by Felts and his men, as Sidna Allen came to believe that Wesleys girlfriend back home had betrayed them. Two months after the shootout, Floyd Allen was convicted in Wytheville of killing Foster, the commonwealths attorney. After getting down the steps he leaned against the window of his office when two girls, Dora and Elizabeth Ayers, passed him. 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. [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. [4] Sidna was retried and found guilty of perjury in his trial testimony, and was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. I have been reading Barry Lopezs About this Life. If you havent read it, you should. Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court, is a documentary feature concerning the Carroll County Courthouse shootings that occurred in Hillsville, Virginia. Did Floyd force their release or were they released into his custody? People were struck, some were wounded, some killed instantly. One local historian interviewed by Williamson for The Roanoker magazine in 1982 stated unequivocally that Claude Allen, Floyds son, fired first. He never carried a gun as a matter of course, but on his way to court, the first day of Floyd Allens trial, his cousin, Allan Webb, advised him to borrow a pistol. That said, I am glad to have read the book and Ive learned more about this area. I just can't bear to see anyone drug around."[13]. There was a massive effort for the governor to commute the sentences of Claude and Floyd, including a petition with over 100,000 signatures. The men were gunned down during one of the most notorious events in Southwest Virginia history. Matt, somewhere I have a collection of Idaho booksmostly from the Sawtooth areaI could lend. Two of whom, Sidna and his nephew Wesley, in Des Moines, Iowa where they were starting a new life. During a second glance Tipton again saw Floyd with his pistol raised and held in both hands; he then saw Floyd Allen fire his pistol. He died at his daughters home in Hillsville in 1941. [34] They returned to their homes by traveling cross-country through the farm fields rather than public roads. 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.. (Walter Allen had lost the bitterly fought race. 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. I like that youre reading up on your new home. On the cold Spring morning of March 14th, 1912 shots rang out inside the tiny mountain 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. In the space of 90 seconds, 57 bullets were fired into the Hillsville courthouse, killing five men and wounding three more. [2] Deputy Samuels pulled a gun (later determined to be inoperative) and ordered Floyd to move away, and Floyd rode back past the buggy to Sidna's store where he then blocked the narrow road with his mare. Perhaps the hardest thing for an outsider to understand is the frequently heard claim that the subject is dead. Burden "Byrd" Marion, a cousin and neighbor, had all charges against him dropped. Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court - Actors and actresses. An Allen or a member of the court? Barry Lopezs book (above) sounds good. Baldwin-Felts detectives traveled to Des Moines, arrested the suspects, and returned them to Carroll County to stand trial. Sheriff and Commonwealth's Attorney dead, court serious. The author is honest and at many times in the book admits we wont know for sure what happened. Massie sentenced Allen to one year in prison. The jury found Allen guilty of assault on 14 March and sentenced him to one year in the penitentiary. 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. Ronald W. Hall,The Carroll County Courthouse Tragedy(2013 printing, Hillsville VA: Carroll County Historical Society,1998). Two were executed and a number went to prison for their part in the tragedy. If done right, this sounds as though it could make for a captivating film. 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. [4] In July 1889, the Carroll County court indicted Floyd for assault as well, but in December of that year the Commonwealth's Attorney dropped the case. On March 17, 1916, he stopped for the night in a roadhouse near Mt. [29] Marshall also testified he had been standing near Sheriff Webb, but did not see any pistol in the Sheriff's hand. Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court (video) Library of Virginia "Mug Shot Special" Floyd and Claude Allen Friel Allen, No. "Allen Boys Tell of Shooting", Bluefield, West Virginia: "State Closes Case In Sidna Allen Trial". [22], The prosecution attempted to show that Floyd and Claud Allen prompted the gun battle by standing and pulling their pistols and opening fire. Many accounts claim that Allen initiated the confrontation by pulling a gun in court. As the deputies were taking the Edwards back to Hillsville, Floyd released the boys from custody. Floyd, wounded too badly in the hip, thigh and knee to leave town, instead spent the night in the Elliott Hotel accompanied by his eldest son, Victor, who was later acquitted of involvement in the shootout. In April 1926, Governor Harry Flood Byrd pardoned Sidna Allen and Wesley Edwards. Howard Sadlers grandfather, Howard Gilmer, who died before Sadler was born, carried the enormity of the tragedy with him throughout his short life. [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. 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. After the Edwards were charged with assault, they fled across the North Carolina border to Mt. Floyd Allen was well represented by a two-attorney team. William Hodges Mann from Hillsvilles one outside line brought the famed Baldwin-Felts detectives to town the next day. Such an interesting, but tragic, history, Jeff! 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. The exciting story of the Allen family and the officials who tried to bring them to justice. The Stories podcast uses the following music as its opening and closing themes: I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. Jack Allen denied all responsibility for the allegations of intimidation, which he stated were untrue and insisted neither he nor his brother was guilty of wrongdoing. Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. [2], Deputy Samuels was left lying unconscious in a ditch, and his horses were run off. The police of 1912 were not exactly professional. Charges eventually were dropped against Sidna and Barnett before the trial.). So was the judge. About; Contact; Links; Search for: Tags. Court testimony says she was outside throwing up on the lawn when Doctor Nuckolls came by. His brother, Sidna? [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. Otherwise, he would not have been armed. I oppose capital punishment (although if you heard what I sometimes say about certain characters on tv, you might doubt that). Floyd said he did it peacefully and lawfully, claiming that the deputies did not have proper warrants for arrest. Judge Thornton Massie was one of five people killed during the courthouse shootout in Hillsville on March 14, 1912. I bet there are lots of tales about Rochester, NY and the surrounding area that would make good reads as well. We are the court of record. Hall thinks that Sheriff Webb, who was carrying a borrowed gun, might have fired accidentally. Friel settled in Inglewood, CA where he married twice, but never had any children. Mt. "You have no idea how much it means to me for you to be here today. Massie had been urged by Foster and Goad to disarm the throng before the trail began. "Floyd Allen Defense Gets Well Into Case", Bluefield, W. Va.: "Accuses Dexter Goad Of Shooting Betty Ayers". Please call to schedule an appointment. After all, he agreed hed have the boys in court? 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. On the cold spring morning of March 14th, 1912, shots rang out in the tiny rural mountain town of Hillsville, Virginia. Samuels' departure forced Commonwealth's Attorney William M. Foster to rely on testimony from Deputy Easter. 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. Upon conviction of interfering with an officer of the law, Judge Thornton Massie oversaw the jurys imposed sentence of one year imprisonment. Why does Carroll County have the lowest vaccination rate in Virginia? [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. Blacksburg-based autonomous vehicle firm Torc to acquire Canadian company; more . Contents 1 Early life and activities 2 Arrest of the Edwards brothers 3 Indictment 4 Trial and shooting 5 Manhunt 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. Commonwealth's Attorney, Sheriff, some jurors and others shot on the conviction of Floyd Allen for a felony. The Allens were unreconstructed Democrats, the county fathers were mildly progressive, albeit still conservative, Republicans. Floyd Allen's son, Victor, bought his father's house so his mother would not have to move. Deputy Clerk Dexter Goad admitted firing the second shot at Floyd, striking him in the pelvis. [8] On February 1, 1908, the Allens were convicted of the charge and sentenced to ten days in jail and a fine of $10. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. No autopsies were ever performed and rumors flew of friendly fire casualties. Yep, I think we do have similar tendencies. Perhaps to get even, Goad charged Allen with falsifying expense reports when he worked as a county deputy. There were, however, nearly 20 Allen men among the spectators in the courtroom. One shot. 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. "[4], Judge Jackson recalled a trial in 1904 in which Allen was convicted of assaulting a neighbor, Noah Combs. There is still question as to what happened and who shot first. Mann asking either that the Allens be given clemency or be executed swiftly. 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. [23], Another prosecution witness was Floyd Allen's other attorney, Walter S. Tipton. Jack Allen lost his job as constable as a result of the Hillsville shooting, and soon his life. Was Clerk of Carroll County Circuit Court During the Famous Allen Trial. 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. 23 school districts remove challenged books from library shelves; more . [2] Floyd then released the Edwards brothers. [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. You can also see some of Sidna Allens furniture craftsmanship and Claude Allens banjo on exhibit in the museum. Sadler looked at Fosters cursive handwriting of Floyd Allens conviction and understood the documents gravity. Sadler said that reading Fosters handwriting gave him chills. 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 one case, after having ridden their horses to death, two of them took a mans mules from his plow in the middle of the field. 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. In a presentation he called The Last Witness, he recounted his grandfathers story and reminded people that, with the return of the trial documents to Carroll County, they were all watching history unfold. Two were executed and a number went to prison for their part in the tragedy. "The Courthouse Massacre? Elbert Lee Trinkle and Gov. [29] Marshall then related that Sidna Allen's bullet buried itself in the window about six inches above his head. I enjoyed the book even though it took me a while to get into it. Doing so, the opening details could easily be incorporated into the larger narrative. Convicted on capital murder, both Claude and Floyd were sentenced to death. However, once the story began, it flowed better. Eleven minutes later, his son, Claud, followed his father to death in the electric chair. WALTERBORO, S.C. ( WCSC /Gray News) - Attorneys in the Alex Murdaugh murder trial are expected to deliver their closing arguments beginning Wednesday after jurors visited the scene of the killings . Wow. Sadler took the file drawer to a vault in the courthouse and dove into the trove. Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court; Videos; The Holstein Dilemma. [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. Look after this now. Interesting story. As the smoke cleared the sheriff, judge, and the common wealth attorney all lay dead. According to Wesley, Thomas and three friends assaulted him, and he defended himself with the help of his brother Sidna, who rushed to join the fight. 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