[34] Sidna Allen and Wesley Edwards then left Virginia, eventually reaching Des Moines, Iowa. 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. We are the court of record. Petty also witnessed a pistol duel between Sidna Allen and Deputy Clerk Dexter Goad. 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. On May 18, 1912, the jury found Floyd Allen guilty. On the cold spring morning of March 14th, 1912, shots rang out in the tiny rural mountain town of Hillsville, Virginia. . Most significantly, Sadler knew that he was reading a document that had been missing for more than 100 years. [1] Others consider the alleged affidavit to be hearsay, made years after the event transpired, and worthless. Sadler took the file drawer to a vault in the courthouse and dove into the trove. "Accuses Dexter Goad of Shooting Betty Ayers". The jury set his sentence at one year. Samuels' departure forced Commonwealth's Attorney William M. Foster to rely on testimony from Deputy Easter. The defense attempted to show that Deputy Clerk Goad shot Elizabeth Ayers in his exchange of fire with the Allens, a charge Goad denied. "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. Courthouse Productions will stage "Thunder in the Hills" again at the historic Carroll County Courthouse, North Main Street, Hillsville, Virginia, beginning April 7. (Walter Allen had lost the bitterly fought race. Floyd Allen was well represented by a two-attorney team. Not only the sheriff and deputies, but Goad and Foster. Sadler pored over available documents from the murder trials, but he lamented that many original 1912 exhibits were lost. 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. [32], Sidna Edwards testified that he was not armed on the day of the shooting and that he did not like to carry guns. 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. He found trial transcripts. The jury fixed the penalty at fifteen years in the penitentiary. I oppose capital punishment (although if you heard what I sometimes say about certain characters on tv, you might doubt that). PARROW'S TRIAL POSTPONED Chicago Lawyer Will Not Appear Be fore Jan. 6. After all, he agreed hed have the boys in court? With the death of the Sheriff and so many of the Allens on the loose, the state sent help. [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. [4] At the next term of court, Allen produced an order of clemency from Governor Andrew J. Montague suspending the jail sentence. 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 police of 1912 were not exactly professional. As the late Roanoke writer and broadcaster Seth Williamson wrote in The Roanoker magazine in 1982, the Allen men were not a race of mild country squires.. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio or on your favorite podcast app. Friel Allen sat in the back of the room, and the Edwards boys stood on benches next to the north wall. On March 17, 1916, he stopped for the night in a roadhouse near Mt. Most likely, someone had intentionally hidden the drawer to keep people from pawing through and perhaps removing the papers. 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. 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 also pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the shooting of Sheriff Webb, and was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment. What follows is a genuine effort to accurately summarize the tragedy and the events that led to the bloodshed. Yep, I think we do have similar tendencies. The phone hasn't stopped ringing in the. 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. A stolen kiss. Howard Gilmer testified during the subsequent murder trials about the judges fatal bullet wound. [13], The rumor that the Allens were intimidating witnesses was called to the attention of the court. WYTHEVILLE, Va., Nov. 22. So was the judge. As the smoke cleared the sheriff, judge, and the common wealth attorney all lay dead. 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. 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. In March 1912, there was a shooting at the Carroll County, Courthouse in Hillsville, Virginia. The jury could not agree on a verdict immediately as the trial ended, and were sequestered in a local hotel overnight. The prosecutor's case was based on the formation of a conspiracy by the Allens to kill the trial judge, local law enforcement, and others who had wronged them in the event of a guilty verdict. [15] Judge Thornton L. Massie, who had deputized Floyd six months earlier, presided. Again, no thorough investigation of the courtroom happened, and the scene was almost immediately compromised by people who dug bullets out of the walls with pocketknives to keep as souvenirs. Massie refused, saying he was there to prosecute, not persecute.. While the one Allens name is Floyd, there is also a town of Floyd and Floyd County to the north of Carroll County. The property is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places. 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. 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. 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. [34] Sidna Allen claimed that when he left the courthouse, Goad followed behind him, shooting him through the left arm, the bullet lodging in his left side. But there they were, hidden in a drawer in the basement of the Wythe County Courthouse, where a longtime clerk discovered them in the fall of 2016. He borrowed a .38 automatic from another cousin, Church Alderman. For a while, Hillsville was at the top of the nation's newspaper. As historian Ron Hall wrote in his book: And for a moment, the world stopped.. 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. While there, Wesley kissed a girl who was romantically linked to a local youth, Will Thomas, which led to an altercation between the two young men. Airy, North Carolina. This story could have been written in a Creative Non-Fiction genre. Please visit their website for more information. - Thomas Franklin Pink Samuel, the deputy from whom Floyd Allen released his nephews, moved to Amelia County and never testified at the trial. He said he thought Floyd's fumbling with his sweater buttons was a prelude to drawing his pistol. )[12], Foster called upon a grand jury to investigate the escape/pistol-whipping incident. 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. All men were pardoned by Gov. Allen later denied this, but the reported threat caused Samuels to leave the state the same night it was delivered. 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. - Carroll law officers did not cross into North Carolina to arrest the Edwards brothers as has long been claimed. Allen was noted for his generosity, but also his quick temper and easily injured pride. 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. The remaining prisoners received pardons (from a different governor) in the 1920s. The girl he chose to kiss led to a later fight at a church and resulted in a warrant for his arrest. 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. Wesley was sentenced to sixty days and his brother thirty, which were served outside jail on work-release. Too many other projects. In April 1926, Governor Harry Flood Byrd pardoned Sidna Allen and Wesley Edwards. No one secured the courthouse as a crime scene. "[16] The judge immediately sentenced Floyd Allen to one year's imprisonment.[16]. 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. [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. See production, box office & company info. 1912 SIDNA ALLEN CRIMINAL HOUSE FANCY GAP HILLSVILLE VA COURT SHOOTING ~ A1 (#185771767538) s***s (604) - Feedback left by buyer s***s (604). March broke cold and rainy in the mountains. Again, no investigation was made at the scene. The historical society held a symposium that featured several speakers, and a play about the tragedy called Thunder in the Hills, written by Carroll County author/playwright/orchardist Frank Levering, was performed before sold-out audiences in the courtroom of the old courthouse where the shootout happened. Nearly impassable muddy roads and a raw wind that carried snow flurries did not stop nearly 100 people from jamming the 1873 courthouse to see the spectacle of Floyd Allen possibly being led away in handcuffs. [22], The prosecution attempted to show that Floyd and Claud Allen prompted the gun battle by standing and pulling their pistols and opening fire. 23 school districts remove challenged books from library shelves; more . View over 100 different photos - art pieces about the 1912 courthouse tragedy and Allen family from Cana, VA in this. Floyd Allen's son, Victor, bought his father's house so his mother would not have to move. "[1] Not long afterward, Allen shot and wounded Combs, and was indicted and tried on charges of assault. 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. 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 - Claude Allen did not take a gun when he went to Hillsville To Floyds trial. When it was over the judge and the sheriff laid dead. V. Ray Bowman is known for Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court (2011). The town's name was changed to Hillsville in the late 1820s to honor a local family. Have similar tendencies governor Harry Flood Byrd pardoned Sidna Allen and Wesley then. Late 1820s to honor a local family year 's imprisonment. [ 16 ] the judge the. Verdict immediately as the TRIAL ended, and was sentenced to 18 '... The jury could not agree on a verdict immediately as the smoke cleared the sheriff and so many the. 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