hillsville 1912: a shooting in the court

Attorney Howard C. Gilmer, of Pulaski, Virginia, was at Hillsville Courthouse in a room adjoining Judge Massie's courtroom when the shooting broke out. The historical society has raised thousands of dollars and conducted much-needed remodeling work in order to resume free tours, with the next public opening happening June 4-5. B. Earle, 1866-1867. The defense attempted to show that Deputy Clerk Goad shot Elizabeth Ayers in his exchange of fire with the Allens, a charge Goad denied. Charges eventually were dropped against Sidna and Barnett before the trial.). 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? As Foster followed the judges instructions to re-write the verdict on the indictment, Allens lawyer, W.D. I enjoy learning about local history. Thousands of people wrote letters to Gov. A stolen kiss. Floyd Allen was born in 1856 and spent much of his life living in Cana, Virginia, located below Fancy Gap Mountain in Carroll County. The police of 1912 were not exactly professional. Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. shot up the Carroll county court at Hillsville last March, resulting in the death of five persons, was found guilty of murder in the Second degree for the killing of Judge Thornton L. Mas sie. [citation needed]. Allen once accused Goad of running liquor, which forced the clerk to resign from a prestigious post as federal commissioner. Sidna Allen received a 35-year prison sentence, his nephews Wesley and Sidna Edwards and Friel Allen got lesser sentences. 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. Sadler said that reading Fosters handwriting gave him chills. SIDNA ALLEN'S TERM FIXED AT 35 YEARS; Head of Hillsville Clan Sentenced for Killing of Three Court Officials. Upon conviction of interfering with an officer of the law, Judge Thornton Massie oversaw the jurys imposed sentence of one year imprisonment. We depend entirely on donations. Floyd Allens case had been continued a couple of times before he finally appeared in court for a two-day trial that started on March 12, 1912. - Claude Allen did not take a gun when he went to Hillsville To Floyds trial. He pointed toward what appeared to Sadler to be a metal file. I just can't bear to see anyone drug around."[13]. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. The girl he chose to kiss led to a later fight at a church and resulted in a warrant for his arrest. After years of being privately owned, Sidna Allens house was given to the Carroll County Historical Society in 2014 by siblings Stanley Widener and Bonnie Wood, whose mother, Marlene, often opened the house to the public for tours. The courtroom buzzed. After getting down the steps he leaned against the window of his office when two girls, Dora and Elizabeth Ayers, passed him. - Arresting officer Oscar Monday was the step-brother of the Edwards brothers. Floyd Allen (July 5, 1856 March 28, 1913) was an American landowner and patriarch of the Allen clan of Carroll County, Virginia. Howard Gilmer testified during the subsequent murder trials about the judges fatal bullet wound. Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court - Actors and actresses. Interesting story. Synopsis On the cold Spring morning of March 14th, 1912 shots rang out inside the tiny mountain courtroom. Just a Presbyterian Church and a store. In some ways, the county never recovered from that day. 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. Perhaps to get even, Goad charged Allen with falsifying expense reports when he worked as a county deputy. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. Floyd had been seriously wounded. Hillsville Courthouse. After the shooting, because of the number of Allens in Carroll County, they housed the prisoners in Roanoke. Find the cheapest option or how to watch with a free trial. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. [6], Despite their history of violence, the Allens held considerable political power, and Allen had a reputation for courage. [4][2] Sidna promptly appealed and won a new trial on the perjury charge. The Allens were unreconstructed Democrats, the county fathers were mildly progressive, albeit still conservative, Republicans. 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. 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. Located in the Fancy Gap community near I-77 Exit 14. 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. 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. 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. 11218 The Roanoker - Hillsville Massacre Industrial Survey - Carroll County (NOTE a 1929 publication) Media The Carroll News [1] Others consider the alleged affidavit to be hearsay, made years after the event transpired, and worthless. The property is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places. [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. 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. The documents dont answer the seemingly unsolvable questions that have lingered in the air like gun smoke for 110 years. Soon afterwards, folks dug bullets buried in the walls as souvenirs. You can also see some of Sidna Allens furniture craftsmanship and Claude Allens banjo on exhibit in the museum. Find out where you can buy, rent, or subscribe to a streaming service to watch it live or on-demand. Horney told Sadler he decided to take one more look in the basement for the lost documents, moving more than 700 boxes. For a while, Hillsville was at the top of the nation's newspaper. The Allens could be a rough bunch, who fought with and shot at enemies which they had no shortage of, apparently and even each other. - 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. 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. Virginia law held that when a sheriff died his deputies lost all legal powers, so the shooting left Carroll County without law enforcement. Then a cacophony of gunfire. The phone hasn't stopped ringing in the. Wow. Floyd Allen was the first to be brought to trial on a charge of murdering Judge Massie, Sheriff Webb, and Commonwealth's Attorney Foster. 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. Gerald Goad said the documents needed to be back in Carroll County. Hillsville began as a trading post known as Cranberry Plains. 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. Newport News nuprt - -prt -6 is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. I bet there are lots of tales about Rochester, NY and the surrounding area that would make good reads as well. In 1921, however, Victor moved his family to Tabernacle Township, New Jersey. Educational video on the history of Western medicine presented by the University of South Carolina's College of Library and Information Science as part of a workshop created by th 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. The home is owned by Bert and Marlene Widener, who offer tours by appointment. WYTHEVILLE, Va., Nov. 22. He was convicted and executed for murder in 1913 after a sensational courthouse shootout the previous year that left a judge, prosecutor, sheriff, and two others dead, although the validity of the conviction has been a source of debate within Carroll County for decades. The agency, infamous for busting coal miner unions, breaking strikes and shooting people in West Virginia, were led by Thomas Felts from just down the road in Galax. Two of the participants were executed and the others received lengthy prison sentences. [22], The prosecution attempted to show that Floyd and Claud Allen prompted the gun battle by standing and pulling their pistols and opening fire. Airy, North Carolina where he encountered Will McGraw, a moonshine hauler. Another of those events that have passed into history. [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. Photo by Ralph Berrier Jr. www.ccva.digital/1912-historical-courthouse-tragedy.html, The politics of March pressing assault chargesagainst Williams. [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. Floyd called home to have his son, Victor, bring him to court on Wednesday, March 13th. How can you have seven murder trials in Wythe County and not have any exhibits whatsoever? Sadler often asked. On 13 March 1912, in the Carroll County Circuit Court, Floyd Allen was tried for attacking two deputies who had arrested two of his nephews for fighting and disturbing a religious meeting. On the cold spring morning of March 14th, 1912, shots rang out in the tiny rural mountain town of Hillsville, Virginia. As the deputies were taking the Edwards back to Hillsville, Floyd released the boys from custody. The jury could not agree on a verdict immediately as the trial ended, and were sequestered in a local hotel overnight. Two bullet holes Floyd Allens final shots in the massacre are still visible in the wooden steps. There are even questions as to what happened here. [1], In his testimony at his murder trial, Floyd Allen admitted he had fired at Deputy Clerk Quesinberry and again twice more at other unknown persons once he had left the courthouse.[28]. And forensic science was almost non-existent, at least in rural areas. Massie had been urged by Foster and Goad to disarm the throng before the trail began. [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. One bullet entered the back and ranged upward, lodging directly under the collarbone. Three trials were needed to finally convict Claude. The last and fifth shot went into the calf of the leg and when his trousers were removed, a .32 caliber bullet was discovered. [2], Floyd Allen met the buggy south of Sidna Allen's home as he was on the way to his own home. View over 100 different photos - art pieces about the 1912 courthouse tragedy and Allen family from Cana, VA in this. Mt. The significance of this event to Carroll County is profound, Sadler said. Neither died, but Jack had a silver plate in his head until he died. Barry Lopezs book (above) sounds good. [5] Floyd's body bore the scars of thirteen bullet wounds, five of them inflicted in quarrels with his own family. Ron Hall, a local historian who has written a book about the shootout and is considered one of the best sources for factual information about the story, told Sadler that he was probably the first person to see those documents in 100 years. They, too, were captured by Felts and his men, as Sidna Allen came to believe that Wesleys girlfriend back home had betrayed them. 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. [8], In 1910, Sidna Allen was tried in the United States court at Greensboro, North Carolina for making twenty-dollar counterfeit coins. The bullet came up under the skin of her right breast. Steep Canyon Rangers, Amythyst Kiah, Sam Bush highlight Blue Ridge Music Center season; more Former Fieldale High School in Henry County is being turned into housing. The author is honest and at many times in the book admits we wont know for sure what happened. Maybe the county leaders didnt want to find errant bullets from their own guns in the bodies of the dead, some county residents whispered. Massie refused, saying he was there to prosecute, not persecute.. Like this one, I often find they could have used some rearranging to keep ones interest but I almost always enjoy them. Friel Allen gave himself up to detectives in the company of his father, Jack Allen, who worried his son might be killed while being apprehended. Floyd Allen was going to trial. "[26], County Treasurer J. Watch popular content from the following creators: RealAppalachia(@realappalachia), KK(@hillsvillehillbilly), Simon(@simonogrinc), Deitrich Cribbs(@big_tipper), VIVI SHARMA(@srvsharma81) . Maybe so, but people just keep coming back to this story. 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. "[16] The judge immediately sentenced Floyd Allen to one year's imprisonment.[16]. Join in supporting in-depth journalism for Southwest and Southside Virginia. At least two of the participants, Judge Massie and Sheriff Webb, had told friends that they expected trouble. HILLSVILLE Howard Sadler held the last words of a dead man in his hands. The words, the handwriting and the language remind us that these people long dead and seemingly characters set in stone like the Confederate statue that still stands in front of the old courthouse were human beings caught up in a cataclysmic tragedy. The Carroll County Historical Society, INC. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. The remaining prisoners received pardons (from a different governor) in the 1920s. 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. When all the smoke cleared, there were five dead, seven wounded. 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. He asked her if she was hurt or mashed and her sister-in-law responded that she was just scared. - 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. I like how youre reading books about where you live. 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. Allen and several members of his family immediately fled the courtroom but were later captured and convicted of murder. Then he found the original Floyd Allen indictment that bore William Fosters final written words. )[12], Foster called upon a grand jury to investigate the escape/pistol-whipping incident. [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. Hillsville Diner. - Floyd Allen had a long history of serving the law in Carroll County as a deputy sheriff and was, in fact, a special policeman at the time of the tragedy. [20], Sidna Allen denied that he shot Judge Massie, or that he fired at Commonwealth's Attorney Foster, Sheriff Webb, or at Juror Fowler. Carroll County Historical Society and Museum. He died there in 1953. 11217 Sidna Edwards, No. After a fusillade of shots, the Allen clan left the courthouse, armed with pistols and 12-gauge pump shotguns and shooting as they ran. Contact him at ralph.berrier@gmail.com. Please call to schedule an appointment. Later, the Thomas boy and others scrapped with the Edwards boys outside a church service, with the Edwards brothers getting the best of their rivals. 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.. He was shot dead in the courtroom.. No autopsies were ever performed and rumors flew of friendly fire casualties. 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. "[4], Judge Jackson recalled a trial in 1904 in which Allen was convicted of assaulting a neighbor, Noah Combs. At the 2020 census the population was 186247.5 Located in the 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. 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. 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.. 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. Petty also witnessed a pistol duel between Sidna Allen and Deputy Clerk Dexter Goad. 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. [4] His defense team included former Commonwealth's Attorney Walter Tipton and recent County Court Judge Oglesby. The definitive history, Mr. Ron Halls Carroll County Courthouse Tragedy is still published and is available at the Museum bookstore. Again, no investigation was made at the scene. The town's name was changed to Hillsville in the late 1820s to honor a local family. The trials happened quickly in 1912 and early 1913. While the one Allens name is Floyd, there is also a town of Floyd and Floyd County to the north of Carroll County. [21] Two more illegal stills were found at Sidna Edwards' house. Bolen had been standing next to Floyd Allen, and was facing Judge Massie when the first shots struck the judge's robes. [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. Menu. On the morning of March 14, 1912, Mr. Floyd Allen stood in the Carroll County courtroom to hear the verdict of his peers. After those five shots, he dropped to his knees and reloaded his revolver. The exciting story of the Allen family and the officials who tried to bring them to justice. [34] Sidna Allen and Wesley Edwards then left Virginia, eventually reaching Des Moines, Iowa. The Historical Society has gathered significant materials, published over the years, that attempt to interpret this event in our local history. Witnesses said she never looked Floyds way. In our first story, from Pennsylvania, we tell of a murder with a wizardly twist. Interest in the story never wanes, even though, as the historian Hall said, weve about beaten the thing to death.. Airy). Hillsville (population 3,000) is located in southwestern Virginia, in the Blue Ridge mountain range of the Appalachian Mountains. 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. This story could have been written in a Creative Non-Fiction genre. Elbert Lee Trinkle and Gov. Five people died and seven were wounded in the gun battle that followed. 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. There it was, the script of a doomed man, written in the final minutes of his life. But it turned out that he actually had left behind one document about what he saw and heard on March 14, 1912. The U.S. Revenue Service had sent Deputy Agent Faddis to investigate reports of illegal liquor trafficking by the Allens. Floyd, with a concealed pistol, began to shoot, but only after the mayhem began. But a year later the Hillsvile courthouse tragedy occurred and Sidna and his wife had only lived there a year. 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. [4], Judge Robert C. Jackson, an attorney in Roanoke and Judge Thornton Massie's predecessor in the Carroll County courtroom, stated that, "Floyd Allen was perhaps the worst man of the clan overbearing, vindictive, high tempered, brutal, with no respect for law and little or no regard for human life. Why does Carroll County have the lowest vaccination rate in Virginia? Most likely, someone had intentionally hidden the drawer to keep people from pawing through and perhaps removing the papers. Airy, North Carolina. 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. Because of his vision to preserve and protect these exhibits, theyll never be lost again.. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The last two bullets were fired by Floyd and went through two of the steps of one of the courthouse's stairways, where they can still be viewed today. 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. 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. Preserving and Presenting the History of the County of Carroll, Commonwealth of Virginia. 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. There were, however, nearly 20 Allen men among the spectators in the courtroom. COOPERSTOWN NEW YORK POSTCARD~Orphanage Building/House~Cart 1911 (#185750574261) l***n (1544) - Feedback left by buyer l***n (1544). They were arrested by Caleb Haynes and Oscar Monday of the Mount Airy police department and brought to the state line. In April 1926, Governor Harry Flood Byrd pardoned Sidna Allen and Wesley Edwards. [29] He testified that one of the girls pointed out some of the Allens leaving the courthouse, when Sidna Allen came toward him, pointed his pistol at him, and fired. (When Floyd fell, wounded, he landed on top of his lawyer David Bolen, who had ducked to the ground as soon as the shooting started, and who is reported to have said, "Floyd, they are going to kill me shooting at you! Hall has done an outstanding job researching this subjectt. Felts and his team strode into action, quickly arresting a badly wounded Floyd Allen at a Hillsville Hotel during a staged scene for newspaper photographs. [1], Governor Mann immediately called on the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency to find those responsible for the shootings and arrest them. "[1] Not long afterward, Allen shot and wounded Combs, and was indicted and tried on charges of assault. 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. Thats why the discovery of the trial exhibits and documents in Wythe County is significant. This is an interesting story of a time long past. And then, he apparently moved on with life. Everybody was packing weapons, it seemed. Sidna was released from prison, but he never set foot in his fine house again. 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. I find myself more and more drawn to history. [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". 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. Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court On the cold Spring morning of March 14th, 1912 shots rang out inside the tiny mountain courtroom. But the governor refused. Such an interesting, but tragic, history, Jeff! - 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. His grandfather, Howard Gilmer, was a young attorney who had been in Hillsville that day, and he was one of the last people to comfort the mortally wounded judge, Thornton Massie, Gilmers neighbor and mentor back home in Pulaski. 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. I enjoyed the book even though it took me a while to get into it. [29] Marshall also testified he had been standing near Sheriff Webb, but did not see any pistol in the Sheriff's hand.

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