Seems like everybody from Carroll County has some connection to this story. Published in the SW VA Enterprise, Wytheville, Virginia Tuesday, July 4, 1939. Mob violence, the court. He told Sheriff Lewis Webb to take the prisoner. The detectives left at Hillsville have gone to the mountains, headed by Lee Felts. 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. As historian Ron Hall wrote in his book: And for a moment, the world stopped.. Most of the Allens and their cohorts escaped initially, but an emergency call to Virginia Gov. It lays the foundation of the events of that tragic story from March 1912.. [citation needed]. Two bullet holes Floyd Allens final shots in the massacre are still visible in the wooden steps. Floyd? Is Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court (2011) streaming on Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Peacock, or 50+ other streaming services? Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court - Actors and actresses. 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. Find out where you can buy, rent, or subscribe to a streaming service to watch it live or on-demand. Friel settled in Inglewood, CA where he married twice, but never had any children. Victor Allen also asserted that Claud had taken Victor's handgun as the two left their hotel in Hillsville on that morning. Friel Allen was tried in August 1912 and after confessing to shooting prosecutor Foster, was sentenced to 18 years in prison. [29] Marshall then related that Sidna Allen's bullet buried itself in the window about six inches above his head. 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. Three trials were needed to finally convict Claude. Most significantly, Sadler knew that he was reading a document that had been missing for more than 100 years. The exciting story of the Allen family and the officials who tried to bring them to justice. - Almost everyone in Carroll County is related to everyone else. In the space of 90 seconds, 57 bullets were fired into the Hillsville courthouse, killing five men and wounding three more. Their trials took place in Wytheville. (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. To find the prized ear meant he could kiss any girl there. 2023 TheTVDB.com, A Whip Media Company. 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. The execution of father and soon occurred in 1913. [8] On February 1, 1908, the Allens were convicted of the charge and sentenced to ten days in jail and a fine of $10. "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. The was never a barber shop in this Mayberry, however. Sidna Allen received a 35-year prison sentence, his nephews Wesley and Sidna Edwards and Friel Allen got lesser sentences. When it was over the judge and the sheriff laid dead. Other members of the family received long sentences. Commonwealth's Attorney, Sheriff, some jurors and others shot on the conviction of Floyd Allen for a felony. Two were executed and a number went to prison for their part in the tragedy. How can you have seven murder trials in Wythe County and not have any exhibits whatsoever? Sadler often asked. Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court, is a documentary feature concerning the Carroll County Courthouse shootings that occurred in Hillsville, Virginia. Howard Gilmer testified during the subsequent murder trials about the judges fatal bullet wound. [32], Sidna Edwards testified that he was not armed on the day of the shooting and that he did not like to carry guns. Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court On the cold Spring morning of March 14th, 1912 shots rang out inside the tiny mountain courtroom. He only lived 7 years after the trial. There is a story of where I live now that has never been written about that I have found very fascinating and have extensive notes on it. Some of the detectives bragged about how many miners theyd killed. Bowman grew up in Hillsville, VA where the county seat is located, and has nurtured a life-long fascination with this story. 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 . - 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. 10994 Hillsville Masscre Sidna Allen, No. Sidna Edwards pleaded guilty in August 1912 to second-degree murder, and was sentenced to 15 years in the penitentiary. Allen was noted for his generosity, but also his quick temper and easily injured pride. 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. 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. The Carroll County Historical Society, INC. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Line the bottoms of pan or pans with piece of waxed paper trimmed to fit. There is still question as to what happened and who shot first. Sadler took the file drawer to a vault in the courthouse and dove into the trove. 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. [2] Both Allen and his brother Sidna held legal licenses for the production of alcohol. [34] He stated that he fired back at Goad on the courthouse steps, but denied shooting at Treasurer J. These mostly came from recent labor disputes in coal country and their mannerism didnt endure them to anyone, it seems. - As a result of the deaths that occurred in the courtroom in 1912, the entire estates of Floyd and J. Sidna Allen were seized in settlement of wrongful death suits by the families of Massie, Foster and Webb. Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. So, in late 1910 when two of Floyd Allens nephews got in a little trouble with the law, the consequences would be deadly. 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. Howard Gilmer had traveled to Hillsville with Massie because he had a case pending in court. After the Edwards were charged with assault, they fled across the North Carolina border to Mt. Look after this now. [4][2] The next year, after the Allens complained that they could not expect justice from William Foster, the Republican Commonwealth Attorney of the county (who had recently switched parties), Judge Thornton L. Massie appointed both Floyd and H.C. as police officers for the New River section of the county. Join in supporting in-depth journalism for Southwest and Southside Virginia. Floyd admitted that he mightve gotten rough with Samuels. "You have no idea how much it means to me for you to be here today. As I always read about where I am living and I spent several summers directing a church camp that was about a dozen miles north of Ketchum. Accounts differ as to whether this was for a lack of evidence, or because Marion became a state's witness and admitted his role in aiding the Allens. The police of 1912 were not exactly professional. On the morning of March 14, 1912, Mr. Floyd Allen stood in the Carroll County courtroom to hear the verdict of his peers. Ralph Berrier Jr. is a writer who lives in Roanoke. Sadler, who said he spent more than 1,700 hours researching the story, spoke to a gathering in March that commemorated the 110th anniversary of the tragedy. The exhibits were discovered in 2016 in Wythe County's courthouse. I just can't bear to see anyone drug around."[13]. 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. Tipton testified he saw Claud Allen in the courthouse with a pistol raised in both hands as if he had just fired it. - J. Sidna Allen, in addition to being a well-traveled and successful businessman, had been a newspaper editor and a schoolteacher. Neither was prosecuted. 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. B. Marshall testified that when the shooting started he turned to escape the courthouse. In several instances he escaped indictment, I am satisfied, because the witnesses were afraid to testify to the facts before the grand jury. He was not in the courthouse during the shootings, but immediately ran to his dying friend and mentor. I dont know too much historical facts about where I live. The Allens were a notorious family from Carroll County, Virginia, who . [27] Years later, an allegation surfaced that Deputy Clerk H.C. Quesinberry had confessed on his deathbed to starting the shooting; two men swore an affidavit to that effect in 1967 (for which each man was reportedly paid $25). 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. Those old papers were lost or stolen, Horney replied. View over 100 different photos - art pieces about the 1912 courthouse tragedy and Allen family from Cana, VA in this. He died there in 1953. [26], On the other hand, Floyd Allen and his relatives claimed Deputy Clerk Dexter Goad had fired first, prompted by a long-standing vendetta he and Foster held against the Allen family. 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. 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. In 1912 a Carroll County, Virginia, man was sentenced to serve a one year sentence in the state penitentiary. At least two of the participants, Judge Massie and Sheriff Webb, had told friends that they expected trouble. Now, thanks to Gerald Goads interest in this, the return of these documents can be part of a healing process. 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. Allen later denied this, but the reported threat caused Samuels to leave the state the same night it was delivered. 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. Floyd stood up, his hands fidgeting with the bottom of his sweater, and he spoke his defiant words. The museum has extensive archive and reference materials in its resource section, as well as exhibits and artifacts that reflect the heritage of Carroll County. 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. The pop of a single revolver. Such an interesting, but tragic, history, Jeff! Sheriff. [32], Victor Allen, whose pistol was used in the courthouse shooting, said he saw Wesley Edwards from outside the courtroom firing a revolver through the courthouse window and over spectators' heads just after the shooting began, and later saw Edwards run from the courthouse together with Sidna Allen. There were, however, nearly 20 Allen men among the spectators in the courtroom. Both, Walter Scott Tipton and David Winton Bolen, were retired Carroll County judges. [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. I was distraught over the recent rush to execute in our country. Please call to schedule an appointment. The end result was three people deadthe judge, the Commonwealth Attorney and the sheriff. After all, he agreed hed have the boys in court? He pointed toward what appeared to Sadler to be a metal file. The spotlight returned to the story of the shootout when the centennial of the tragedy was marked in 2012. 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. The Hillsville Courthouse Massacre of 1912. At a church service the next morning conducted by Wesley's uncle, Garland Allen, Thomas reportedly called out Wesley into a fight. 23 school districts remove challenged books from library shelves; more . The judge refused. Check your inbox now to confirm your subscription. Roanoke, Va., March 16, --The prisoners from Hillsville are not expected here before 3 o'clock Sunday morning. 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. The next morning, the jury quickly returned a guilty verdict and a sentence of a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. In 2015 or so, Sadler also found a .38 caliber bullet among the keepsakes. On the cold spring morning of March 14th, 1912, shots rang out in the tiny rural mountain town of Hillsville, Virginia. So was the judge. He defeated the son of Jasper Jack Allen for the position. The exciting story of the Allen family and the officials who tried to bring them to justice. 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. Interesting, the real Mayberry is along the Blue Ridge, in Patrick County, but just east of Carroll County. . To see this handwritten verdict, I knew it was the Holy Grail and Exhibit One in the commonwealths case against Floyd Allen, Sadler said. View Map and Driving Directions Phone: (276) 728-2594 A fight ensued and Floyd beat Samuels with his own pistol. '"[11][17] At this point, shots broke out in the courtroom. Many accounts claim that Allen initiated the confrontation by pulling a gun in court. Jack came to and shot Floyd which ended the affair. Mr. Allen stood and declared, "Gentlemen, I ain't a goin'." 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. Maybe he didnt want anybody else rifling through those things, Hall said. 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. 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. Bringing in Sheaves: The Western Revivals of the Reverend A. 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. You do have some interesting local history. 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. Such stories as you mention, deserve being told. PARROW'S TRIAL POSTPONED Chicago Lawyer Will Not Appear Be fore Jan. 6. Thats why the discovery of the trial exhibits and documents in Wythe County is significant. I have been reading Barry Lopezs About this Life. If you havent read it, you should. 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. A witness later testified that Floyd Allen had remarked that he "would not let any man talk to me that way."[14]. [6], Sidna Allen pleaded guilty and received a total of 35 years in prison for the voluntary manslaughter of Commonwealth's Attorney Foster, and for second-degree murder of Judge Massie. Eventually, Carroll County deputies Thomas Pink Samuels and Peter Easter nabbed the brothers in North Carolina, shackled them and loaded them on a wagon for the long ride up the mountain, passing by Sidna Allens home and store in Fancy Gap where they were met by none other than a hot-tempered Floyd Allen, who was angered that his kinfolk were hog-tied in a wagon like livestock being carted to market. Built in 1873, the historic courthouse is the site of the tragic courtroom shooting of 1912 and is the current site of the museum. Airy, North Carolina where he encountered Will McGraw, a moonshine hauler. He had them handcuffed and tied up with a rope. The trials happened quickly in 1912 and early 1913. He lived to be the last surviving member of the jury, dying in 1963. Massie had been urged by Foster and Goad to disarm the throng before the trail began. Everybody was packing weapons, it seemed. 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. Its small enough for that to be possible I suspect. I like how youre reading books about where you live. Hall himself had asked Horney, who died in 2020, about the whereabouts of the trial exhibits while doing his own research. [22], The prosecution attempted to show that Floyd and Claud Allen prompted the gun battle by standing and pulling their pistols and opening fire. I like that youre reading up on your new home. 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. During the initial manhunt, several posses of detectives and local deputies searched the surrounding countryside. Wesley was sentenced to sixty days and his brother thirty, which were served outside jail on work-release. He worked for the Edison Lighting Company. Massie refused, saying he was there to prosecute, not persecute.. Airy). Again, no investigation was made at the scene. But the governor refused. 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. 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. After several months' chase, Baldwin-Felts detectives located them in Iowa after an informant's tip. On the morning of March 14, 1912, Mr. Floyd Allen stood in the Carroll County courtroom to hear the verdict of his peers. The jury set his sentence at one year. 10995 Wesley Edwards, No. 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. They were arrested by Caleb Haynes and Oscar Monday of the Mount Airy police department and brought to the state line. He began his sentence in August 1913, and died of pneumonia in prison on November 25, 1913.[A]. A second shot entered the back about four inches lower, while a third shot cut the sheriff across the chin. Hall thinks that Sheriff Webb, who was carrying a borrowed gun, might have fired accidentally. Was Clerk of Carroll County Circuit Court During the Famous Allen Trial. This is an interesting story of a time long past. 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. 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. 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.". But it turned out that he actually had left behind one document about what he saw and heard on March 14, 1912. Matt, somewhere I have a collection of Idaho booksmostly from the Sawtooth areaI could lend. More than fifty bullets were later recovered from the shooting scene. Sadler looked at Fosters cursive handwriting of Floyd Allens conviction and understood the documents gravity. Two months after the shootout, Floyd Allen was convicted in Wytheville of killing Foster, the commonwealths attorney. Even the accused, Floyd Allen, carried a pistol. Allen and Goad had butted heads before. - 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. The flood of indictments that came just days after the shootout wail with pain, the typewritten words seething on the page while claiming that the Allens unlawfully, feloniously, wickedly and maliciously killed the sheriff and others. The new system appointed a full-time judge to hold court at scheduled intervals in a circuit of several counties. 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. - Arresting officer Oscar Monday was the step-brother of the Edwards brothers. 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. Perhaps the hardest thing for an outsider to understand is the frequently heard claim that the subject is dead. He apparently also hopes that the early hour will serve to dampen the spirits of the Allens. Mt. 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. But a year later the Hillsvile courthouse tragedy occurred and Sidna and his wife had only lived there a year. Otherwise, neither Sidna Edwards nor Victor Allen would have been present. Alex Murdaugh listens to Dr. Paul McManigal's testimony during Murdaugh's trial for murder at the Colleton County Courthouse on Tuesday, February 28, 2023. [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. [1] Others consider the alleged affidavit to be hearsay, made years after the event transpired, and worthless. 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. He only picked up Victors gun when he left it in the hotel room on the morning of March 14th. SIDNA ALLEN'S TERM FIXED AT 35 YEARS; Head of Hillsville Clan Sentenced for Killing of Three Court Officials. 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. [34] They returned to their homes by traveling cross-country through the farm fields rather than public roads. Atop a shelf, he saw what looked like a drawer among the boxes. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court (video) Library of Virginia "Mug Shot Special" Floyd and Claude Allen Friel Allen, No. Not only the sheriff and deputies, but Goad and Foster. 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. His grandfather had taken the round from the courthouse the day of the killings. [21] After three wrongful death lawsuits by the victims' estates and survivors, that property was confiscated and sold at auction, forcing Sidna Allen's wife and two small daughters to live in rented quarters and work at menial jobs until Sidna's eventual pardon. Edwards and friel Allen got lesser sentences in this 1912 and early 1913 hillsville 1912: a shooting in the court a! Them to justice turned out that he mightve gotten rough with hillsville 1912: a shooting in the court theyd killed was tried in August,! Thing for an outsider to understand is the frequently heard claim that the subject is dead made... 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