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. Interesting, the real Mayberry is along the Blue Ridge, in Patrick County, but just east of Carroll County. The phone hasn't stopped ringing in the. Sadler took the file drawer to a vault in the courthouse and dove into the trove. Floyd Allen was going to trial. Massie, Foster, Webb and juror Augustus Fowler died in the courtroom. . [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. Spray bottom of pans with Pam baking spray apply the waxed paper and spray the pan, waxed paper and sides with Pam. 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. 2023 TheTVDB.com, A Whip Media Company. Who shot whom? He refused them both. Gerald Goad said the documents needed to be back in Carroll County. He only picked up Victors gun when he left it in the hotel room on the morning of March 14th. 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. - 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. This is the actual foundation of all of the story, said Goad, whose own great-great-uncle, Dexter Goad, was a Carroll clerk of court who traded bullets with the Allens on that tragic day. Floyd admitted that he mightve gotten rough with Samuels. To be honest, nothing in the more than 180 pages of court papers adds any new information to the well-researched story of the shootout and its equally tragic aftermath. After a fusillade of shots, the Allen clan left the courthouse, armed with pistols and 12-gauge pump shotguns and shooting as they ran. "[26], County Treasurer J. Those documents include indictments, judges instructions, grand jury indictments, trial transcripts, letters and other courtroom exhibits all words left by ghosts. - Thomas Franklin Pink Samuel, the deputy from whom Floyd Allen released his nephews, moved to Amelia County and never testified at the trial. You do have some interesting local history. They, too, were captured by Felts and his men, as Sidna Allen came to believe that Wesleys girlfriend back home had betrayed them. They were proud men, perhaps none more so than Floyd, who it could be said carried a log-sized chip on his shoulder. 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. Located in the Fancy Gap community near I-77 Exit 14. Join in supporting in-depth journalism for Southwest and Southside Virginia. Mt. He worked for the Edison Lighting Company. "There were five people murdered. It is amazing how nothing changes Today, a story gets retold till its stale, unless something big happens to push it off the headlines. 11217 Sidna Edwards, No. 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.. HILLSVILLE, Va. On a cold March morning in 1912, this Blue Ridge Mountain town would change forever when gunfire erupted in the Carroll County Courthouse. The legend also claims that the marker was removed as a condition of Sidna Allens pardon in 1926 after he served 14 years. 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. When all the smoke cleared, there were five dead, seven wounded. - 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. Just a Presbyterian Church and a store. - Arresting officer Oscar Monday was the step-brother of the Edwards brothers. Indications are that they will clash with the Allen's tonight or early in the morning. Most significantly, Sadler knew that he was reading a document that had been missing for more than 100 years. The author also hints there were issues between the Democratic Allens and the Republicans who made up much of the courthouse crowd. If thats the case, those against the Allens saw a way to get back at them. As the smoke cleared the sheriff, judge, and the common wealth attorney all lay dead. [8] On February 1, 1908, the Allens were convicted of the charge and sentenced to ten days in jail and a fine of $10. Sheriff and Commonwealth's Attorney dead, court serious. Court Crime The 1910's Spread the love In 1912 a Carroll County, Virginia, man was sentenced to serve a one year sentence in the state penitentiary. Spread the loveOne of the first writers to bring the real Appalachia to the world was John Fox Jr., who had come to the coal boom town of Big Stone, Spread the loveWe have a two-fer for you this week! 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. Follow Us. Find out where you can buy, rent, or subscribe to a streaming service to watch it live or on-demand. The home is owned by Bert and Marlene Widener, who offer tours by appointment. [34] He stated that he fired back at Goad on the courthouse steps, but denied shooting at Treasurer J. Too many other projects. To this day, 110 years later, nobody who has studied this notorious event can say with any assurance who fired that catastrophic first shot. The U.S. Revenue Service had sent Deputy Agent Faddis to investigate reports of illegal liquor trafficking by the Allens. Howard, I believe thats what youve been looking for, Horney said. A witness later testified that Floyd Allen had remarked that he "would not let any man talk to me that way."[14]. More than fifty bullets were later recovered from the shooting scene. [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. In our first story, from Pennsylvania, we tell of a murder with a wizardly twist. 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? This sort of isolation probably meant that Floyd and his siblings grew up independent, resourceful and perhaps overly prideful and defiant. One can wonder if that was a sign that she blamed her husband for the tragic calamity that befell the family. - In 1912, the Carroll County courtroom was some 20 feet shorter than it is today. [2], Deputy Samuels was left lying unconscious in a ditch, and his horses were run off. He said he thought Floyd's fumbling with his sweater buttons was a prelude to drawing his pistol. [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. The trials happened quickly in 1912 and early 1913. 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. Accounts differ as to who actually fired the first shot. Victor Allen also asserted that Claud had taken Victor's handgun as the two left their hotel in Hillsville on that morning. Sidna Edwards pleaded guilty in August 1912 to second-degree murder, and was sentenced to 15 years in the penitentiary. Gilmer accompanied the body on a short train ride from Sylvatus to Pulaski, where a throng of mourners awaited, Sadler said. Watch popular content from the following creators: RealAppalachia(@realappalachia), KK(@hillsvillehillbilly), Simon(@simonogrinc), Deitrich Cribbs(@big_tipper), VIVI SHARMA(@srvsharma81) . In 2015 or so, Sadler also found a .38 caliber bullet among the keepsakes. B. Marshall testified that when the shooting started he turned to escape the courthouse. The police of 1912 were not exactly professional. After close to a year of delays, Floyd was finally brought to trial on March 13, 1912. Neither was prosecuted. V. Ray Bowman is known for Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court (2011). The jury fixed the penalty at fifteen years in the penitentiary. 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. Wesley and Sidna would be charged with assault, but before they could be arrested, they dashed across the state line, where Carroll County lawmen could not apprehend them. Attorney Howard C. Gilmer, of Pulaski, Virginia, was at Hillsville Courthouse in a room adjoining Judge Massie's courtroom when the shooting broke out. His brother, Sidna? So, in late 1910 when two of Floyd Allens nephews got in a little trouble with the law, the consequences would be deadly. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Horney told Sadler he decided to take one more look in the basement for the lost documents, moving more than 700 boxes. Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. [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. When the jury returned a guilty verdict against with a sentence of one year in the penitentiary, Floyd Allen is reported to have said to Judge Massie: "If you sentence me on that verdict, I will kill you. 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. He defeated the son of Jasper Jack Allen for the position. Floyd said that Commonwealth's Attorney Foster would not give him a show;[clarification needed] but that if he did not there would be a "big hole put in the court house." 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. Please call to schedule an appointment. 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