Now, thanks to Gerald Goads interest in this, the return of these documents can be part of a healing process. To this day, 110 years later, nobody who has studied this notorious event can say with any assurance who fired that catastrophic first shot. 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. Floyd shot Jack in the head and then began to beat him in the head with a rock while he was out cold. 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. 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. Bringing in Sheaves: The Western Revivals of the Reverend A. And forensic science was almost non-existent, at least in rural areas. Such tampering hindered the ability to link bullets to the guns fire or the direction from which they came. Airy, North Carolina. [1] Others consider the alleged affidavit to be hearsay, made years after the event transpired, and worthless. The police of 1912 were not exactly professional. . Sadler took the file drawer to a vault in the courthouse and dove into the trove. A jury foremans handwritten verdict in blotchy ink condemns Claude Allen to death. "Floyd Allen Defense Gets Well Into Case", Bluefield, West Virginia: "Defense Continues Efforts To Disprove Conspiracy". Massie sentenced Allen to one year in prison. [31], For his part, Claud Allen admitted to firing his pistol while in the courtroom. 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. In April 1926, Governor Harry Flood Byrd pardoned Sidna Allen and Wesley Edwards. The significance of this event to Carroll County is profound, Sadler said. There are even questions as to what happened here. SHREDDED WHEAT RECIPIES - CIRCA 1933 Booklet~Advertising | Collectibles, Advertising, Food & Beverage | eBay! He was with his brother when the shooting occurred and was in jail with him when a vigilante mob took his brother into the jail yard and killed him. People were struck, some were wounded, some killed instantly. Supposedly, Andy Griffins father would take him up there when he was a boy (it was about 25 miles from Mt. In 1921, however, Victor moved his family to Tabernacle Township, New Jersey. In response, the judge told the two men that if the law could not be faithfully enforced in Carroll County by the county's deputized officers he would bring in state troops if necessary to maintain order. Just a Presbyterian Church and a store. Friel Allen sat in the back of the room, and the Edwards boys stood on benches next to the north wall. On March 28, 1913, barely a year after the bloodshed in Hillsville, Floyd and Claude Allen were executed in the same electric chair. Synopsis On the cold Spring morning of March 14th, 1912 shots rang out inside the tiny mountain courtroom. 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. Join in supporting in-depth journalism for Southwest and Southside Virginia. On May 18, 1912, the jury found Floyd Allen guilty. As the smoke cleared the sheriff, judge, and the common wealth attorney all lay dead. Contact him at ralph.berrier@gmail.com. [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. Family loyalty also played a role as the Allen/Edwards family stuck together to protect the Edward boys and later Floyd. Ive already read four books and have another four lined up to read!. Allen once accused Goad of running liquor, which forced the clerk to resign from a prestigious post as federal commissioner. Others were captured. One can wonder if that was a sign that she blamed her husband for the tragic calamity that befell the family. Otherwise, he would not have been armed. At the 2020 census the population was 186247.5 Located in the I find myself more and more drawn to history. He also pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the shooting of Sheriff Webb, and was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio or on your favorite podcast app. The historical societys museum resides on the first floor of the old courthouse, which no longer is a government building but still majestically commands the high ground of Main Street like it did in 1912. The jury fixed the penalty at fifteen years in the penitentiary. 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. See production, box office & company info. A local tradition maintained that if a boy discovered a red ear of corn, he had the choice to kiss any girl at the party. 10994 Hillsville Masscre Sidna Allen, No. For example, Betty Ayers, who was killed in the courthouse tragedy, was a 4th cousin to Dexter Goad (clerk of court), 4th cousin, twice removed, from Woodson Quesenberry (deputy clerk), 2nd cousin, twice removed, from Floyd Allens wife and a 3rd cousin to the Edwards brothers, Wesley and Sidna. 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. 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. [26] He also testified that he saw the crowd come out of the court house, and recognized Floyd and Sidna Allen as the last to leave, both of them following and firing as they backed out, apparently in response to fire coming from within the courthouse. I should do better and learn more about the area I call home. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Massie had been urged by Foster and Goad to disarm the throng before the trail began. [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. Why does Carroll County have the lowest vaccination rate in Virginia? http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/JeffSpeed68/56171 Ft: Aussens@iter (tobias_weber), Gerd Kohlmeier, Audio Podcast WordPress Theme By VWThemes, Sid Hatfield and Ed Chambers Killed August 1, 1921, World War I Anti-Conscription Movement 1917, https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/49746687/download.mp3, The Hatfields and the McCoys: After the Feud, http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/ramblinglibrarian/41284. According to Floyd Allen's defense attorney, David Winton Bolen, "[Floyd] hesitated a moment, and then he aroseHe looked to me like a man who was about to say something, and had hardly made up his mind what he was going to say, but as he got straight, he moved off to my left, I would say five or six feet, and he seemed to gain his speech, and he said something like this, 'I just tell you, I ain't a'going. The spotlight returned to the story of the shootout when the centennial of the tragedy was marked in 2012. Who shot whom? Floyd said Goad and Foster were part of a privileged clique, according to Hall, one that would never include the likes of Floyd or his family. Floyd spent the night at his brother Sidnas splendid new home in Fancy Gap, about 7 miles away. V. Ray Bowman, Self: Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court. Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court; Videos; The Holstein Dilemma. Yep, I think we do have similar tendencies. I was distraught over the recent rush to execute in our country. [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. After those five shots, he dropped to his knees and reloaded his revolver. 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. Interesting, the real Mayberry is along the Blue Ridge, in Patrick County, but just east of Carroll County. 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. He asked her if she was hurt or mashed and her sister-in-law responded that she was just scared. Floyd Allen was going to trial. Theres Fosters handwriting and then you realize that within five or six minutes, he was dead. Hillsville Diner. He only picked up Victors gun when he left it in the hotel room on the morning of March 14th. 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. The new system appointed a full-time judge to hold court at scheduled intervals in a circuit of several counties. A second shot entered the back about four inches lower, while a third shot cut the sheriff across the chin. Despite taking his nephews to jail himself, Floyd was accused that he did feloniously and forcably [sic] rescue his nephews, according to a grand jury indictment. As the smoke cleared the sheriff, judge, and the common wealth attorney all lay dead. He was tried in federal court, found guilty, and sentenced to a year in federal prison at Moundsville, West Virginia. - Thomas Franklin Pink Samuel, the deputy from whom Floyd Allen released his nephews, moved to Amelia County and never testified at the trial. Those documents include indictments, judges instructions, grand jury indictments, trial transcripts, letters and other courtroom exhibits all words left by ghosts. Because of his vision to preserve and protect these exhibits, theyll never be lost again.. Fearful of the Allens' reaction, and having received death threats, many officials of the court armed themselves. Two of whom, Sidna and his nephew Wesley, in Des Moines, Iowa where they were starting a new life. In several instances he escaped indictment, I am satisfied, because the witnesses were afraid to testify to the facts before the grand jury. Sidna was released from prison, but he never set foot in his fine house again. [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. His part, Claud Allen admitted to firing his pistol while in the courtroom and the common wealth all! 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