My Town and The Courthouse Massacre of 1912 - Hillsville, VA Part II

Previously in Part 1 we left off right after the courthouse shooting in Hillsville that left a Judge, Prosecutor, Jury Member, witness and more dead. At this point there was no law in Hillsville as the deputies were too scared of the repercussions to go after anyone accused in the shooting.

The following telegram was sent to Governor William Hodges Mann in Richmond, VA immediately following the shootout at the courthouse.

"Send troops to the county of Carroll at once. Mob violence. Court, Commonwealth's Attorney, Sheriff, some jurors and others shot on the conviction of Floyd Allen for a felony. Sheriff and Commonwealth's Attorney dead; Court serious. Look after this now."

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To the dismay of many however, it wasn't the "Law" that arrived shortly after the telegram. It was hired guns that the governor sent. The famous (for not so good reasons in these parts) Baldwin Felts Detective Agency was more known as strikebusters and union breakers in West Virginia during the coal wars where they earned a reputation as spies and gun thugs.

After arriving in town the Baldwin-Felts men did what they do best - posed for the newspaper cameras on horseback with their rifles at the ready. Their spoon fed reports to the newspapers told of epic battles and arrests made for great headlines. Truth be told, most of the hired guns were locals paid to slosh through the mud looking for any clues of the gangs whereabouts.

After three weeks while the Allen's were surely aided by friends in the area the hired guns were starting to look foolish. They were sleeping in the rain and mud and occasionally shooting at tree stumps they mistook for the renegades. Finally they were able to arrest Claude, Floyd's son as well as two others who where captured or surrendered. Sidna and his nephew Wesley has better luck for a while as they made it to Iowa and found jobs.

Six months later however, it would be another woman that brought their demise as it was likely Wesley's girlfriend that turned them in after Wesley had corresponded with her. It was said he even returned to Virginia to visit her once. "I felt sure she had betrayed us to the detectives," Sidna wrote in his memoir. "They say love is blind, so I suppose that accounted for his faith in her. I was informed by the detectives that she sold out Wesley for five hundred dollars."

Word of the sensational arrest spread across the country and huge crowds came out in Des Moines, Chicago and Cincinnati to see the famous outlaws in person as they were brought back to Virginia.

When they arrived in Roanoke on Sept. 16, 1912, Sidna and Wesley were paraded down Campbell Avenue in an open touring car, as if they were prize trophies. Roanoke's legendary photographer George Davis got a shot of them standing in the back of the car, surrounded by Baldwin-Felts men.

This is where the sentiment really started to swing for the locals. You see the wheels of justice were turning quickly, but it was a little too quick for many locals here in Hillsville. The use of these hired guns that many in the area saw as no better than terrorists based on their exploits in West Virginia busting coal unions and strikes led many to side with the outlaws from their home town. Many were starting to publicly state their belief that the Allens were innocent and did not fire the first shots. Claude's extremely swift trial and guilty verdict did little to avail these thoughts. His father Floyd was found guilty less than three months after the shootout.

Floyd Allen after arrest

Over 100,000 Virginians asked the governor for clemency, but it never came. Both Floyd and his son Claude were sent to the electric chair. Against the families wishes their bodies were placed for public viewing in Roanoke. Floyd and Claude were buried a few miles away in Cana but even that wasn't the end of the story.

You see Floyd's tombstone 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."
Sidna Allen was sentenced to 35 years in prison, but was pardoned after 15 years. The Governor didn't like Floyd's tombstone so removing it was a condition of Sidna's release.

Many suppose that Floyd and Claude would have also been pardoned as the rest of their gang / family eventually were, but it was too late for them as they were rushed to trial and rushed to the chair. The mountains were becoming more civilized by 1912 and Floyd Allen had not yet resigned himself to the fact that he couldn't live by his own rules. The political powers in Richmond would no longer be able to ignore the Commonwealth's farthest-flung regions, either. Soon, roads were paved, electrical dams built, telephone lines strung — times were changing. So was the sentiment towards the Allen gang here locally.

Here is a great video on the massacre

In 1987, on the 75th anniversary of the shootout, a funeral wreath appeared on the steps of the Carroll County Courthouse. A sign read: "In memory of the martyred Allens."

Sources:
Roanoke Times
Youtube-Natalie Faunce
Murderpedia
Ytimg.com
Ytimg.com 2
SWVA-Biz.net
VirginiaMemory.com
NRVOutdoors.com

Hope you enjoyed the history lesson friends. As always, Steem on!