The Courthouse Massacre

Background:

One Saturday night, in the Spring of 1911, in Fancy Gap, Wesley Edwards, the 20 year old son of Alvirtia (Allen) Edwards, quarreled with another young man named Thomas. The following Sunday morning, Wesley was called out of church services being conducted by his uncle Garland Allen. Outside was the Thomas youth with three others. The Allen story is that the four assaulted Wesley. His brother Sidna, age 22, heard the fight, rushed out, and aided his brother in vanquishing the four. At the next session of the county court, friends of the Thomas boy got an indictment of the Edwards boys for disturbing religious worship and fighting. Their uncle Floyd Allen, told them to go over into North Carolina, until he could arrange bond. Before he could do so, Deputy Sheriffs Pink Samuels and Peter Easter crossed over into North Carolina, arrested them, and brought them back tied up with rope and in manacles. As Floyd was returning from posting bond in Hillsville, he met the officers in front of his brother Sidna Allen's store, returning with the boys. Floyd insisted that they remove the restraints on the two boys, Pink Samuels then attempted to level his pistol at Floyd, who snatched it from his hand and broke the weapon on a rock. Samuels and Easter then left the two prisoners at the store. The Allens claim that Floyd never intended to remove the boys from custody, only to have the restraints removed.This act caused the indictment of Floyd, Sidna (who witnessed the encounter), and their nephew Barnard (son of their brother Jasper,who was working for Sidna in the store), for interfering with the officers. Sidna was never tried for the offense, Barnard was tried and acquitted. The two Edwards boys were also tried and convicted, Wesley sentenced to sixty days and Sidna to thirty days in jail. It was Floyd's trial and conviction that triggered the "Courthouse Massacre". The Allens' story is that Foster and clerk of the court, Dexter Goad, were bitter political enemies of the Allens, and it was this animosity that motivated the extreme reaction of the Republican court officials to the actions of the Democratic Allens.

The Massacre:

Floyd Allen was tried 13 Mar 1912 in the court of Judge Thornton L. Massey, prosecuted by Commonwealth Attorney W. M. Foster, and defended by Walter S. Tipton and Judge D. W. Bolen. The court adjourned until the next day, when the jury returned and gave its verdict of guilty. The judge fixed the sentence at one year in jail and told the sheriff to take charge of the prisoner. Floyd related that he expected to go to jail in Hillsville, and would have gone with the Sheriff, but when he saw Dexter Goad drawing his gun, he told him he wouldn't go with him, but with Sheriff Lew Webb. Floyd said Dexter Goad fired the first shot, wounding him in the hip. General shooting began, the result being the death of the judge, the sheriff, the prosecutor, a juror, and a witness.

Aftermath:

Floyd Allen and his son Claude were electrocuted 18 Mar 1913. Sidna Allen and his nephew Friel Allen, son of Jasper, along with nephews Sidna and Wesley Edwards, were imprisoned. Sidna Edwards and Friel Allen were pardoned in 1922. Sidna Allen and Wesley Edwards were pardoned in 1926. Victor Allen, son of Floyd, and Byrd Marion were indicted but not convicted. Byrd died before he could be tried, and Victor was found not guilty. Another interesting story is that of the search for the fugitives by a posse headed by the Baldwin-Felts Detective agency, and the capture of Sidna Allen and Wesley Edwards in Des Moines, Iowa, through the treachery of a girl friend.

Sources used in preparing this story

• "Memoirs of J. Sidna Allen"1929, J. Sidna Allen, reprinted and published by Rufus L. Gardner, Mt. Airy, N. C.
• "The Courthouse Tragedy Hillsville, VA.", 1962, edited and sold by Rufus L. Gardner, Mt. Airy, N.C.
• "The Fatal Doom of the Allens of Carroll County", by Louise Jones Du Bose, originally published by Virginia Record, serially in 1948-1949, and reprinted by them Dec 1964.