The Hillsville Massacre of 1912.

the story starts at a corn husking bee in december of 1910 or 1911 sources disagree the process of cutting shocking and shucking corn could be very work intensive and sometimes a farmer would ease the burden by inviting his neighbors over for what was called a husking bee the men would meet in the barn or in the field the women would meet in the house the men would work on the corn while the women cooked a meal the men would hold contests over things like who could chuck a bushel of corn fastest now every once in a great while an ear of corn would have some color in it a remnant of the corn's hybrid pass and that was called a red ear and by tradition if a young man discovered a red ear then he could kiss a girl of his choice before dinner that night a 20 year old man named wesley edwards discovered a red ear and chose to kiss before dinner a girl who was being courted by another boy and that kiss would unfold into a series of events that today is usually called the courthouse tragedy or sometimes the hillsville massacre it is history that deserves to be remembered carroll county lies in rural southwestern virginia established in 1842 and named after a signer of the declaration of independence the county straddles the mountainous and the piedmont areas of virginia at the turn of the century it also straddled the line between the frontier and the modern world its politics were rough and tumble and often overruled the rule of law in fact who represented the law often was a matter of politics itself as rival clans of families were usually involved in county politics and held offices such as constable sheriff or tax collector as political power and economics were intertwined the family clans were often at odds with each other who sought revenge for perceived slights in both in and outside the law and so wesley edward's kiss carried more weight than it normally would have because wesley edwards was a member of one of the most powerful clans in carroll county the allen clan the allen clan had been founded in carroll county by jerry allen a confederate civil war veteran who according contemporary newspapers was known for his fistfighting and unwillingness to stand in his light he had become a leading citizen in carroll county and the allen clan was wealthy owning significant tracts of land and successful general store they were politically involved proud unreconstructed southern democrats in an otherwise largely republican county many in the family had held office and many more officials owed their success to the allen support and the allens were frontier rugged willing to fight for their clan in 1910 the patriarch of the clan was 54 year old floyd allen one of jerry allen's seven children allen was an imposing man with a bushy mustache who made his living as a shock keeper and farmer he was what you would expect of a patriarch beloved by many hated by others known for both generosity and a quick temper floyd allen had a long history of altercations with the law but he'd always gotten off with light sentences owing to his political connections for example in 1904 he had been convicted of shooting and wounding his neighbor in a land dispute for the assault the jury sentenced him to a hundred dollar fine and a symbolic hour in jail contemporary reports suggest that the light sentences were the result of a threat to kill the judge and jurors if they convicted him alan posted bail and before he could serve his single hour secured a pardon for virginia governor andrew jackson montague some even suggest that he coerced the man he shot into paying the fine in another altercation he and his brother jack allen a local constable got into a shooting match over a dispute over their father's estate floyd gave jack a scalp wound jack shot floyd in the chest after his pistol was empty floyd beat his brother with the butt of his pistol floyd allen nearly died with a chest wound but he eventually recovered as one acquaintance said of him he was just too damned mean to die in his long life of violence floyd allen had been shot 13 times five times in fights with members of his own family again sentenced to a hundred dollar fine and an hour in jail he simply refused to go vowing that he would never spend a minute in jail as long as the blood flowed through his veins in fact period newspapers claim that the allen family often boasted that no allen would ever serve time in jail it was a matter of family pride the ellens even had federal authorities cowed in another reported incident a federal revenue agent showed allen a warrant to search his wagon for illegal moonshine upon inspecting the warrant allen was reported to have said this here paper entitles you to go into that wagon but i don't say nothing about you coming out the agent took the hint and left despite his record of lawlessness floyd allen had often been deputized as well and in fact among the many complaints against him he had once been accused of mistreating prisoners who had tried to escape while he was a special deputy the day after the husking bee wesley edwards floored allen's nephew and his brother sidna edwards got into a shouting match with will thomas the boy who had been courting the girl that wesley kissed as with much of the story there is disagreement over who started the fight but the scuffle had taken place after church in fact a church whose minister garland allen was floyd allen's brother and the edwards boy's uncle the two were then charged with assault and interfering with worship floyd allen was furious that the other boys in the fight were not charged and blamed enmity against his family from the virginia commonwealth attorney william foster foster was a republican and an allen family member had run against him in the previous election foster had nearly won in a hard-fought race and had merged a political enemy of the allens wesley and sidney edwards fled across the border to north carolina floyd allen later claimed that he had told him to go there where virginia officials could not arrest them without extradition papers to give him time to find them an attorney and prepare for their defense but the deputy clerk of carroll county another political enemy of the alan clan drew up a warrant and had them arrested by the sheriff in north carolina floyd allen discovered his nephews being escorted to jail by two carroll county deputies the two had been restrained shackled and tied to the wagon post to prevent escape allen was furious at their treatment and demanded that they be released as with much of the story exactly what happened next was contested the deputies claimed that several allen family members attacked them floyd allen claimed that one of the deputies threatened him with a gun and he disarmed him in any case floyd ellen left with his nephews he took them into court the next day they were convicted and served short sentences on outside work details but the affair was not over as floyd allen and two of his brothers were arrested on the charge of illegally rescuing prisoners many officials in the county government saw this charge as an opportunity to prove to the county that the allens were not a law unto themselves it's not surprising that the allens oppose the charges and assume that floyd allen would get off ellen did only intervene because he did not like seeing his nephews trust up like hogs the charges against him were in the allen klan's eyes political floyd allen had never intended to free his nephews completely but just to have the restraints removed and he had brought them in without a fight one of the only two witnesses deputy thomas samuel had fled the county apparently fearful that the allens would have him killed and of course ellen had managed to avoid more serious charges before his attorneys were walter scott tipton and david winton bolin both retired carroll county judges after a number of delays the trial was held on march 13th 1912 in the carroll county courthouse in hillsville the jury was unable to come to an immediate conclusion and the judge had them sequestered for the night setting the trial to begin the next morning everyone was expecting trouble and most of the court officials came armed that day so did a number of allen family members the jury came back with a verdict of guilty and recommended a fine of a thousand dollars and a year in jail incensed alan was reported to say to the judge if you sentence me on the verdict i will kill you nonetheless judge thornton massey sentenced floyd allen to a year in jail allen appeared to stumble at first but then he said well i ain't going and the shots rang out in the courtroom there are still arguments over who started the shooting but it went on for about 90 seconds a running gun battle between allen family members and officers of the court one witness said that the allens were standing on the back bench of the courtroom firing pistols like custer's cavalrymen at the little bighorn floyd allen was hit early a bullet shattering his hip he fell on his attorney david bolan boland reportedly complained they're gonna kill me shooting at you allen himself pulled a concealed pistol and started shooting the fight continued down the courthouse stairs the allen's eventually escaping on horseback in the courtroom four people judge thornton massey carroll county sheriff lewis webb commonwealth attorney william foster and the jury foreman augustus fowler were dead sheriff webb had been hit five times another person nineteen-year-old nancy elizabeth irons who had been a witness in the trial had been hit by crossfire and died later that night seven others were wounded including floyd allen and dexter goad the clerk of the court who had ordered the edwards boys arrested in north carolina there are still bullet holes from the fight in the old carroll county courthouse in hillsville allen was too seriously wounded to leave town he spent the night at a hotel when deputies came to arrest him he reportedly tried to slit his own throat but was overpowered before he could do it detectives hired by governor william hodge's man eventually captured all of the alan clan who were accused in the shootings floyd allen who would recover from yet another bullet wound was the first to be tried he pled self-defense but was convicted and sentenced to death by electric chair his son claude allen was convicted for the murder of commonwealth attorney foster and also sentenced to death four other family members received prison sentences there was a final bit of intrigue the allens waited until governor mann was out of state to try and convince lieutenant governor jay taylor ellison a democrat and former confederate soldier to commute the sentences but man caught wind of the attempt and returned the executions of floyd and claude allen were carried out by electric chair on march 28 1913. floyd allen's headstone listed him as having been judicially murdered but there was still one last victim jack allen floyd allen's brother the one who had shot his brother in the chest lost his job as a constable after the shootings in 1916 he was arguing with a stranger over what had happened in hillsville and the person with whom he was arguing to a pistol and shot him dead more than a thousand mourners showed up to his funeral a sign of how high the allen family was still held in esteem in carroll county in many ways the execution of floyd allen represented an end of an era when communal justice finally outweighed it rugged individualism the the time when the clans controlled the law both literally and figuratively died with floyd allen and as a sign of the changing times the hillsville massacre captivated the nation in its time when it occurred in march of 1912 as everybody followed in the newspapers the story of what had happened of them hunting down the fugitives and the subsequent trials but just a month later in april of 1912 the titanic struck an iceberg and sunk in the north atlantic and the hillsville massacre faded away to become just another piece of forgotten history i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guy short snippets of forgotten history between 10 and 15 minutes long and if you did enjoy it please go ahead and click that thumbs up button if you have any questions or comments or suggestions for future episodes please write those in the comment section i will be happy to personally respond be sure to follow the history guy on facebook instagram twitter and check out our merchandise on teespring.com and if you'd like more episodes on forgotten history all you need to do is subscribe you

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 800,485

Rating: 4.9533215 out of 5

Keywords: history, history guy, virginia, hillsville, courthouse tragedy, floyd allen, us history

Id: lVJCC2CWevQ

Length: 11min 44sec (704 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 10 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/rowshi]

The convergence of rural frontier culture and the rule of law in early 1900's Virginia

Bow Tie: Maroon with a blue pattern