The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1912-03-21

I
ers. Sidney and Jack, at the head Of
a troop Of about twenty mountain
GERS, rode up to the courthouse.
THE brothers and their compan-
| ions. some carrying rifles and others
armed with revolvers, crowded into
the small courtroom and stood be-
hind the rail and about the door.
Floyd Allen, aged so, tall and gaunt,
much the familiar type of the noun
taineer, was in the dock.
Judge Massie mounted the bench
and Prosecutor Foster moved SEN
| tence upon Allen, who stood up.
| There was a shutting of feet and a
general movement among the noun
| taineers in the back OF the room,
| but no sign to foretell the terrible
| tragedy then in the minds of every
one of them.
The usual legal formalities over,
Judge Massie began pronouncing
sentence. The last words that fell
from his lips precipitated the trag-
| edy.
lone year at hard labor
| Before the last word was cold,
the fusillade began. Allen with an
oath that he would never go to pris-
on, sprang out of the dock, as Judge
Massie collapsed upon the bench. An
other roar of shots and Prosecutor
| Foster was on the floor in a heap
Sheriff Webb was springing forward
| for his prisoner when the lead found
him.
Then, holding the panic-stricken
jurors and onlookers at bay, although
that probably was not necessary, the
assassins slowly backed out of the
| courthouse and across the green to
their troop of ponies.
I'm a second they were galloping
like mad men through the aroused
village and off to the hills.
with them the assassins half car
| ried, half dragged one of their num-
| Der wounded, and it was said that
this was Floyd Allen.
THE quiet of Hillsville had never
been disturbed by such a roar of fir
| ing and three hundred men, women
and children rushed to the court
square.
webb and Foster were stone
dead. Judge Massie died in less than
an hour.
| when a semblance of order came
out Of the chaos that followed, some
horsemen hurried down into Beaver
dam valley and spread the news and
got help. More intrepid men rode of
toward Betty Baker, where there is
a railroad station and a telegraph
wire.
WORD of the tragedy was slow in
getting to points from which help
could be asked, but the machinery
of the law, once started, worked
| quickly. Governor Mann ordered
the State companies of militia at
Roanoke and Lynchburg ready to 60
to Hillsville if their aid should be
necessary. Police, detectives and
volunteers from nearby places took
all the possible means of transporta-
ton to get to Hillsville.
Late to-day Governor Mann tele-
| 8
the Roanoke Corporation Court, to
go to Hillsville and take charge OF
judicial proceedings there. Attorney
General Williams, of the State of Vir-
ginia, has also been ordered to Hills
Vile. He and Judge Staples will
coed together.
THE town is awkwardly situated
for such an emergency as this. Il
} is the county-seat of Carroll County
and lies in the Beaverdam valley
four miles from the top of the Blue
a strip of indigo along the sky on {
clear day shows the Alleghenies. The
country is rough, the roads are baC
and at this time of the year, witt
spring thaws, nearly impossible. IL
) licit stills are said to be many.
. Floyd Allen lived on one side o
: the other. All of the men of tn,
family have been known as ster1
characters and were feared by man.
in the county. The deputy sheriff
who would serve warrant or sum
mons on one of them was accounted
l a brave man.
Judge Massie was one Of the mos
: prominent iurists Of the State. H
1 was appointed to the bench by Gov
ernor Swanson in 1908, was forty
I eight years old, and is survived by
: widow, two sons and a daughter
q Judge Massie had been considere'
: recently for promotion to the Stat
r Supreme Court bench.
t Commonwealth Attorney Eos
d ter had held his Office for eight years
He was forty years of age and know
: as a fearless prosecutor. He was
e Republican leader in the county
K Sheriff Webb had been a deputy TO
a fifteen years before being electe