Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1912-03-16

TELEPHONE WIRES ARE CUT
Swollen Creeks. Mountain Roads and
ClaYey Mud Renders Search Difficult
Five Arrests.

Five Arrests.
Hillsyille. va. March lJ.-Press-
ing cautiously up slippery mountain
paths. closing in like hounds about
IA fox. Two score detectives. aided by a
jdoZcn or more grim feudists. today be-
gan their hazardous hunt for the six
teen desperadoes of the Allen gang.
! Swollen creeks and mountain roads
| knee deep in sticky, clayey mud. him
dered pursuit. Wary in their flight.
the Aliens cut nearly all of the few
telephone lines leading into the noun
tain Businesses, isolating the hunting
ground from the world Somewhere
in the mountain passes the gang is
waiting for pursuers. waiting with
hundreds of rounds of ammunition
per man. and with the determination
never TO be captured alive.
Five lives have already been
snuffed our in the deadly game the
gaunl mounLaineers play. 4 sixth
may be added today. as Juror Fowler
is unconscious and physicians hold
ont no hope for his recovery. Up
10 today. mouniaineers' bullets had
claimed:
Judge Thornton l.. Massie.
commonwealth Attorney William
Foster
Carroll County Sheriff Lewis Webb
Miss Betty Ayres.
Mrs. Sid" Allen.
Partly accountable for this toll Of
death. a make-shift Sheriff'S guard
is night and day watching six men
two OF them wounded:
Sid Allen. leader of the Allen
gang.
Floyd Allen. brother to Sid"
Victor Allen. Floyd's son.
CabnIl Strickland.
Bud Marion.
Sid Allen. recognized as the most
desperate spirit in the desperate AL
len gang. was captured late yesterday
after pitched battle. and Richmond
detectives only got him alive because
he was stunned by two wounds. and
because his faithful wife, partner
even in his defiance of law and order
and aid in his battle against the pos
sc, was dead. Barricaded in his
mountain cabin. the outlaw chieftain
put up Il desperate battle before the!
shots from score of rifles without
found odgment in his own and his
wife's bodies. Mrs. Allen, grim and
determined in death as in life, was
found in the corner OF the cabin, a
bullet through her bosom but with a
rifle in her hands. She had been
loading the Winchesters and pass
ing them to Sid.
Allen himself was brought 10 Hills
Vile with a bullet in his leg and a
minor wound in his head. He will
recover.
Aroused by their success in taking
the recognized leader Of the clan
without a single casualty on their
side, the detectives today determined
10 push forward into the heart OF the
mountain feud district.
Reports here today led them 10 be-
lieve that the outlaws were biding
their time. waiting the battle. in one
of their mountain passes. Watchers
on the North Carolina border do not
believe the men have come over the
line, except it is believed. for replen-
ishing their supply OF ammunition.
The man hunt has been delayed
because of the unfamiiarity OF the
detectives with the mountain trails.
Today. however. three internal rev.
enue agents. who know every foot OF
the ground from long campaigns in
the Blue Ridge against 'moonshln-
ing" arrived 10 aid. and Secret Ser
vice Operative L. n. Thomas is en-
pected also. With these as scouts,
and aided by few grim mountain
GERS with a feud vengeance against
the Aliens. detectives feel confident
OF reaching the gangs hiding place
today.