The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-03-21

finched in the face Of pain he would
an Allen.
Some years ago Old Floyd Allen
had a pistol duel with his brother
Jack. Floyd was shot five, times.
When he had recovered the two mon
met in h court house yards. shook
hands and forgot their trivial mis-
understanding. The Aliens are peo-
pie who will fight among themselves.
but who would brook no outside in
lists fail to stand shoulder to shoulder
II one OF the rival gang raised his
arm against an Allen.
1t was difficult in these %troublous
times at Hillsviile to trace the gene
alogy of tho Allen family. In all
whispers the viagers will tell one
that h fighting hand which has ter.
old Jerry Allen. A veteran who
served with Jerry through the civil
wal recites that he was always ready
with his fists, but that he showed no
bioodthirsty tendencies such as have
cropped out in his descendants. He
lett seven sons and two daughters.
and this is the stock that is feared
''NuS tue lenRIn anu
Wloth of Carol county. Vt.
In Isolated spot.
The setting Of Nirginia's tragedy
could not have been located in =
more isolated spo than Hillsville. 1t
is a little tow thirteen miles from
any railroad. 1t has one telephone
llhe that connects it with the world
outside. The cour house sits in a
square. and in front Of this now mis-
named temple Of justice stands a
monument I" the confederate dead.
Except for tho hills of the Biue
Hidgc which rise on every side. this
monument Is the most imposing bit
Of scenery of which these hills boast.
Inc court house 10 a typical coun-
try affair, built of red brick. dinky,
with an old fashioned porch upon
which the sheriff stands and calls
the witnesses and litisants when the
business of tho court is ready for
their presence. Surrounding this an
Gent court house is a clump of trees
and a snawed rack. 1t is to these
that the mountaineers hitch their
horses when they come in from the
mountain sides.
Ihere was nothing unusual about
the manner i'm which the Aliens came
to town OH the day that old Floyd
was to stand trial. There had been
b S'eosPs AhiS Akou CdtIlcO lut
ears Of the judge n the prosecuting
attorney. that trouble would result II
the jury found Floyd Allen guilty Of
the comparative minor crime with
which he stood charged.
No n of the 500 inhabitants of
the little town, however. expected
that before the sun fell tho court
shamble and that the ~telltale marks
OF 100 bullets would :av becn buried
i'll it's plaster walls. Every one was
aware of course, of the Allen creed
that the law must not interfere with
the reign of the band over the mou
tain country. but not even the more
humorous expected that old Floyd
the entire machinery of the Carroll
county court in order to show the
transient supremacy of mob rule.
Attorneys We're Wrong.
The attorneys for the prisoner are
said to nave assured the Judge and the
prosecutor that unors of violence
We're u%ngrounded and that the majes-
~ OF the law would be upheld.
They %reckoned. however. without
the knowledgs of the fires of hatred
that smoldered in the breast of every
Allen who reached for his gun as old
Floyd stood up to receive his SEN
tence.
Inc bloody tragedy of HillsNille is
without a parallel in the criminal his
tory of this country. There have beer
individual acts of lawlessness; there
have been the shouts Of mobs bent
upon the overthrow of capital: there
have been lynchings, incendiarisms
and riots, but never before has any
ored to destroy in one bloody blow
all that stands for Law and order. in
an ordinarily peaceful community.
Once in Ereathitt county, Ky. a
feudist walked to the bench. placed "A
pistol in the face of the judge and
said:
Il guess you had better adjourn the
cote"
Court was adjourned for the day.
but Tx next day the militia came and
the trial of a feudist was continued.
The Aliens, who are said to he pos
sessed OF more intelligence than the
feudists who made the name of
Rreafhitt a r%eproach. were not eyen
that. c~onsiderate Of a court of justice.
They warned not. They shot and
then fed to the mountain retreats
that must he invaded. perhaps with
more hloodshed. if the defiance of law
is to have atonement.
Newspaper correspondents and de-
tertiVes who f1ocked to Iiillsvilie OK
pected to find that the Aliens lived in
squalid cabins. rs do nm of their
more unfortunate mountain neigh
bors. They found instead that the
Aliens are fairly well-to-do: that
some of them are even wealthy and
that their homes. transplanted to a
less remote spot. would not be out of
harmony with their SURROUNDINGS.
Those who have visited the Aliens
in their homes. say that they ara,
hospitable and kind tn. the stranger
within their gates. They are good
providers: they live we'll for people
who are thirteen miles from a rail-
road; they are not unusual folks. ex-
cept that they believe that the noun
tains in which they have been reared
are particularly their own, and that
the law OF personal retribution should
rule instead of the laws which are
made by legislature and carried out
by regularly constituted courts
Gang Demands the Road"
idea that they ought to run things
today. They've done pretty much as
they pleased so many years that thew
sorter get riled when anybody crosses
their path. We have, got used to
it down here in Carroll county and
We just stood it. That;A all. I
expected, though. that the~ Aliens
would shoot the cote"
And Old Floyd Allen, wounded NH
unto death and realizing that. rescue
from the band in the mountain fast
nesses is now impossible. grimly
philosophical:
For two weeks nv wtfe ba. he.,