The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1912-03-21
TERRIBLE TRAGEDY
ENACTED IN VIRGINIA
Presiding Judge Sheriff, and States Attorney
Shot Down.-Bystanders Wounded.
Assassins Flee to Mountains

roll county courthouse here and as
sassinated the Judge upon the bench,
the prosecutor before the bar and
the sheriff at the door, while sentence
was being pronounced upon Floyd
Allen. one of their number.
When the crack of the rifles died
av"y only one member Of the human
fatri: of the court-DeXter Goad,
the clerk-was alive, and he had
been wounded. Jurymen and on
lockers were struck in the fusillada
and several wounded seriously.
Citizens i'm Pursuit.
Tonight the outlaws, with good
days start, are up in the mountain
bush with citizen posse in pursuit.
Sheriffs and deputies from neighbor-
ing counties cannot reach here before
early morning. A special train from
Roanoke tonight brought twenty de-
tectives to GalaX, the nearest railroad
station, nine miles away. 1t will be
midnight before these can get over
the mountain roads, hub deep in
spring mud. 1t probably will be day.
light before forces can be assembled.
Reward-Troops Ready.
Governor Mann has offered a So
900 reward for the capture of the as
sassins and holds State troops under
arms for orders at Lynchburg and
Roanoke.
The shooting terrorized Hillsville
to the point of paralysis. There was
not a man to give an order or organ
ize a pursuit. Citizens fed to places
of safety and mothers gathered up
their children while the assasslns
rode out Of town.
.Assassins' Aim True.
judge Thornton L. Massie had risen
from his chair as the bullets struck
him and fell dead across his desk.
Commonwealth Attorney William
Foster, with half dozen bullets in
his body. crumpled down to the floor
Sheriff Lewis Webb was shot and
killed as he reached for his revolver
and sprang forward. Bullets grazed
Clerk Goad and in the confusion. he
was reported killed. Jurors who had
been slightly wounded were reported
dead, and by that indefinable method
of communication which prevails in
the woodland country reports of
wholesale slaughter was spread to
the countryside.
Prisoner Awaiting Sentence.
Floyd Allen was before the bar
this morning, convicted Of taking a
prisoner from deputy sheriff. AL
len had struck the sheriff over the
head with the butt Of rifle and the
prisoner escaped Sheriff Webb had
gone up into the mountains and
taken Allen, despite dire warnings Of
what such a venture might mean.
Attorney Foster had prosecuted
fearlessly and 'mountaineer jury
gathered from the inland section, for
no man in Carroll county cared to sit
on the trial of an Allen. had convicted
him.
Court Room Crowded.
This morning the sentence OF Al
len attracted an unusually large
gathering to the quaint old red brick
court house, which stands on green
square we'll in the centre Of the vii
lage. Those who could not get into
the small room peered through the
windows. opened to the first days of
spring.
Just as Allen was about to be call
ed up for sentence his two brothers:
Sidney and Jack, at the head of
troop OF twenty mountaineers, rode
up to the court house.
Outlaws Enter Court House.
The brothers and their compau-
ions, some carrying rifles and others
armed with revolvers, crowded into
the small court room 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 shuffling 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 SEN
tencc. The last words that fell from
his lips "rc"iVjtated the tragedy.
Judges Last Words.