Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1912-03-25
DAVENPORT MAN WAS SCHOOL
;. MATE OF MEN WHO BECAME
:
1t $3.50 OUTLAWS.
SAYS HUNTED MEN WILL
NEVER BE STARVED OUT
! Recalls Similar Shooting Thirty Years
Aao-FaiIurs to Enforce Laws Held
/ 60 Be Responsible for Court House
Trassdy-lifs Among the Moon
sinners"

Davenport, March 25.-"Yes, I knew
the Aliens who are now being hunted
by the Virginia authorities for the
murder Of Judge Massie, Sheriff Webb
and Attorney Foster and ! hope they
get every one of en-" said ]. NJ Muir
ray, waiter ii Hills cafe on Main be-
low Second street. last night
II was born in Hillsville, Va. forty
nine years ago Tuesday and went
to school with VIII Foster and Sidna
and John Allen and I was practically
reared in Sheriff Lew Webb's family
Ali of the men who We're Killed are
as good men as YOU can find on this
earth. even the Aliens admit that.
And don't think that man takes
his life in his hands every time he
goes out Of doors down there. Not
at all. There have been more MUIR
ders in Scott county in the last zen
years than there have been in Car
roll county. 1t was simply that the
Aliens swore vengeance on the court
officers if the old man Allen got sen
fenced. and when they once take al
oath nothing would stop them, not
if they knew they would all be hlnS
for it,
Shooting Thirty Years Ago.
Asked is there had ever been q
similar shooting while ne lived at
1;; ssI,::ii..e. ~. Murray replied Yes,
and just about the same kind of
one that these men We're killed in. II
was in the old court house. which
has been there for years and years,
and You can look right out OF the
court house door and see the Blue.
Ridge mountains in the distance.
Il forget who was being tried ~
the time, or what the crime wes.
Probably 1t was for nloonshinins.
Anyway. just as the judge arose TO
pronounce sentence, somebody in the
back of the room fred a shot into
the wall above his head, and in
few minutes the windows and lights
were shot out, the room was filed with
smoke, and most of us except the pr:s-
oners were either behind something or
as close to the floor as we could get.
when the shooting was all over
we found that nobody was killed. or
even hurt much, but the prisoner had
disappeared. It wasn't an accident
that nobody was hurt. Far from It.
When any Of those people shoot at
a mark they hit 1t. They had laid
the scheme beforehand and II was all
made Up that when the shooting be-
gan the prisoner was to duck and
run. None Of the crowd that did the
shooting were ever hunted down
don't believe they We're Aliens
Ignored tho Law.
When asked why educated and
wealthy people like the Aliens would
commit such rash act as killing all
of the officers of the county court Mr.
Murray said: Tn sure I don't know
unless it's that they have escaped the
law go often and have nloonshined so
successfully that they have come to
think they can pull off anything.
You may think up here that the
revenue law is we'll enforced. but you
have another guess coming. The Al
lens are just an example Of the sue
cessful noonshirer They are not the
only ones that have picked up s50,ooo
or more by selling their own WHISKY
Nearly all Of the mountain people do
il and II is almost impossible TO catch
or convict them.
.Moonshine whisky IS the one drink
down in that country After you leave
Roanoke it's difficult TO buy glass
of beer The moonshiners generally
sell its to the bootleggers as the man
who disposes Of the stuff is called. And
the pootleggers make fortunes, too
Real Friendship.
When asked about the clan spirit
the former resident of Hillsviile re-
piled: Il don't know whether you
would call It clan spirit. bur it is GER
tainly friendship down to science.
If you only had dollar 10 your name
and didn't know where the next one
vas coming from and friend asked
you for it. you would loan 1t 10 him.
whether YOU ever expected 70 get II
back or not Take that spirit and add
TO it family connections and you can
see why the Aliens put their heads IN
The moose to save friend. father and
uncle from what they regarded as un-
deserved indgntty.
Never Be Starved Out.
"The papers say the posses VIII
starve out the Aliens" continued Mr..
Murray. Don't you believe word of
# They can live on the game in the
mountains all summer If need be, and
their friends are working for them all
the time.
1.-THE mountains themselves are the
reason that the authorities have not
made shorter work of the fugltives,
The hills are just covered with dense
growth Of stubby white pine trees, that
spread out just above the ground into
kind of big bush. Then there are
huckleberry bushes. you call them blue
berries here, and vines that help make
the mountains an excellent hiding
place. The Aliens will either come in
and give themselves up or they viii
be caught. but if it ever comes to
'storning of strongholds like see in
the papers, there's going to be lot OF
obituaries next day"