The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-03-30
Man Chase of the MurderOus Aliens
Means Death to Hunters or Hunted
FIGHTING ME- OF THE BLE RIDGE MoUNTNNs-ALL ARE EXPERT MARksME
AD ErERNNED 70 WIN. THE PENDING BATTLE.

I1:A L LIE, Il
Is one which attracts to their meeting
houses not only many of the faithful,
but also scores of i%rreligious ecoffers.
1t was on such an occasion that the
v Edwards boys. somewhat intoxi-
Gated, broke up the meeting by bad
language and careless use of firearms.
Their arrest upon this charge and
their forcible liberation by their en-
ragged uncle. Floyd Allen. who tool
then away from Deputy Sheriff Sam
uels. led to the conviction Of Floyd
and the wholesale assassination which
directly followed Judge Massie's pro-
nounccment of sentence.
The Aliens have family pride de-
veloped to a high degree. albeit primi-
tive in kind. According to their code.
ike that of a Scottish clan. they might
quarrel among themselves to their
hearts content. but all have ever
stood ready to make common cause
against a common foe. That is why
today fathers and son uncles and
nephews. are alike banned by the law
Tor participation in an un.
speakable crime. ,
Code of tho Aliens.
1t has been n of the family ira
ditions that no matter how fragrant
may have been some Of their tres
passes against the statutes. none Of
me Alien stock must eve serve time
behind prison bars.
1t was part of their code that dis.
tilling whisky is not a crime, that to
settle disputes and questions of hon.
or with firearms is a gentleman's
privilege: but that to serve the state
at hard labor in prison garb must
brand one with indelible odium. The
Aliens undertook to enforce their self
made and self-cherished code against
the statute of Virginia. The inevitable
result followed when orderly proceed
ure and justice were made a mockery
by their deadly fusillade of bullets.
These are some OF the physical and
physiological characteristics of the
men who are now being hunted like
Wild beasts over every mountain trail
and laurel screened by-path that
might lead to their lair.
Members of the armed scouting par
ties harbor no illusions. They know
the c%hacacter of the men they have to
deal with. 1t is freely predicted that
the hunt can end only in a desperate
encounter. and that the battle can
hardly be won without further loss of
life to the forces enlisted for law and
order. Not only are the Aliens all
sprung from a lighting stock on their
paternal side. but their maternal
grandmother was the daughter Of a
famous old hunter and trapper who
trailed bears in his bare feet through
rife or a hunting knife with equal
deAterity until his grizzled beard was
frosted with the white of so winters.
Their Church Belief.
Apart from this lighting streak of
lawlessness and clannish family pride,
perhaps the most remarkable element
in the Allen strain is. what might be
called their ecclesiastical bigotry and
superstition-not to dignity 1t by the
women folk have been more or less
devout members of the Primitive Bap-
lists.
Sidna Aliens wife. who is the
daughter of the proprietor of a pre-
tentious ummer resort hotel on the
summit of the Blue Ridge. between
here and Mount Airy. n. c.. was rear
ed in the tenets Of the Methodist
church, and the fact that Sidna's sis
ter, Mrs. Edwards. named her young
er son Wesley would also suggest
Methodist s~ympathies.
SO far as concerns Floyd. Jack. and
Sidna. it is not asserted that they ever
professed personal religion or became
actual members of the Church of
Primitive Baptists. of which their
brother Garland is a preacher. 1t is "A
fact. however. that they shared to a
great extent the belief in fatalism.
probation of the doctrine Of foreor-
dination as taught from the ''ortho.
dox" pulpit of these mountain dis.
ciplcs of the Primitive Baptists.
The homes of the Aliens were al
ways open to the Baptist brethren"
the association meetings brought
to the hill country the professors Of
this cult in large numbers. They are
said to have been generous hosts and
good entertainers.
Evrn Garland Allen, the preacher
member of the clan. seems to have
been an apostle Of the church mill
LIANT. The lighting blood of the Aliens
was not wholly tanned by his clerical
profession. 1t is related that on one
occasion. when Floyd and Jack en-
gagged in the little controversy. in the
and Floyd parted Jacks hair with q
- caliber bullet. Garland. d~eploring
the unfraternal alienation that. fol-
lowed. undertook to carry the olive
branch. His was the usual fate Of the
peacemaker. He became involved in
the fight himself, and. they say, han.
died himself very cleverly. too. for a
cIedCHeT. Inc warning DrOtnefE, now.
ever. did not make UP their differences
afterward, though Jack was not num-
bered in the court room party that
fought for Fioyd's freedom.
The Detective Head.
OF the armed forces who are seek.
ing the Aliens. the field marshal is
Tom" Felts. one of the partners in Il
private detective agency which has
done a lot Of rough constabulary work
through the south. Capt. F'elts is one
of Carroll county's substantial citi-
zens. He has long been personally
acquainted with the men whom he is
now trying to trail to bring them to
their reckoning. He is the owner Of
a handsome home and a summer re.
sort hotel at Blair. on one Of the
branch lines of the Norfolk and West
ern: the proprietor of nearly a thou.
sand acres of land. and Of farm hous.
es and barns that are the neatest In
appearance between here and Galax.
Va. Some Of these he sublets to farm.
or tenants.
Mr.. Felts is a nina yet on the Junior
side Of middle life. but his friends
boast that he has killed eighteen men.
none of them in brawl or quarrel, but