The Sentinel=record., 1912-03-19
STILL PURSUE
 HILL OUTLAWS
VIRGINIA MoUNTAlNEER MUIR. DERERs ELUpE ALL POSSES
 RETURNING FOR SUPPLIES.
Outlaws Are Safely Hidden in the Fastnesses Of Mountains or May Have Escaped to the Ad-
 joining States.

d'ff1
 Hillsville, Va, March 1S--Another days chase of the court house assas- sins brought the posses back to town weary and empty handed and with a suspicion gaining ground that while the searchers have been beat ing the bush, the Aliens, with a good start, are likely to have got across the line to North Carolina or Tennessee.
 This possibility was recognized to- day, but it may have been too late. The word was passed over to the sheriffs on the Tennessee side to be on the watch and the North Carolina sherffs started out to work over to- ward the Arart river country to head che outlaws off.
 Difficulties of the search caused a call for the state militia to be se- riously considered but that plan was temporarily abandoned and Governor Mann issued proclamation increas- ing the total rewards to $40,000 for the outlaws, dead or alive, and sent their full descriptions to every store, postfioffice and cross roads for miles around
 Detective Felts this morning took a posse up the road near Devils Den, where the outlaws were reported to be barricaded in an almost impreg nable fortress of mountain rock.
 The posse saw none of the gang and no evidences of their presence, but kept on to the North Carolina line and brought up at Mount Airy. At least dozen houses. the homes of members of the Allen clan Or their sympaghizers, were searched on the way, but no trace of 4ther outlaws was found
 One great disadvantage under which the posses work is the lack of communication and commissary facilities. Hillsyille is the base from which they are operating. A few post roads-if roads they may be called wind through the passes between the "knibs" and spurs" with which the geography of the country abounds. The territory is sparsely settled and it is next to impossible for q posse 10 stay out much more than day Men so equipped are not much of a match for such woodsmen as the AL lens and their followers, who could live bountifully while a posse was being starved.
 Chances for a getaway to Tennes- see or Carolina look good when one views the topography Up the slope from Hilsyille the roads twist and turn through the brush Pike Knob, which overlooks Reed Island creek, is 3.200 feet above sea level A lit- tie further on the trip of Beamer Knob is 3,400. Fancy Gap, the loca- tion of the Devils Den, is the ap- proach of the climb and at this point the country takes on character that almost defies description. All that is visible are Piper Gap on the west, a stretch of bush and a tangle of laurel and then comes Volunteer Gap on the east
 Down at the bottom The Piper Gap road winds along to Aaron, Flower Gap and back to Hillsville. On the other side the Chamber Valley road fights it's way through a rocky way, lords creeks, makes functions with a few roads that lead nowhere almost, and finally brings up at a continua- ton of Piper Gap. In the space bounded by these roads there is noth- ing but wilderness with creek or two. swollen to three times it's ca. pacity. Somewhere in this vast area the Aliens may be hidden and a posse searching it foot by foot might never find them.
 Sidna Edwards, with price of s1 ,000 on his head, is supposed to be somewhere with an injured foot. He has had time to join the Aliens if he knows where they are. Mainwhile the indictments for the murderers of Judge Massie, Prosecutor Foster, Sheriff Webb and two by-standers wait to be served Some folks in this country declare that no Allen was ever arrested while he could fight and none will be. The posse believes that
 Floyd Allen, the outlaw whose sen tence by the court precipitated the massacre laid in the Roanoke iail