The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1912-03-22
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STILL | |. 4. n LARGE 81:
POSSE PuRsulho COURTHOUSE
AssAssiNs RETURNS EMPTY.
HANDED.
MAY HAVE MADE ESCAPE
Governor Mann Offers $4,000 Reward
for Raiders, Dead or Alive Posse
@ 10 Hampered by Lack Of
Supplies.

Hillsville. Va, March 2O.-Anothe,
days chase Of the courthouse assas.
sins ended with the posse back in
town weary and empty-handed and
with a suspicion gaining ground that
while the searchers have been beating
the bush, the Aliens with a good start
are likely to have got across the line
to North Carolina or Tennessee.
This possibly was recognized, but it
may have been too late. The word
was passed over to the sheriffs on the
Tennessee line to be on the watch and
the North Carolina sheriff started out
to work over toward the Ararat river
country to head the outlaws off.
The difficulties of the search caused
a call for the state militia to be seri-
ously considered, but that plan was
temporarily abandoned and Governor
Mann issued proclamation increas-
ing the total rewards to $4,000 for the
outlaws dead or alive and sent their
full descriptions to every store, postof-
flee and cross roads for miles around.
Detective Felts took a posse of into
the hills up the road that goes over
the Bartlett Knob and Elk Spur and
past Fancy Gap near Devils Den,
where the outlaws were reported to be
barricaded in an almost impregnable
fortress of mountain rock.
The posse saw none of the outlaws
and no evidences of their presence but
kept on over Gamers creek and the
Lone Cedar Fork to the Carolina side
and brought up at Mount Airy. At
least dozen houses. the homes of
members of the Allen clan or their
sympathizers were searched on the
way, but not a trace of the outlaws
was found.
One great disadvantage under which
the posses work is the lack of com.
munication and commissary facilities.
Hillsville is the base from which
they are operating. A few post roads
wind through the passes between the
knobs and spurs with which the geog-
raphy of this country abounds.
The territory is sparsely settled and
1t Is next to impossible for posse to
stay out much more than day. Men
30 equipped are not much of a match
for such woodsmen as the Aliens and
their followers who could live bounti-
fully while q posse was being starved.
Sidna Edwards with price of
$1,000 on his head is supposed to be
somewhere with an injured food. He
has had time to join the Aliens If he
knows where they are. Meanwhile the
indictments for the murders of Judge
Massie, Prosecutor Foster, Sheriff
Webb and the two by.standers wait to
be served. Some folk in this country
declare that no Allen was ever arrest.
ed while he could fight and that none
will be. The posse believes that.
Floyd Allen, the outlaw, whose SEN
tence by the court precipitated the
massacre lies in the Roanoke Jail with
wounds and a broken leg to fret him
and moaned that he wished he had fol.
lowed his wife's advice.
I've got a good wife, said the
outlaw. IF I'd done as she told me
wouldn't be here now"
The men who found Mrs. Allen at
her home say she was distracted.
The posse will get out again while
the North Carolina officers are work.
ing over to meet them. They hope to
drive the gang to cover between them
The state authorities continued to
pile rife and ammunition up into the
troubled country. Two shipments of
rifles and bullets were made from
Roanoke. They will be unloaded at
Galax and brought here in wagons.
The posse are we'll armed with state
militia equipment. H
Surrounded Again.
Greensboro, N. CA long distance
telephone message from Mount Airy,
N. c., announced that messenger had
arrived there asking that every avail.
able man be sent to Squirrels Spur, IL
miles from Mount Airy and just inside
the Virginia border, where it was be-
lieved Sidna Allen and several of his
band were surrounded by posse of
40 men.
According to the messenger, the
posse has formed a Gordon about
Squirrels Spur and the leaders were
confident that the outlaws were cor
nered. An attack on the place is
planned. $3.50,
There was a running battle for three
miles before the three men were killed
and Morley surrendered. Young Blunt
was the first to fall. i@itiII
Blunt was 20 years old and had been
married but two months. His young
widow was Frustrated when his body
was returned to the family home by
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