The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1912-04-25
The GENEALGGY OF
The ALLEN GANG

raclal strains and what the physical
and social environment that have com
Dined TO produce this fierce, intolerant
brood that has terrorized Carroll coun-
" and made a slaughter pen OF its
court Of justice?
The question is an interesting one
entirely apart from academic theories
OF Incredibly. 1t is a question thousands
OF law abiding Americans doubtless
nave asked since the commission here
OF one of the most astonishing acts
IN the criminology OF a civilized coun-
try.
No man is better qualified to answer
the question than Judge David w. Bo-
len. He rs leader of the Carroll
| county par, was delegate to the Nir-
/ Sihla State Constitutional Convention
anu lS one of the most thorough stu
dents of Virginia history to be found.
Wltnn the borders Of the Old Do
minion. y neighbor Of the Aliens from
! bOyhood, their attorney and counsellor
IN many OF their evil and criminal
bouts with the law, he has personally
known the Allen clansmen of three
generations
AS counsel for Floyd Allen. he stood
| beside his client when the latter OMEN
ed fire upon the court officers ana
jury ana Judge Bolen himself mar
rowly escaped death from the bullets
intended for the convicted man. He
escaped by prostrating himself upon
the court room floor until the rain of
ANNu A1O spent llSeI-
For most of the facts i'm this sl,e+cb
or the Allen pedigree the Herald is
indebted TO Judge Bolen.
OF True CIannish Stock.
II Is not without reason that the
CarrOi county Aliens are referred to
as tne members of a clan. The first
OF their forbears who settled i'm this
vicinity in Colonial times came of
| Scotch-lrish stock-a strain often Of
sterIing worth, but ever with touch
OF cianmsh family pride and usuall,
| Win more than a touch of pugnacjtv
! Impotence of restraint and frhting
! courage.
In revolutionary days what is now
! carroll was Montgomery county. VA
| one OF the members of the Montgom-
cry county militia who left his plough
ana his axe to march across the am
| kldge in time to take part in the hat
| Sie at Gullford Court House. y. c. was
william Allen. The militia detach-
Iheht marched across the Ridge nv
| way OF the Fancy Gap road. the SAM
| thoroughfare over which armed $50
| nave been scurrying to and fro for
! three weeks in search of that Revo-
iutonary soldiers scions. on whose
heau the outraged law has put a price
As Iluam Allen marched to battle
] ne observed that the rolling land on
/ the lar side of the Fancy Gan was
| attractive. When the Revolutionary
| var was over he and one Of his fell
| ioW soldiers settled there, and SO the
AiIenS became established in the
quarter which they have ruled ever
since with the arrogance Of feudal
barons.
tradition says William Allen was a
Soou soldier. He was destined to he
the progenitor Of many good soldiers
ne mad two sons, only one of whom.
! Nlillam Allen, Jr., concerns this mar
TatlVe' Tor the second, William, was
/ the father of two sons. Bailey Allen
and William Carr Allen.
Bailey Allen had four sons
Lemuel, William. Carr and Bailey
| Allen, Jr OF the four three were
gallant soldiers in the Confederate
service during the Civil War. IemueI
was killed in a charge during the sec
ohd Battle of Bull Run, or. as il is
/ generally designated in the South
the Battle Of Manassas. William. who
was private in the same company.
saw MS brother fall. paused long
| enough to lift his stricken form an5
/ 10 note that he was dead and then
went ON IN the charge upon the Union
position.
Carr Allen survived four years of
/ active service. He was q soldier
whose dash, courage and raIIantrI
were uniformly praised by his Officers
AS confederate veteran and a good
nelghbor he lived until about ten
/ Years ago, when, at good old age. he
was shot and killed by Mack How
| lett, as already told in dispatcbes to
the Herald, and Hewlett WAS Ivncbcd
after band, believed to have in
/ Guided members of the Allen clan
| mad taken him from the Hiusviue
jan the keys of which were surren-
uered by the jailer. who was a cousin
OF Jack Aliens wife.
Black Sheep of the Family.
OF the four sons of Bailey Allen
| the black sheep Of the family vras
| BAILEY, Jr. Judge Bolen was called
upon TO defend him against numerous
criminal charges, and he was finally
sentenced TO a long term in the State
penitentiary for housebrealxing and
! burglary. anu
! William Carr Allen, the other SON
! or the second William Allen. was the
rather OF jeremiah, Robert and John.
JeIeIllah also was loyal soldier in
the army OF the South. He married
the daughter of one of the most
FAMOUS of the old trappers of the
Blue Ridge Mountains "Uncle RillIJ''
Combs. The Confederate veteran and
the daughter Of the old trapper raised
large family of boys. Their sons
were Anderson, who died q few wears
ago after having served as a member
OF the Virginia Reserves during, the
/ iast ten months of the war; Wash
ihston, who was killed by the fall OF a.
Tree; Victor, who is the highly re-
| anu IGSpSCleQ keeper of a
country store few miles from Hills
Nlile and who refuses to fraternize
with his belligerent brethren; Car
Iand' who is a preacher among the
primitive Baptists and exhorts those
OF MS faith every Sunday; Flovd
whose refusal to accept sentence of
| Imprisonment caused the HillsviIIe
massacre; Jasper, generally called
! Jack" whose son, Friel, is the young
est or the clansmen now Imprisoned
on charges of conspiracy and murder
and finally Sidna Allen, who is re-
garded not only as the most wealthy
out also as the master mind of the
clan and who has proved himself a
willy fox in eluding the pursuers who
nave trailed him through the noun
tains with bloodhounds and rifles.
A sister of the seven sons of Jere-
miah Allen is Mrs. Edwards (now Mrs
Mundy), whose sons by her first hus-
band were Sidna and Wesley Edwards.
the first of whom surrendered him,
SELF TO his uncle Jack" while Wesley
preferred to share the hardships of a
mountain outlaw with his uncle. Sid
ma. The other members of the young
er generation who are directly in
Xolved in the Hillsville horror are
NN.