The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1912-03-21


IN Virginias history was committed
thursday afternoon when outlaws
lIIed every member of the court at
,JiIIsyillc because one OF their num-
her had been sentenced to jail Tor
!. one year for felony.
The first report of the tragedy sent
an, from Hillsville Thursday after
noon says:
Judge Thornton Massie, Com
rnonwealth's Attorney William Fos-
ter. Clerk Dexter Goad, and Sheriff
Lewis Webb, the entire human fab
rio Of the Carroll County Circuit
Court. and a juror named Douglass,
7ere assassinated here to-day by the
Allen brothers and a party OF noun
tain outlaws, just as sentence had
been passed upon one OF their num-
Der for a felony.
The judge and prosecutor were
killed almost instantly when the out
clerk and Juror Douglass were hit
and died soon after. The outlaws
held the onlookers at bay, and es-
capped TO the mountains ahorse. Gov
ernor Mann has ordered troops held
in readiness. A citizen posse is in
pursuit, and indefinite reports of
fight with the outlaws have been re-
Ceiyed.
Hillsville Is fifteen miles from a
railroad or telegraph station.
Three jurors-Fowler, Faddis,
and Kane-were also seriously
wounded, and A. T. Hewlett, Bruce
Marshall, and Stuart Worrell, by
SANDERS, were more or less serious
ly wounded.
Floyd Allen, the prisoner at the
bar, who was shot several times, is
probably not fatally wounded.
"Sidna Allen, his brother, who
killed Judge Massie, was wounded,
but left town with his friends, never
theless.
"Shriff Webbs deputy, with coun-
" people, is guarding Floyd Allen"
A Fuller Report.
Following is a report o fthe awful
tragedy at Hillsville as sent out by
the Associated Press correspondent:
"A troop of mountain outlaws rode
down out of the Blue Ridge to-day
to the Carroll County courthouse
here and assassinated the judge upon
the bench, the prosecutor before the
bar and the sheriff at the door in less
time than it takes to tell it, while
sentence was being pronounced upon
Floyd Allen, one of their number.
When the crack of the rifles died
away, only one member of fabric Of
the court-Dexter Goad, the clerk
was alive and he had been wounded.
Jurymen and onlookers were struck
in the fusillade, but none were
wounded seriously.
Tonight the outlaws with a good
days start, are up in the mountain
bush with a citizen posse, little or
ganized, making a semblance of a
pursuit. A special train from Roam
oke tonight brought twenty detec-
tiyes to Galax, the nearest railroad
station, fifteen miles away. 1t will
be midnight before these can get
over the mountain roads.
Governor Man has offered a So
600 reward for the capture of the
assassins and holds State troops I'M
der arms for orders at Lynchburg
and Roanoke.
The shooting terroriZed Hillsville
to the point of paralysis. There was
not man to give an order or organ
lie a pursuit. Citizens fed to places
Of safety and mothers gathered up
their children while the assassins
rode out of towns.
Judge Thornton L. Massie had
risen from his chair as the bullets
struck him and fell across his desk
bleeding corpse. Commonwealth S
Attorney William Foster, with half a
dozen bullets in his brain, crumpled
down to the floor. Sheriff Lewis
Webb was shot and killed as he
reached for his revolver and sprang
forward Bullets grazed Clerk Goad
and in the confusion he was reported
killed.
Floyd Allen was before the bal
this morning convicted of taking &
prisoner from a deputy sheriff. Aller
had struck the sheriff over the heaC
with the butt of a rife and the pris
oner escaped. Sheriff Webb haC
gone up into the mountains and tax
en- Allen despite the dire warnings o
what such a venture might mean
Attorney Foster had prosecuted hin
n M a n
gathered from the inland section, 70
no man in Carroll County cared to ST
on the trial of Allen, had conEicte'
him.
This morning the sentence of Al
len had attracted an unusually larg
gathering to the quaint old red brio
courthouse which stands on a gree