The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1912-03-20
MURDER Riots
IN COURTROOM
Judge, Prosecutor and
Sheriff Killed.
SEVERAL BYSThADERS HURT
CIansmen of Convicted Noun
taineer Wreak Terri
bic Vengeance.
SMALL POSSE is IN PURSUIT

the entire human fabric of the
Carroll County Circuit Court, in
session here yesterday, was wiped
out by assassination.
Just as Judge Thornton Massie
had sentenced Floyd Allen to one
year in prison for aiding in the es-
care of q county prisoner, two OF
Aliens brothers and several of their
friends opened fire with revolveIs.
Judge Massie fell dead on the
bench at the first volley.
Then the weapons were turned
an Commonwealth Attorney Will
liam Foster, and he sank TO the
door with several bullets in his
brain, death being instantateous.
Sheriff Lewis Webb, making a
frantic effort to reach the ringlead-
ers, was shot dead before he had
taken ten steps. Several of the ju-
rors who had tried the case were
seriously wounded, J. II. Blaaken-
ship probably fatally.
Tire Aliens. Including tho prison
er. and their friends. after the kill
5ng OF the Sheriff, backed slowly
out Of the court room, holding all
Wculd-be pursuers in check at the
pcint Of rcvolvCrs. Once outside,
they made a dash for the noun
Trims on horeback. A posse Of citi-
2eas soon was in pursuit, and re-
ports have reached here that one
of the Aliens has been seriously
wounded in a pitched battle which
was fought with the posse.
Special officers are being rushed
into the country to help in running
down the murderers. Gov. Mann is
holding two companies of militia
in readiness in case the Aliens and
their friends gather recruits in the
mountain Businesses. Hillsville is
in a very remote quarter, fifteen
miles from Barren Springs, the
nearest railroad station, and out
side help will be late in arriving.
The village was thrown into a
ferment The wiping out of the
law officers left affairs in the hands
of unframed citizens, but nearly
every man in this section Of the
county has Joined in the hunt.
The scene of the wholesale MUIR
der was the quaint little old-fash-
toned red brick courthouse, Hills
Vile being the seat of Carroll coun-
~. There have been reports that
an attempt might be made to res
cue Floyd Allen, who himself had
aided a prisoner friend recently to
escape from the county officers.
The trial had been in progress for
several days, however, without any
indication becoming public of the
carefully planned plot of the Allen
brothers and their associates.
Floyd Allen had been found
guilty and had been called for SEN
teuce. The stuffy little court
room with its coal stove and crude
furniture, was crowded. Sidney
and Jack Allen were among the
first arrivals and were soon seen to
take their places near the rail,
marking the enclosure for prisoner
and counsel engaged in case. Stand
ing nearby were number of their
and friends from the
Blue Ridge mountains.
Judge Massie won't about the
of the prisoner in the
usual matter-of-fact way, but the
words zone year at hard labor"
had scarcely passed his lips when
there came the crack of a revolver.
IN an instant this was followed by
volloy Of shots and the Judge, who
had partly risen at the first shot,
lay dead and bleeding on the bench
Comn1rreI't.s Attorney Foster
was si.t.or directly IN front Of the
bench ard was royt to succumb to
the wc'l-Glreotei shots os TIE sud
denly tr.uCd outlaws, who had ia
Ken what thcy deemed justice in
their own bands.
The brothers and friends must
have been we'll armed, for it SEEM
cd to spectators who escaped from
the bloody court room that fully
100 shots were fred. In the first
fusillade several Jurors had been
wounded. Blankenship probably
fatally. Sheriff Webb, whipping
out his own weapon, made for the
prisoner, who had Joined in the
with an oath, and a dec
laration that he would never go to
Jail, but the officer was stopped by
a perfect hail of lead and crumbled
into a lifeless heap upon the floor.
BY this time the shooting in the
court room had become general,and