Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-04-02
SURRENDER OF FRiEL ALLEN.
Youngest of the Outlaws Brought In
BY His Father.

by his FatnoT.
Friel Allen, a 17-year-old boy and
the youngest of the gang of outlaws
who participated in the shooting up OF
the court house at Hillsville, Virginia
where five men were killed and two
others were wounded nearly three
weeks ago, was captured in the car
riage shed of his father, JACK Alien,
eight miles from Hillsville, last FIJI
day.
There was no resistance on the part
of young Allen. In fact the understand
ing is that his surrender was purely
voluntary. His father, Jack Allen.
having come to the conclusion that ne
would rather have his boy surrender TO
the law than killed in resistance, man.
aged to communicate with him and
induced him to come in. Jack Allen, q
brother of the others, was not mixed
up in the court house affair, and was
therefore at liberty to go and come as
he saw proper. Just how he managed
to find his son, has not been explained;
but that is not of first Importance. Inc
officers found the young fellow as
stated, and an Associated Press dis
patch of Friday night, tells the story
as follows:
Hillsville had hardly digested the
excitement incident to Claude Aliens
bloodless capture yesterday, when
Friel Allen galloped into town late to-
day, the prisoner Of Detective Thos l..
Felts, leader Of the mountain cam
paign against the outlaws, and De-
tective c. Payne, who together maze
the arrest.
The young mountaineer, of slender
build and boyish face, was unhand-
cuffed and cantered into town with
smiles and mods to those who recog-
nized him. He showed, however, the
i'll effects of two weeks with little 1000
or shelter.
The young prisoner talked glibly OF
his conversation with Sidna Allen and
Wesley Edwards. The former, he said
admitted killing Judge Thornton l.;
Massie, while the latter acknowledged
shooting Commonwealth Attorney W..
M. Foster. His own part in the trag-
edy he discreetly evaded discussing.
He brought, however, first hand infor-
nation Of the desperate straits of Sid
ma Allen, leader of the band, and MS
consciousness of guilt.
In the dialect Of the mountains he
told his story, needing Interruptions
and answering all queries.
Uncle Sidna told me-" related the
boy with unrestrained frankness, that
he never expected to see his family
again. He hopes the detectives Will
get discouraged. so that he can get
away, but If they keep after him L
think he will be shot killing them. He
will never surrender. He did not like
it when l left him. He told me l was
making a mistake, but was tired and
hungry.
Uncle Sidna said he shot his pistol
empty three times. He always was
angry with Judge Massie. He said
that he shot Judge Massie and that
Wesley shot Mr.. Foster. Uncle Sldna
said he intended to get as many OF the
court officers as he could. When he
was shooting in the street he really
did not know he was firing = any or
the jury. He said he saw men running
and thought they needed shooting at.
1.-The day after the shooting Uncle
Sidna and Cousin Wesley and went
to the mountains. Wesley had two
pistols and Uncle Sidna had a revol-
yer and a shotgun. We all had plenty
of shells. We got plenty Of rations
for a while. We were hidden under
"a ledge by leaves. From there we
moved to another rock and saw the
officers raid my Aunt Alberta's house.
Some Of the detectives came with
in fifteen or twenty yards of US. l
wanted to leave, but Uncle Sidna said
If the detectives came closer he would
fire.
Uncle Sidna was shot in the arm
at the court house and the same bull
let went into his side and back. 1t is
still there. His hurts was fixed by
one of the family. No doctor saw him
so far as know. At daylight Monday
Uncle Sidna got some food in sack.
We had plenty of crackers and butter
and sugar and stayed in the ivy and
laurel bushes for ten days, but with
nothing else to eat except those crack
ers. The day before yesterday / de-
cided to leave and we separated. L
was Just starved out. I left them on
the mountain top, about three miles
from Piper's Gap road.
Near where we were in the laurel
there was a log we had planned to
use as a breastwork in case of at
tack"
Friel disclaimed knowledge Of the
part Claude Allen took in the shoot
ing, and denied knowledge Of the at
tivities of Sidna Edwards, Victor AL
len and Bud Marion, now in Jail at
Roanoke.
Both Friel and his cousin, Claude,
probably will leave here during the
night or at daybreak for Galax taking
the noon train tomorrow there, for
Roanoke. where the two prisoners Will
join their kinsfolk already in Jail.
The detectives thus far have won
81 900 of the S3,100 reward offered by
Governor Mann for the outlaws cap
ture.