Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1912-03-16
JUDGE ON BENCH
DIED BY BULLETS
Moonshiners Storm Courtroom at
HilIsviIe, Va, When Leader is
Sentenced to Year in Prison.


been pronounced against Floyd Allen
their leader, twenty members OF the
/ notorious ALLEN gang mountain
"moonshiners, of Carroll county,
poured fusilades OF rife and revolver
| shots at the court ia the Hillsville
Va, court house.
Just as Judge Thornton Mass.e bad
sentenced Floyd Allen to one year in
| prison for aiding in the escape of a
| county prisoner, Two of Aliens broth.
| ers and several of their friends opened
| fire with revolvers. Judge Massie fell
! dead in his place on the bench on the
first volley.
Then the weapons were turned on
Commonwealth Attorney William Eos.
ter, and he sank to the floor with sew
eral bullets in his brain, death being
instantaneous.
Sheriff Lewis Webb, making fran
tic effort to reach the ringleaders, was
shot dead before he had taken ten
steps.
Dexter Goad, clerk of the court, and
Juror Douglass, who were wounded
during the fighting, are in a serious
condition.
Several of the jurors who had tried
the case were seriously wounded, in
Guiding j. IL. Blankenship probably
fatally.
The Aliens, including the prisoner
and their friends, after the killing
backed slowly out OF the court room,
holding all would-be pursuers in check
at the point of revolvers. Once outside
they made a dash for the Mountains
on horseback.
4 posse of citizens soon was in pur-
srit. and reports have reached Roam
oke that one of the Aliens, said to be
Floyd Allen, had been seriously
wounded in a sort of pitched battle
with the posse. He is said to have
been recaptured.
Governor Mann has offered a reward
of $1,000 for the men who escaped from
the Hillsville court house after hay-
ing slain the court officers.
The governor has also ordered the
Roanoke and Lynchburg militia COM
panies to be prepared to proceed to
Hillsville.
Hillsville is the county seat of Car
roll county, which is in the extreme
southwestern part of Virginia The
town is fifteen miles from Barron
Springs. the nearest rail and telegraph
station Hillsville has a population of
about 300
The scene of the wholesale murder
was the quaint little old-fashioned red
brick county court house. There had
been reports that an attempt might
be made to rescue Floyd Allen. who
himself had aided a prisoner friend
officers. The trial had been in pro-
gress for several days.
Floyd Allen had been found guilty
and had been called for sentence. Sid
ney and Jack Allen were among the
first arrivals at the court and We're
seen to take their places near the rail
marking the enclosure for prisoner and
counsel Standing near by were a
number of their associates and friends
from the Blue Ridge mountains.
Judge Massie went about the SEN
fencing 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 volley of shots,
and the judge. who had partly risen
at the first shot. lay dead and bleeding
on the bench.
Commonwealth Attorney Foster was
sitting directly in front of the bench
and was next to succumb to the well
directed shots of the suddenly turned
outlaws.
In the first fusilade several jurors
had been wounded, Blankenship prob
ably fatally. Sheriff Webb, whipping
out his own weapon, made for the
prisoner, who had joined in the shoot
ing with an oath and a declaration
that he would never go to JAIL but the
officer was stopped by a perfect hall
of lead and crumpled into a llfeless
heap on the floor.
BY this time the shooting In the
court room had become general. and
there was a wild rush Of the unarmed
for windows and doors.