Arizona republican., 1913-03-29
Floyd Allen, on Whose Head Rested Entire Blame for Hillsville Court House Killings, Pays Penalty of Death
STRENUOUS ATTEMPT TO STAY SENTENCE
Governor Mann Being Out of State Attorneys Try to Get Communication Plan Loses When Governor Returns
ASSOCIATED PRESS DISPATCH

RICHMOND. March 2s,-Mumblng a prayer and crying half audibly that he was ready to go. Floyd Allen, a lawleSs product of the Virginia mountains, whose refusal to accept d short prison term for minor offense led to the wholesale court murder in Hillsville year ago, limped to the death chair in the penitentiary today, eleven minutes ahead of Claude Swanson Allen, his son.
 The sentence of the court, held up for six hours while desperate and dramatic efforts were made to save the condemned men by eleventh hour appeals to Lieutenant Governor FL lison, speedily ordered to pro ceed when Governor Mann hastened back to Virginia to take charge of the situation. The prison superin- tendent, acting within the law. had agreed at o'clock in the morning to defer the execution, giving Attor- ney General Williams an opportunit> to pass upon the constitutional right of Lieutenant Governor Ellison to interfere. But as the son of Governor Mann reached his father in Phila- delphia by telephone less than an hour after the delay was ordered the governor was back in Richmond at 11:30. In his office. State Peni- l tentiary Superintendent Wood ner- | vously awaited developments Pre- 1 csely at noon he was called to the 1 telephone
 1 The governor of Virginia is back at his desk was the message he re- | ipS were made to obey the mandate of ] the court The aged prisoner was ] unnerved by the excitement incident l ign out the sentence. He went to the electric chair at 1:2O and was declared dead at 1926.
 | Claude Allen was taken into the death chamber at 1:3O and executed at 1:35.
 l Floyd Allen was muttering prayer
 when he was placed in the chair.
 but his son Claude was stoical Rev George w. Mcdaniel. spiritual ad-
 wiser of the prisoners, had to be 1 lifted into his car as he left the 1 prison.
 The execution of Floyd Alien and his son. Claude Swanson Allen. sen | between sunrise and sunset yesterday
 marks the first blow of justice upon l the notorious Allen clansmen whose
 lawlessness for years has held the
 natives of the Virginia mountains in
 terror and eliminated early this year
 in the shooting up of the Carroll
 county court when five persons lost
 their lives The news of the crime
 sent a thrill of horror throughout the nation and the shocked Virginia
 authorities moved expeditiously to
 bring the criminals to justice.
 On the morning of March IT.. Floyd Allen stood before the bar nr , the Carroll County Court House at , Hillsville. to receive sentence for his part in aiding the escape of another
 mountaneer from the custody of the sheriff A crowd packed the little court room for the character of the , prisone" was well known. Members
 of the Allen family were known tn
 be in court and trouble was thought
 imminent
 , The jury having announced yer dict Of guilty. Judge Thornton l.. Massie sentenced the prisoner to one $ year at hard labor. With the last f word of the sentence, a crash of fiIe l arms broke from the spectators : benches Floyd Allen. the prisoner g with a smoking revolver in his hand p leaped from the prisoners dock ana
 ion"G the rush of the gang towarl e the door
 When the courtroom was cleared S the body of Judge Massie. rddleC d with bullets. was found lying over e his desk. Commonwealth Attorne! e William M Foster and Sheriff L. F e Webb lav dead on the floor Au- g gustus Fowler. a juror, and Eliza = beth Ayres. a spectator, were bleed e ing from wounds which proved fata e the next day. and Dexter Goad, clcrl y of the court. lay shot through th' neck. Goad was one of the principa h witnesses for the state at the con g viction of the prisoners. $ When the courtroom was exam = ined later it was found that nor $ than 200 shots had been fired
 Twenty-seven shots took effect upol l. those killed and wounded. el An army of detectives and news Il paper correspondents soon was SCOUT e ing the muddy roads of the noun tains in search for the prisoners T. Floyd Allen, the cause of the shoot ing who had been wounded by Sher