Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-04-03
OF .LAWLESS
ALIENS EXECUTED
Eleventh Hour Attempt to Save
Courthouse Gunmen Thwarted
by Governor Mann.

product of the Virginia mountains, whose |
refusal to accept a short prison term for
| n minor offense led to the wholesale court |
| murder in Hilsville year ago, limped |
| to the death chair in the state peniten- |
| tiary to-day II minutes ahead of Claude |
| swanson Allen, his son.
| The sentence of the court, held up for
six hours while desperate efforts were
| being made to save the condemned men
! by appeals to Lieutena ant Governor Ely !
| son, was speedily ordered to proceed
| when Governor Mann fastened back to
| Virginia soil to. take charge OF the stua |
| ton. The prison superintendent, acting !
within the law, had agreed at two o'clock ,
| this morning to defer the execution. Civ |
| ing Attorney General Williams an oppor |
tunity meanwhile to pass upon the con-
stitutional right Of Leutenant-Governor |
| E,uyson to interfere.
| But the son of Governor Mann reached |
his father in Philadelphia by telephone
less than an hour after the delay had
been ordered and by eight o'clock the |
| Governor was back on Virginia soil, there
| by checking the plan of Allen sympath- |
| tiers in further urging the lleutenant-
| governor to intercede.
What brought forth the greatest indig- |
nation from the Governor was the report
| cd fact that the plan to appeal to the
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS was agreed upon
week ago.
Inc old mountaineer, once the terror
of whole section OF the Blue Ridge,
and his strappinG young son were
electrocuted within 10 minutes of one an
other. The old man. who went to the
chair shaken but brave was pronounced
/ l,n LOG
| a .35.
! The lawlessness of the notorious Allen
clansmen for years held the natives of
the Virginia mountains in terror and
eliminated early last year in the shoot
! ing 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 cxpeditiously
to bring the criminals to Justice.
| on the morning of March IL, Floyd
Allen stood before the bar of the Carroll
| county courthouse at Hillsvile to re-
ceive sentence for his part in aiding the
escape of another mountaineer from the
custody of the sheriff. crowd packed
the little court room for the character of
the prisoner was we'll known. Members
in court and trouble was thought
imminent.
The jury having announced verdict of
guilty, Judge Thornton L. Massie SEN
fenced the prisoners to one year at hard
labor With the last word of the sentence,
a crash of firearms broke from tn. spec
tators' benches. Floyd Allen, the prisoner
with a smoking revolver in his hand
To- 1n1 fr1,, ,lA ric ,,r'c
Joined the rush OF the gang toward the
uoor'
When the court room was cleared the
pody or JUICE Massie' riddled with tul'
'e'9' was tound lying over his desk; Com
"loh"ea'th Attorney NlIlam NJ. roster
and Sheriff l.. f. Webb lay dcad on the
moor Augustus Fowler juror and
Elizabeth Ayres, a spectator. We're hIncd-
''R from wounds which proved fatal the
next aaV' ana Dexter Goad' clerk OF the
Vo"'t' III! sno' thr"nsh the neck Goad
was one Vi inc prlhcipa' witnesses of the
0t@te at the cohVicu"h or the prisoners.
men inc court room was examined
'"'e' II was ioun" 'Hat more than NO
s''o'9 n''N 'r''' i'ieu lWehty-scNen shots
''oN e''ol UPON 'i''se Killed or wounded,
an al ny va "e'@''Nts anu newspaper
't was SVouflhs the
li'''u' 4oai' Vi ''e mountains IN search
- 'oNu Ailen the cause
"a Wv 'O'iiS WHO ma peen wounded
to,,an tha aa,, ~ ~ '''r court room was
bic con via.a 49,, '''''e' 'oEe'her with
p;ra ,1o,io,, '''' an" MS nephew
cid,a I,h,.,
Allen hra.. w. Il nephew or the
:, 49, ,, vac '"ptureI IN hut
y,bo r. us H"rch - Edwards,
id'4e' had eaten nothing for
.,,1 anu was very weak when
, | 49,, swanson Allen. an
81! VI 'oEu Allen walked up to
=" .'e mountains and surren-
"'''Seil on March IS The next
''' i'e' |lieh' youngest member of
, Wv e""s' was taken at his fathers
q "'Ii'
fioEu Allen charged specifically
WIN the Killing of Commonwealth At
/, torheE roster was found guilty of
Hrst degree murder on May Il. and
Iudge No.si, n'i''"h