The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-03-29
BY CLAUDE ALIEN.
Death Chamber,
VIRGINIA STATE Prison.

J
trouble for which [ have been tried
and for which, must pay my life
Before going further viii give few
things of my past life:
I was born June II. 1889. and from
my earliest recollection, and. until the
present time, / was taught to speak
the truth in everything, and deal hon
estly with my feilowman, which
have tried to do. our parents have
tried to raise us to feel that we must
be honorable, and that under no con-
| ditlou must speak falSehOOds
When fourteen years old, / started
in school at FairView academy, near
Hulsville, Virginia. and was there
part of two years. and afterwards at
tended business college at Raleigh,
/ North Carolina. ON account OF my
mothers health being very bad, I
decided to stay at home after leaV-
ing school. and he Of what comfort to
her / could, 8 my brother was mar
ried and ] was the. only child left at
home. All my life I tried to live free
from trouble with anyone. and re-
CARELESS of the relations between my
people and others. ! was never drawn
into their troubles. have known for
sometime that my father and Dexter
Goad were enemies. but never thought
Of their ill-fecling ending as it has.
| went to Hillgvilie during my faith
er's trial and heard some of the evil
denCe. and from what | heard / had
no idea that he you'd even get a jail
sentence, and never thought for one
moment of any trouble being there.
The first / knew of 1t was when ii be-
gan. and what ! did was without any
reconciliation whatever, and there
was no plot beforehand or any con-
spiracy az far as / know, and | do
not believe that there was with any of
the others.
1t was all so sudden and uneXpect-
ed that I had no time to think, and
did on the spur of the moment some
thing which | had never thought of
doing. Ii is useless for me to repeat
here what l have told on the witness
stand, as that is known already and
| have 10 changes to make. OF
| course. there have been statements
made by others very different from
mine but if the whole world were
against me- | would tell all as I saw
it just the same.
What the other Aliens or Ed
wardses did and who they shot at ]
know nothing about When / saw
Dexter Goat shoot at my father,
tried to shoot him, and he tGOad)
was the only man | shot at. Some
probably think l shot Judge Massle,
but | did not; neither did / fire the
first shot in the courtroom. / have
always believed. and now believe, that
Judge Massie was just man and a
friend of ours, and ! had no reason
on earth TO take MS life or harm
him in any way.
nave heen accused of eonsplring
and planning to shoot up the court at
fIllSville and other things which /
am not guilty of 7 had too much
love and respect for my dear mother
anu my S|eethe&f1' II mere had neeh
,,usll'ah Si3 i,t !. otil plal
80 -, $3.50. 'ats
aa,t n ,+l ,rr,id ta,,, ,,,,e.,,, "a
no jr+, tr,,,i,Ta r,bis o1I oa,,,o nn .n
s,,,7d.,,, .,nd ,,,,o1-nacto,4 ana : i,a1 ~
t{n,e ia tbipl, Of what v,as hest II
me truth alone had heen fold though
would moi he where NOW sam Ann
if any nave Knowingly testified false
" against me. | forgive them and /
/ believe some have told such as they
knew was false. There is a time com
ing when we will not he judged by
what others say, but by Him who
knoweth all things, even our
thoughts. and then all will be made
right If ] suffer here 1t Will be made
right In he great day when every one
must be judged according to their
deeds
LAfe is sweet, and we had rather
live, II possible but SINCE death must
come. | am not AFRAID To dle' ot
course, am condemned 10 Gle as
graceful death, nut l KNOW doh
deserve It, Althongh tnefe is no way
for me-oniE 70 take what other peo-
pie give me. Ihere are great many
things in TINS case winch cannot be
learned yet, but they VIII be known
sometimes although too late To help
me.
/ wish In thank an VINO nave tfled
10 heip me get justice " ME II is
nara 20 DE Tor CRIME that you are
innocent 81, ana a death OF TINS KIND
al the same time IL is much hetter 20
die under these conditions heheNIhs
and knowing that COO VINO knows al
things, Will make ali Things right imam
IT would be TO dle knowing we were
guilty OF the crime as charged we
are charged with one OF the worst
crimes that could almost be com
United, ana those VINO nave asked by
letters 10 the governor ana through
the papers Tor our AVes ana our
! blood, do not seem TO reaiize that we
were not responsible TOT the uouple
! at liillsviile. ana that we are innocent
/ of this crime ana were not the cause
of the trouble at HlisVliiet except III
an indirect way
To be under the condition that we