The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-03-29

. way, | told him that 1t was an unfair
advantage to take. and for man SELL
/ ing blockade liquor. like he Dexter
: Goad) was, and at the same time was
! United States commissioner, and that
/ he should quit selling II. / reported
T Dexter Goad for selling blockade
I liquor in his Office while he was United
States commissioner. 1t was reported
that the lipuor he was selling came
from his fathers still which was a
blockade stin. | was under the i'm
preston that Dexter Goad resigned
after he was notified of the charges
] cannot say whether he resigned or
was let out, but anyway he was no
longer United States commissioner
We have been political enemies for
years. Although Dexter Goad has
treated me wrong and has had good
deal to do with my life being taken,
and, as | believe, planned to kin me,
at the same time ] am glad to say
that / forgive him for the wrongs he
has done me. 1t has been hard to do
SO, but 1t is done.
Now, as to the trouble which led
up to my trial at HiIlsville. / never
had any idea of taking the Edwards
boys away from the officers. l had a
contract with the States attorney to
deliver them up at a certain time.
!
the purpose of arranging this matter
AS l was returning home met the
boys with two officers, One of them
was handcuffed and the other tied.
knew that the officers had brought
them out of North Carolina without
any authority. and without any right,
and one of the men was my enemy,
and ! had had trouble with him be-
fore As | approached he drew his
-
some time | passed on beyond. As
passed the boys asked me to come
to Hillsville and go on their bond.
l told them / could not do so, a /
had been suffering with rheumatism
and was not able to go back How
ever. as I passed by knowing they
had no father. | decided TO go back
and try to get Sidna to go and go
on their bond AS I rode by the buggy
the second time. the officer again
drew his gun on me. / went on down
and when near Sidna's got off my
horse. When they drove by the Off
Ger drew his gun on me a third time
and / told him that if he did not
take the gun off me / would take it
away from him He refused to do
SO and | took the gun away from
him and broke it, l then told the
officer to take the handouts off of
boys on to court like gentlemen In
taking the gun away from the officer
We having n sCutfie--I hit the officer
After the trouble was over I made
the officer unlock the handouts and
unite the other boy and then the
other officer, after I had turned
around shot at me and hit me in the
finger, and he ran off. | did not I'M
dertake to take. the boys away from
he aff{rpTG nm no 1tl
told them to get up in the buggy and
take the boys on like gentlemen, and
they refused. After the officers re-
fused to take the boys. / later took
them to HillsvilIe and delivered them
on the day ] had promised to. and
when they were sentenced to jail l
told them to go on and serve their
Jail sentences like men, and then go
home and go to work I had been an
officer in that county for years and
had arrested men for murders and
other crimes and did not have to
handCuT them. and it was seldom
seen in our county that men were
handcuffed
felt that these boys were being
prosecuted as they We're tried in
many different cases and were tried
untn Judge Massie told the court Of
ficers that he thought they had been
did not think they had, Judge Mas
sic stated that ne would not allow
them tried SO many times for the
same offenses. They had been in
dicted eight or ten times for the trou-
bic at the church.
After the judge had told them that
they had been tried enough later they
took the boys before a magistrate and
tried them several times one Of the
/ ma H. fof b.
difficulty with the Edwards boys were
never tried although they were in
dtcted at the same time that the Ed
wards boys were, and it was proven
at the magistrates trial that they
We're most instrumental in the dis
turbance at the church.
Their names were Thomas. One
of them was summoned as a witness
against me at WythevilIe.
After / was indicted John Moore
came to me and told me that Dexter
Goad said that II I would support him
for clerk that he would get a jury
to acqutt me. ] told him I would not
do this.
While some of the jurymen that
tried me had had trouble with Jack
Allen and were friends of Dexter
GOad, there were some of them that
felt would give me justice. and | have
since found out that they were my
enemies and had been for some years
one man came to me and asked me
not to cut off two men on the Jury,
that they were related to him and
would give me fair trial. but think
ing that this man was my friend
told my attorneys. My attorneys
stated / had better not listen TO him
and had better cut these men off
but afterwards, on account of so
many being on the jury that we felt
were friends of Dexter Goad, we
though we had better let these two
men stay on.
After the shooting at Hillsyille the
man who had come to me took great
part against me. and | now think this
was a put up job on me. The man
who came to see was named Faddfs
the revenue officer who swore that
he was at Hillsville at the time that
Dexter Goad made the statement as
to how this shooting occurred. II
believe Faddls knew he was not
there and was stating a falsehood
This evidence was, in my opinion,
made up for the purpose of convicting
my son Claud, and was, OF course,
very damaging.
/ want to say that the threats that
are reported that | made about shoot
ing up the court are untrue. and as
a general rule, the men who testified