The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-03-29

pupiiS' III WHICH tney reaSSert their
Innocence of a conspiracy to shoot up
the court at Hillsville. FIoyds Allen's
paper Is lengthy and is n mere repeti-
ton of his testimony ut tho various
trials. already printed many times. with
the addition of his personal comments
on some Of his friends and some of his
enemies. he maintains that he was In
the right In tho various disturbances
in Which he has been engaged. and OK
presses sorrow for the pass to which
he has brought his son.
The various threats attributed to
Floyd Allen by many witnesses are
denied by him. Ho concludes with for
giveness for everybody.
Statement From CInude.
Claude Aliens statement is shorter.
With the exception of thanks to those
who tried to secure communication of
sentence for him. and criticism of three
ministers who have recently said tho
Aliens should die it is as follows:
Death Chamber,
Virginia State Prison.
March 81. 1919.
Az am now condemned to die and
realize all hope is gone. I thought 1t
my duty to tell what i know of the
trouble for which I have been tried
and for which I must pay my life. Be-
fore going further, Will give n few
things of my past life.
l was horn Juno IL. 1889. and from
my earliest recollection and until the
present time l was taught to speak the
truth In everything and deal honestly
with my fellow-man, which j have
tried to do. Our parents have tried
to raise US to feel that we must be
honorable and that under no condition
must speak faIsehoods.
When fourteen years old started I'm
school at Fairview Academy. near
Hillsville. Va, and was there part
of two years. and afterwards attended
business college at Raleigh. y. G. On
account OF my mothers health being
very bad, / decided to stay at home at
ter leaving school and be of what COM
fort TO her l could. as my brother was
married and + was the only child left
at home. All my life / tried to live
free from trouble with any one, and.
regardless Of the relations between my
people and others, l was never drawn
into their troubles. I have known for
some time that my father and Dexter
Goad were enemies, but never thought
OF their Ill-feeling ending as it has.
Did Not Expect Verdict.
l went to Hillsville during my faith
er's trial and heard some of the evil
dence. and from what / heard I had
no idea that he would even get q Jail
sentence. and never thought for one
moment of any trouble being there
The first L knew of 1t was when II be-
gan. and what l did was without any
premeditation whatever and there was
no plot beforehand or any conspiracy
as far as 1 know, and 1 do not believe
that there was with any of the others.
1T was all so sudden and unexpected
that l had no time to think. and did
on the spur of the moment something
which l had never thought OF doing.
1T is useless for me to repeat here what
} have told on the witness stand, as that
Is known already, and have
changes to make. OF course. there
have been statements made by others
very different from mine, but il the
whole world were against me / would
tell all as I saw 1t just the same.
What the other Aliens or Edwardses
did and who they shot at know moth
ing about When l saw Dexter Goad
shoot at my father / tried to shoot him.
and he (Goad) was the only man
shot at Some probably think | shot
Judge Massie, but i did not: neither
did l fire the first shot in the court
room. have always believed. and
HOW believe, that Judge Massie was a
just man and friend of ours, and
had no reason on earth to take his
life or harm him in any way.
Denies Conspiracy.
] have been accused of consprine
and planning to shoot up the court at
Hillsvillc and other things which !
am not guilty of. ] had too much love
and respect for my dear mother and
my sweetheart If there had been moth
ing else. to keep me from planning n
deed which would have separated me
from them forever on this earth. No
one could have persuaded me into trou-
BILE. This all came on so sudden and
unexpected and I had no time to think
OF what was best. IF the truth alone
lad been told, though, L would not be
where I now am But if any have
knowingly testified falsely against me.
forgive them, and believe some
have told such as they knew was
false There is time coming when
We will not be 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
it will be made right in the great day
Ing to their deeds.
Life is sweet, and we had rather
live, II possible. but since death must
come, am not afraid to die. OF course
I am condemned to die a disgraceful
death, but I know J don't deserve it,
Although there is no way for mo
only TO take what other people give
me. There are great many things
in this case which cannot be learned
yet, but they Will be known some timo
although too late to help me.
Thanks Friends.
wish to thank all who have tried
TO help me get justice. While II Is
hard to die for a crime that you are
innocent OF, and death Of this kind
die under these conditions. believing.
and knowing that God. who knows ali
things, will make all things right. than
1t would bo to die knowing we were
guilty OF the crime rs charged We
are charged with one OF the worst
crimes that could almost no committed
and those who havo asked by letters
to the Governor and through the
papers for our lives and our blood do
not seem to realize that we were NOT
responsible for the trouble at Hills
villo. and that we are innocent of this
crime and wore not tho cause Of the
trouble at Dillsvlle. except I'm an in
direct way
To be under the conditions that we
arc under and to see and know how
some who know nothing about the case
whatever have seen 1T to abuse us, not
only TO the Governor, but also TO the
papers, 1t Is hard to understand why
this Is done.
am sorry that this matter hap
pened and am more than sorry that /
! felt IL necessary to do what I did do