The Washington times., 1922-10-08
TWO RELEASED
/ ON PARDON BY
! VA. GOVERNOR
Executive cIemency Is Refused
To Sidna Allen and Wesley ,
Edwards.
JUDGE SLAIN ON BENCH
Mountain Gang Convicted After
Long Fight and Two EIec-
trocuted in 1913.

trocuted in 1913.
RICHMOND, Va, Oct. The
action of Governor Trinkle in
pardoning from the State. peniten-
tiary Friel Allen, who had served
ten years of an eighteen-year SEN
tefice; and Sidna Edwards, whose
sentence of fifteen years had yet
five years to run; and in refus-
ing ciemeney to Sidna Allen, serv-
ing a sentence Of thirty-fiye years.
and to Wesley Edwards, whose
sentence is twenty-seven years, is
but step in a. red story that runs
for a hundred years, and has lad
it's influence in the political his
tory Of the Old Dominion.
The fight for pardons for these
members of the notorious Allen
gang of two gun mountaineers
Mas extended ever since their con-
viction following the courthouse
battle.
An office has been operated in
Richmond solely for the purpose
of swelling the list of names Of
the pardon petitions and to bring
pressure to bear on the States
officials.
The position of at least one
Virginia governor has been ieo-
pardized because Of his refusal to
pardon the gangsters.
Governor Trinkle's home is in
the vicinity Of the mountains
where the Aliens operated.
Opponents Were Busy.
Opponents or the petition tor par
don. or any executive clemency for
the Allen gangstcrs, were very
active and spared neither energy
nor expense to keep the perpetra-
tors of the 'Hillsville horror"-a
crime virtually unparalleled-in the
State penitentiary.
Since the four Allen gangsters
were sentenced to prison. following
the electrocution of Floyd and
Claude Allen. father and son. here,
on March 80, 1913. several efforts
have been made by sympathiZcrs
to have them pardoned, but they
could not work up sufficient senti-
ment and were further handicapped
by the fact that the prisoners had
not served any considerable part Of
their time.
During the past months. however.
the Allen sympathiZers have estab.
lished headquarters in an up.to-date
office building here and employed d
working force to handle their
propaganda. travel over the State
and solicit signatures to their peti-
tions for pardon.
Systematic Campaign.
The sympathizers' systematic and
businesslike efforts brought back
vividly the desperate battle they
waged to prevent the electrocution
Of Floyd and Claude Allen nine years
ago, when their strategy had such
ramifications as to assume dramatic
and unparalleled political signIfi-
canoe.
On the eve of the electrocutions,
the Allen sympathizers arranged to
have Gov. William Hodges Mann in
Vited to Philadelphia to make an ad-
dress. AS soon as he crossed the
Potomac river and was Off Virginia
soil. the sympathizers held a mid
night conference with Lieut.. Gov.
j. Taylor Ellerson, ambitious to be-
come governor, and offered to elect
him as Mann's successor If he would
take advantage OF Mann's absence
and commute the death sentences or
pardon the two condemned men.
Attorney General Williams, how-
ernor could not usurp the preroga.
tives Of the absent chief executive
The Attorney General also tele-
graphed to Governor Mann. while
the latter was en- route to Phila-
delphia, acquainting him with the
turn Of events. Governor Mann left
the sleeper, took a special train, re-
turned to Alexandria, and tele-
sraphed to the penitentiary superin-
tendent: The governor of Virginia
is back on Virginia soil and he in.
sists that the law take it's course
and that the scheduled electrocu-
tions be not delayed beyond the ap-
pointed hour"
The Allen Epitaph.
In retaliation for this act ON his
part, the Allen sympathizers raised
Q large fund and placed over the
grave of the two electrocuted men
large shaft bearing this inscrip.
ton:
Here lie Floyd and Claude allen,
Judicially Murdered
BY William Hodges Mann,
oV, lolSs
Governor Mann never made any
protest against the inscription, and
II still remains on the shaft in the
little burial plot near Mt Airy,
N. c.
Crowd OF Sympathizers.
When Floyd and Claude were
electrocuted the State penitentialy
here was surrounded by great
crowd Of sympathizers and morbidly
curious persons who refused to leave
the vicinity of the institution until
the bodies were brought out. The
large crowd followed the hearses TO
an undertaking establishment and
after the bodies had been embalmed
thousands of men. women and chill.
dren viewed the corpses Lying in
state"
The reaction on the part Of the
sympathiZers and because of thYir
activity was to make II most otfti-
cult to obtain juries to try the four
other men now, in the penitentiary.
After several panels had been ex.
hausted juries were finally obtained
and the lengthy trials were cha arac-
terized by bitterness and a legal