The Washington times., 1922-04-09
ASK CLEMENCY /
Of GOV. TR|NKLE
FOR 4FEUD|STS
Two Leaders Of Gang Execut-
ed In 1913 After Outbreak
at HillsvilIe.
OLD ANIMosITIEs REVIVED
Petitions Recall Period of Out
lawry Unprecedented In
State History.

hIOnmOINDs Na.s Apfh os--AP-
plications for executive clemency
FOR four imprisoned members Of
the ALLEN Gang of Carroll coun'
ty," have been filed with Gov
ernor Trinkle and threaten to di-
vide Virginians-Allen sympathiz-
ers and non-sympathizers-into two
: active. hostile camps.
Believing that the quartet of
men-Sidna Allen. Wesley Ed
wards, Friel Allen and Sidney
Edwards--have been sufficiently
punished, some. of the foremost
clergymen and business men in
the State have banded themselves
together to bring about their lib
. Grafton. They are circulating pc
titions throughout the State and
claim to be getting thousands Of
signatures to back up the formal
petition for pardon already filed
with the chief executive.
From Trinlxle's Section.
The ALLEN sympathizers" say they
are further encouraged by the fact
that Governor TrinlSle halls from
the southwestern part of the State,
where the Aliens lived and where
their very name was enough to chill
the marrow in the bones of strong
men and drive women into mysteries,
and that because of his knowledge
of the characteristics of the people
Of that section he will take a Iaore
sympathetic view OF the petitions,
Opponents of the petition for par
don, or any executive clemency for
the Allen gangsters, are equally as
active and say they will spare
neither energy nor expense to keep
the perpetrators OF the "Hillsville
horror crime virtually unparal-
leled-in the State penitentisry until
they serve out their sentences or die.
, 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 sympafhizers to have
4 them pardoned, but they could not
work up sufficient sentiment and
' were further handicapped by the
fact that the prisoners had not
served any considerable part Of their
time.
Today, however. the Allen sym.
oathizers have established headquart-
ers In an up-to-date office building
here and employed a working force
10 handle their propaganda, travel
over the State and solicit signatures
to their petitions for pardon.
Systematic Campaign.
The sympathizers' systematic and
businesslike efforts today bring back
viyidly the desperate battle they
waged to prevent the electrocution
OF Floyd and Claude Allen nine years
\ ago, when their strategy had such
ramiffcations as to assume dramatic
and unparalleled political signifi'
canoe.
ON the eve Of the electrocutions,
the Allen sympathizers arranged to
have Governor William Hodges
Mann invited to Philadelphia to
make an address. As soon as he
crossed the Potomac river and was
off Virginia soil, the sympathizers
held a midnight conference with
Lieutenant Governor ]. Taylor Eller-
son, ambitious to become governor,
and offered to elect him as Mann 5
successor II he would take advantage
of Mann's absence and commute the
death sentences or pardon the two
condemned men.
Attorney General Williams, how
ever, ruled that the lieutenant gov
ernor could not usurp the preroga-
tiyes of the absent chief executive.
The attorney general also tele-
graphed to Governor Mann, while
the latter was en- route to Philadel-
phis, acquainting him with the turn
OF events. Governor Mann left the
sleeper, took special train, re-
turned 10 Alexandria, and tele-
graphed to the penitentiary superin-
tendent: 'The governor of Virginia
a. back on Virginia soil and he in
sists that the law take its course
and that the scheduled electrocu-
tions be not delayed beyond the ap-
pointed hour"
The Allen Epitsph.
In retaliation for this act on his
part, the Allen sympathizers raised
a large fund and placed over the
grave of the two electrocuted men a
large shaft bearing this inscription:
Here lie Floyd and Claude Allen
Judicially Murdered
BY William Hodges Mann,
March 80. 1919"
Governor Mann never made any
protest against the inscription, and
IL still remains on .the shaft In the
little burial plot near Mt. Airy,
~. C.
Crowd Of sympathizers.
When Floyd and Claude were
electrocuted the State penitentiary
here was surrounded by a 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 establish
nnent and after the bodies had been
embalnned thousands of men, women
and cirdldren viewed the corpses
Lying in state"
y The reaction on the. part OF the
~ympathizers and because OF their
activity was TO make II most diff
fiouit to obtain Juries to try the
foxir Othor men now In the peniten-