Thirty-five-year-old Pennsylvania native Elmer Raines arrived at the Virginia Penitentiary on 14 July 1909.  Raines was convicted of forgery in the Roanoke Corporation Court and sentenced to four years in prison.  At the time of his incarceration, Raines had two known aliases:  Henry Fairfax and Frank Fairfax.  Penitentiary officials also learned of a new one:  William H. Reynolds.  On 2 February 1911, Penitentiary Superintendent J.B. Wood received a letter from a Mrs. William H. Reynolds of Macon, Georgia, inquiring if her husband, Elmer Raines, would be paroled in July.  “I have tried to be patient,” Mrs. Reynolds wrote, “and sometimes think I can not get along alone and make a living[,] however I have been very successful so far.”  By June 1911, Mrs. Reynolds’ fortunes had changed.  “[K]indly do all you can to get [Raines] pardoned in July,” she wrote Wood, “for I need his protection more than I can tell you.”  The Virginia Penitentiary Board of Directors paroled Raines on 15 July 1911.

Two days after his release, Raines wrote Wood informing him that he found employment in the barber shop of the Guerrant Hotel in Richmond.  “Saturday [15 July 1911] was the happiest day of my life,” he wrote Wood, “[and] I really believe that Mrs. Reynolds is happier today than I ever saw her before.”  The letter was signed William H. Reynolds (Raines).  Wood replied on 21 July 1911.  “It is a source of pleasure to me to know,” Wood wrote, “that those who have ever of necessity had to stop at my hotel, leave with a kindly feeling towards the proprietor.”  Reynolds fortune changed by August.  “I had to give up the shop at the Guerrant Hotel, as it was not paying me,” he wrote Wood on 7 August 1911.  “I got duply [sic] in debt so I decided to give it up before I got in the hole further.”

Raines/Reynolds returned to the Penitentiary on 1 November 1911 under the name of Charles H. Kimball (No. 10455).  Kimball was convicted of forgery in the Norfolk City Corporation Court and sentenced to two years in the Penitentiary.  He also had to serve the remainder of his sentence from his previous conviction under the name of Raines.  There was no parole or second chance in Kimball’s future.  He was transferred to the Penitentiary State Farm in Goochland County where he died on 17 January 1915 from grippe and mitral regurgitation.

-Roger Christman, Senior State Records Archivist

Forty-two-year-old Joe Perry of Buchanan County arrived at the Virginia Penitentiary on 30 August 1906 to begin serving a ten-year sentence for second degree murder.  He was a model prisoner and did not violate any rules during his incarceration.  In May 1909, Perry found a repeating shotgun which one of the guards had left in a common area of the penitentiary and returned it to prison officials.  On 14 December 1910, this incident, along with Perry’s good conduct and clemency petitions submitted by Buchanan County citizens, led Governor William Hodges Mann to commute his sentence to eight years.  This made Perry parole eligible.  Five days later the Virginia Penitentiary Board of Directors granted it without requiring Perry to secure employment.

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Upon his return home to Council, Virginia, Perry wrote Superintendent J.B. Wood on 14 January 1911 to thank him.  “I feel that I owe you so many thanks for the kind treatment I received from you and your officials during my time there,” wrote Perry.  “I can’t find words sufficient to express them.”  Perry stated that he had a good job with the Clinchfield Coal Company.   “[N]o matter where I may be,” Perry concluded, “you have my best wishes and will also ask that you give all the guards my best wishes.”  Wood replied two days later.  “You conducted yourself while here as a true man ought to,” Wood wrote.  You “gave good service and [were] a respectful and obedient servant to those in authority over you” and upon your discharge received “the good will and best wishes of every man who has anything to do with the management of the prison.”  Wood wished Perry the best and added “that you may be guided by the hand of an All Wise Providence who never deserts those who look to [H]im for help when they need it.”

In a 23 March 1911 letter, Perry thanks Wood for his comments on his conduct while at the Penitentiary.  “While there,” he wrote, “I certainly did try to be a true and obedient man, and it gives me much pleasure to show your letters to my many friends.”  Perry added that he “was rewarded by the kindness of those who had the power over me.”  Perry expressed his desire to have his citizenship rights restored.  Perry ended his letter by asking Wood to “give my love to all the officers and best wishes for you.”  In his 31 March 1911 response, Wood updated Perry on the latest news from the Penitentiary, noting how little had changed since Perry’s release.  “Everything is going along as usual,” wrote Wood, with “few changes made where you used to hang out.”  Wood noted “Dr. Sam Smith wants to know how your leg is getting.  He is still giving bread pills and castor oil, salts and hot water at the Hospital.”  In other gossip Wood noted that “Old man Price and [John] Orrel are still well enough to get their regular doses of toddy every day.  Dutch Mullens is still watching the gate, and Hennings is picking grass in the back yard for his chickens.”  Wood also advised Perry to wait at least a year before applying to have his citizen rights restored.  Perry took his advice and his rights were restored on 16 May 1917 by Governor Henry Carter Stuart.

I attempted to learn what became of Perry after his parole.  Federal Census records and a family tree on ancestry.com while not definitive provide some clues.  Perry married Matilda Catherine Combs (1861-1924)  in 1895.  The couple had four children:  William Cecil (Willie) Perry (1897-1976), Fred Perry (1898-1983), Robert E. Perry (1900-1962), and Beecher Perry (1903-1966).  There is a Joe Perry in the 1930 census living as a boarder in Cabell County, West Virginia.  By 1940 Perry still resided in Cabell County but was married to Annie, a woman 30 years younger.  I was unable to learn when or where Perry died.

Next week:  Elmer Raines, 8824

-Roger Christman, Senior State Records Archivist

On the afternoon of 31 August 1907, David C. Peebles and his 11-year-old daughter Mary Sue arrived at their home in Bedford County, having spent several days in Lynchburg.  His wife, Edmonia, was working in their detached kitchen.  David was drunk and argumentative.  David cursed her and accused her of neglecting her responsibilities.  Edmonia responded that “if I were a man I’d give you a good thrashing, but I can’t beat you.”  Enraged, David attempted to choke her; Edmonia grabbed a stove-lifter and stuck him several times on the head.  Peebles grabbed an axe handle and beat her with it.  Edmonia got away from him, ran into the house, grabbed a shotgun and returned to the kitchen.  Peebles was washing the blood off his face. “You see that don’t you?” he shouted.  “You made me do it,” Edmonia replied, “but I want to know if you are going to beat me anymore.”  Peebles grabbed the axe and started towards her.  “I am not going to let you beat me with that,” Edmonia cried, “I’ll shoot if you don’t” stop. David continued toward her and replied, “I am not afraid of your damn bluff.”  Edmonia fired.  The shotgun blast shattered David’s lower jaw cutting off part of his tongue.  He fell but got up and chased her outside.  They struggled over the gun.  Edmonia grabbed a rock and struck him in the head repeatedly.  These fatal blows fractured David’s skull driving a portion of it into his brain.

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Edmonia Peebles trial for the murder of her husband began on 10 December 1907.  Two of her children, Mary Sue and Clinton, age 16, both testified for the prosecution.  Edmonia pleaded self-defense.  Testifying on her own behalf, Edmonia described a brutal 16-year marriage to David.  He was often drunk, beat and kicked her, once cut her with a hatchet, and even attacked her with a razor while pregnant.  The child was born dead.  Other witnesses described David’s drunkenness and ill-temper.  The trial ended with a hung jury.  One juror voted for acquittal, seven for murder in the second degree and four for voluntary manslaughter.  Peebles was not out of legal jeopardy.  Her second trial began on 4 May 1908.  This time Peebles was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to two years in the penitentiary.

In his plea to Governor Claude Swanson for clemency, Clarence Campbell, Edmonia’s attorney, stated that the jury at her second trial initially stood at three for acquittal and nine for conviction.  The jury compromised on the verdict and gave Peebles a short sentence.  Judge W.R. Barksdale, who presided over Edmonia’s second trial, opposed clemency.  “The murder was one of the most horrible and brutal that I ever heard or knew of,” Barksdale wrote to Governor Swanson on 25 February 1909.  He added that “Mrs. Peebles ought to congratulate herself that she was not sent for at least ten instead of the two years at the Pen.”  Swanson denied the pardon request.  However, the Penitentiary Board of Directors paroled Peebles on 23 June 1909.  Penitentiary Superintendent E.F. Morgan opposed her release.  “At the time this woman was paroled,” Morgan wrote to S.M. Bolling, Circuit Court Clerk of Bedford County, on 31 August 1909, “I considered it a very unwise move on the part of my Board, as I have always considered the crime for which she was convicted a very atrocious crime.”

Edmonia Peebles did not leave the Penitentiary quietly.  Just one day after her parole, she wrote Superintendent Morgan a scathing letter accusing Penitentiary employees of stealing a gold neck chain and various articles of clothing.  After an investigation by Morgan rebutting the charges, Peebles responded that she was mistaken and had found all of the missing articles.  In August 1909, Bedford County officials threatened to send Peebles back to the Penitentiary for violating her parole.  She was charged with using abusive language to the wife of a tenant on her farm and with unmercifully whipping her own child.  The outcome of this case is unknown.  In 1912, Peebles wrote Governor William Mann asking to be released from the costs of an unnamed prosecution against her as a reward.  While in the Bedford County jail for this unnamed crime, Peebles informed the officers that another prisoner had a key to unlock the cells.  Henry Humphreys, Commonwealth’s Attorney for Bedford County, suggested to Governor Mann in a letter dated 3 August 1912 that “instead of entering an Order for the remission of the cost, that you can simply advise me to hold up any proceedings looking to the collections” and “this will answer the same purpose.”  Humphreys added that “this would be better than releasing the costs altogether, as it would be a good plan to hold it over her somewhat in the nature of a suspended sentence.”  Governor Mann concurred.  There is no record of Peebles ever being returned to the Penitentiary.

Next week:  Joe Perry, 6733

-Roger Christman, Senior State Records Archivist

On 30 January 1909, Ben F. Parker, a 30-year-old African American from Nansemond County, arrived at the Virginia Penitentiary to begin serving a three-year sentence for forgery.  Parker was sent to work on the Bedford County road force operated by W.H. McMillan.  He was a model prisoner.  After serving half his sentence, Parker applied for a conditional pardon (parole) in August 1910.  C.T. Allen, a farmer in Good View, Virginia, agreed to employ Parker on his farm for $6 a month for seventeen months.  Allen also promised to “take a friendly interest” in Parker, “to counsel and advise him in which is good,” and to report to the Penitentiary Superintendent any conduct or behavior that would violate the conditions of his parole. Allen’s offer of employment was accepted with one caveat.  The Penitentiary Board of Directors did not parole prisoners for less than $10 per month and board.  Allen agreed to increase Parker’s compensation and the prisoner was paroled in September 1910.

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The salary difference foreshadowed future conflicts between Parker and Allen.  In a letter dated 24 October 1910 to Penitentiary Superintendent J.B. Wood, Parker states his employment for Allen is going well except that “his satisfaction is not very good on the money matters” as he had not been paid.  Wood interceded on Parker’s behalf and he received his pay.  Wood cautioned Parker that if he left Allen’s employment without the consent of the Superintendent, he would be in violation of his parole and could be arrested and returned to the Penitentiary to serve out the remainder of his sentence.  By March 1911, Allen was no longer satisfied with Parker.  He found him difficult to manage and threatened to return him to the Penitentiary.  To avoid reincarceration, Parker made Allen a proposition:  he would work on the Virginia Railway but pay Allen $10 a month.  Allen agreed.  In an 8 April 1911 letter to Wood, he added that “Ben is under my control just like he was when he was on my farm.”  Wood responded three days letter.  He stated that Allen had no right to Parker’s wages.  “When you released him to work for the Railway Company,” Wood wrote, “you lost all control over him.”  Wood added that “to take a convict and farm him out might be a serious matter if it were brought to the attention of the Authorities.”  Parker was free to work on the railroad, Wood advised in an 18 April 1911 letter.  Wood’s only request was for Parker to “let me hear how you are getting along until your time here expires.”  There is no further correspondence from Parker in the collection.

Next week:  Edmonia M. Peebles

-Roger Christman, Senior State Records Archivist

In March 1913, Floyd Allen and his son Claude were executed for the 14 March 1912  murder of Commonwealth’s Attorney William Foster.  The Allens’ case had gone through many twists and turns since the shootout in the Carroll County courthouse the previous March.  The trials of Floyd Allen, Claude Allen, Friel Allen, Sidna Allen, Wesley Edwards, and Sidna Edwards took place in Wytheville from April to December 1912.  The prosecution’s strategy was to prove the courthouse shooting was a premeditated conspiracy in order to make each defendant equally liable for the murders.  On 18 May 1912, Floyd Allen was found guilty of the first degree murder of Commonwealth’s Attorney Foster.  The prosecution’s strategy failed in the trial of Claude Allen.  He was convicted of the second degree murder of Judge Thornton Massie because the prosecution failed to prove a conspiracy.  Claude Allen then was tried twice for the murder of Foster.  The first trial resulted in a hung jury.  In the second trial, Allen was convicted of first degree murder.  Floyd and Claude Allen were sentenced to die in the electric chair at the Virginia Penitentiary on 22 November 1912.

The execution did not happen in November.  In order to allow the Allens time to appeal their sentences, Governor William Hodges Mann stayed the executions four times between November 1912 and March 1913.  Their appeals were twice rejected by the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.  The United States Supreme Court declined to intervene.  With their appeals exhausted, Governor Mann set the executions for 28 March 1913.  During the four months of appeals, Mann received letters and petitions urging the governor to grant clemency to the Allens.  Mann refused.  That didn’t stop the Allens lawyers.  On 27 March 1913, with Governor Mann out of state, they suggested to Lt. Governor J. Taylor Ellyson that he had the authority to grant clemency in Mann’s absence.  Virginia Attorney General Samuel Williams, questioned by Ellyson on the constitutionality of this issue, ruled that the Lt. Governor had no power to act during a temporary absence of the governor.  Mann learned of Ellyson’s query to the Attorney General and quickly returned to Virginia to ensure the executions were carried out.

Floyd Allen died in the electric chair at 1:31 pm on 28 March 1913.  Claude was executed eleven minutes later.  The events of 14 March 1912 have been the subject of numerous books and articles with many of the facts of the case disputed (for example, who shot first).  Often lost in the details of the case are those who died as a result of the shootout.  Last night, the Carroll County Historical Society, as part of a Centennial Symposium, held a memorial service to remember the victims:  Judge Thornton Massie, Commonwealth’s Attorney William Foster, Sheriff Lewis Webb, juror Augustus Fowler and trial witness Elizabeth (Bettie) Ayers.  Today, the Society is conducting grave site wreath-laying ceremonies for the five.

-Roger Christman, Senior State Records Archivist

List of Records at the Library of Virginia related to the Carroll County courthouse shooting

• Virginia Secretary of the Commonwealth, Papers relevant to the Floyd Allen case, 1912-1922, accession 21690 and 39265, State Records Collection.
• Records of the Virginia Penitentiary, 1796-1991 (bulk 1906-1970), accession 41558, State Records Collection.
• Wythe County (Va.), Circuit Court, Commonwealth of Virginia v. Floyd Allen, April-May 1912 (trial transcript), accession 28311, Local Records Collection.
• The Virginia Newspaper Project has partnered with the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Library of Congress, and other newspaper projects, to digitize select Virginia newspapers published from 1860 to 1922 via Chronicling America.  The newspapers are full text searchable.  Researchers can read contemporary media coverage of the shootout and subsequent trials.

Entries in the Dictionary of Virginia Biography related to the Carroll County courthouse shooting

• Floyd Allen (1856-1913)
• William Gibboney Baldwin (1860-1936), Co-founder of Baldwin-Felts Detectives
• David Winton Bolen (1850-1932), Floyd Allen’s attorney on 14 March 1912
• Stuart Bland Campbell (1888-1973), Wythe County Commonwealth’s Attorney, prosecuted Floyd Allen
• Robert Walter Childress (1889-1956), member of posse that chased Floyd Allen et all after the shooting
• Charles Francis Cocke (1886-1971), Sidna Allen’s attorney during his appeals

*Update – 21 March 2012*

The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce a new blog, Fit to Print:  Dispatches from the Virginia Newspaper Project @ The Library of Virginia.  The first post, 100 Years Ago – Law and Disorder, is about the Allen’s and the Carroll County Courthouse shooting.

In December 1912 in the Wythe County Circuit Court, Wesley Edwards, nephew of Floyd Allen, was sentenced to 27 years in the Virginia Penitentiary for two counts of first degree murder and one count of second degree murder for his involvement in the Carroll County shootout.  Edwards was admitted to the penitentiary on 14 December 1912.  An anonymous fellow prisoner, writing in the 27 April 1922 issue of the inmate-run penitentiary newspaper, The Beacon, shared his observations of Wesley Edwards:

“The first day I was in prison I ran into Wesley Edwards on the steps of the Industrial Department and started a conversation with him.  As soon as I told him where I was from, he at once extended his hand, with a smile, and said he was glad to see someone from near his old home, though he was sorry to see me in trouble.  I in turn extended my sympathy to him.  My thoughts of him were many, the chief one being how strange it seemed that this tall, blue-eyed, young fellow could be so jovial and so interested in his work.  He was even then in a hurry, had saw-dust in his hair and on his clothing and carried a rule in his hand.  I had pictured him, before I met him, as being a rather rough looking man with a sad countenance, with hope crushed by the unduly long enforcement of prison life.  Our first conversation was short, but impressive.”

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Edwards’ petition for a conditional pardon was denied on 6 October 1922 by Governor E. Lee Trinkle on grounds that he had only served a small portion of his 27-year sentence.  In 1926, Edwards applied again for a pardon.  Governor Harry F. Byrd granted the pardon on 29 April 1926.  “Upon the petition of thousands of citizens,” Byrd wrote, “this man [Wesley Edwards] having served about half his time and made an excellent prisoner, and feeling that the ends of justice have been met sufficiently to warrant giving him a chance at this time, granted conditional pardon.”

In May 1934, Wesley Edwards applied for the removal of political disabilities (restoration of his voting rights) and an absolute pardon. “[S]ince the granting of the conditional pardon,” Edwards attorneys wrote Governor George C. Peery, “Mr. Edwards has been actively engaged in business, and at the present time operates a filling station on the Richmond-Washington Highway in Henrico County.”  Edwards “is in no way a charge on the community, and so far as we have been able to learn he has lived as a law abiding citizen and has not in any way breached the conditions of the pardon granted him.”  Governor Peery granted both requests on 11 June 1934.

Wesley Edwards died from influenza on 16 November 1939.

Tomorrow: Floyd and Claude Allen

-Roger Christman, Senior State Records Archivist

*Update – 21 March 2012*

The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce a new blog, Fit to Print:  Dispatches from the Virginia Newspaper Project @ The Library of Virginia.  The first post, 100 Years Ago – Law and Disorder, is about the Allen’s and the Carroll County Courthouse shooting.

In December 1912 in the Wythe County Circuit Court, Sidna Allen, brother of Floyd Allen, was sentenced to 35 years in the Virginia Penitentiary for the crimes of first, second and third degree murder.  Allen was admitted to the penitentiary on 14 December 1912.  An anonymous fellow prisoner, writing in the 27 April 1922 issue of the inmate-run penitentiary newspaper, The Beacon, shared his observations of Sidna Allen:

“I at last had an opportunity to go through the carpenter shop where I saw Sidna Allen…I stopped and watched him for a while at his work, before I went over and talked with him.  He was working with as much zeal as any man who owned and operated a manufacturing plant.  His hair was a silvery gray, though tinted with the yellow saw-dust, and his face pale, though it had the illuminated appearance of a pure Christian man….After talking with him a little while I found that the expression on his face was only revealing the man as he was; a true Christian man.  Sunday morning and any time he had a spare, you could see him sitting around reading the Bible and enjoying the words he was daily living.”

Allen’s petition for a conditional pardon was denied on 6 October 1922 by Governor E. Lee Trinkle on grounds that he had only served a small portion of his 35-year sentence.  In 1926, Allen again applied for a pardon.  Governor Harry F. Byrd granted the pardon on 29 April 1926.  “Upon the application of thousands of citizens,” Byrd wrote, “this man [Sidna Allen] having served about thirteen and one-half years and made an excellent prisoner, and feeling that under the circumstances and also by reason of the peculiar conditions surrounding the case that he has probably been sufficiently punished as to warrant giving him another chance, granted conditional pardon.”

After his release from prison, Allen moved to North Carolina.  In bad health, Allen came back to Carroll County to live with his daughter.  He died on 26 September 1941.

Tomorrow:  Wesley Edwards, No. 11218

-Roger Christman, Senior State Records Archivist

*Update – 21 March 2012*

The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce a new blog, Fit to Print:  Dispatches from the Virginia Newspaper Project @ The Library of Virginia.  The first post, 100 Years Ago – Law and Disorder, is about the Allen’s and the Carroll County Courthouse shooting.

In August 1912 in the Wythe County Circuit Court, Sidna Edwards, nephew of Floyd Allen, plead guilty to second-degree murder for his involvement in the Carroll County shootout.  He was sentenced to 15 years in the Virginia Penitentiary and admitted on 18 September 1912.  By all accounts Edwards was a model prisoner.  The 27 April 1922 issue of The Beacon, the inmate-run penitentiary newspaper, contained this observation of Sidna Edwards by a fellow prisoner:

“[I] noticed a stalwart looking man standing on the prison hospital steps.  He had a young, though sad looking face, his hair was beginning to silver and his general expression showed much pain and worry for a young man of his seeming age.  I remarked to another prisoner that the big, young fellow seemed rather under the weather.  ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘that is Sidna Edwards.  He has rheumatism and has been in the hospital a long time, although not confined to bed.  He has the duty of nursing the other patients.’  To describe him takes only a few words, he has one of the most gentle, accommodating, kind and truthful dispositions that I have ever met in any man.  He is generally liked and trusted by offiicials, as well as inmates. “

Governor E. Lee Trinkle agreed and granted Edwards a conditional pardon on 6 October 1922.  “I find that the prison record of Sidna Edwards has been without a mark against him,” Trinkle wrote in announcing the pardon.  “I further find that he has made a model prisoner and from the best information that I can get he is a reformed man and worthy of a new trial in life.”

On 26 March 1928, Sidna Edwards applied for the removal of political disabilities (restoration of his voting rights) and an absolute pardon.  “I herewith make my humble appeal to you,” Edwards wrote Governor Harry F. Byrd, “you being the only person in the world who has the power to grant it, is that you restore me my citizenship which I forfeited 16 years ago when I entered State Prison.”  Edwards added that since he was conditionally pardoned in 1922, he has “led an exemplary life ever since and enjoy the confidence and respect of all that I come in contact with, but I feel so humiliated and depressed when I remember that I cannot read my title clear to citizenship in my own beloved Virginia.”  Edwards included letters of recommendation from his two employers, The Little Oil Company and Bradshaw’s, a clothing store, both located in Richmond.  Governor Byrd granted both requests on 10 April 1928.

Sidna Edwards died in Washington, D.C. on 15 March 1933.  He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.

Monday:  Sidna Allen, No. 11217

-Roger Christman, Senior State Records Archivist

*Update – 21 March 2012*

The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce a new blog, Fit to Print:  Dispatches from the Virginia Newspaper Project @ The Library of Virginia.  The first post, 100 Years Ago – Law and Disorder, is about the Allen’s and the Carroll County Courthouse shooting.

In August 1912 in the Wythe County Circuit Court, Friel Allen, son of Jasper “Jack” Allen and nephew of Floyd Allen, was convicted of second degree murder in the death of William McDonald Foster, Carroll County Commonwealth’s Attorney.  Allen was sentenced to 18 years in the Virginia Penitentiary and admitted to the penitentiary on 18 September 1912.  By all accounts Allen was a model prisoner.  An anonymous fellow prisoner, writing in the 27 April 1922 issue of the inmate-run penitentiary newspaper, The Beacon, shared his observations of Friel Allen:

“I had noticed a well-dressed young man passing through the yard of the prison, and on asking who he was I got this reply: ‘that is the Superintendent’s Chauffeur, Friel Allen.’  I immediately remarked that he was only a boy, that if he had been here ten years and looked that now, he must have been only a kid when he was sent here.  I ventured up for a talk with him, expecting a sad answer, but not so, he sprang a friendly joke on me right away and began to kid me, showing his youth and good spirits.  Our association from then on became more intimate, especially evenings.  I well remember a five round bout with him.  He showed the utmost fair play all the way through, and I remember the writer who once said; ‘To judge a person’s character and finer self, just watch him at play.’  Needless to say he got the decision of the boxing bout.  I have found him a staunch companion and man both in play and on duty.  I thought him such a fine fellow that I immediately began to bum him for cigarettes until I got too strong for him along that line, and he broke me by giving me one that behaved like an automobile tire when it blows out.  I in turn would play little tricks on him evenings, and he has never shown anything but the boyish, good-natured disposition and forgiving spirit which he has developed under the most adverse circumstances.  He has proven himself trustworthy, as well as efficient, to the officials and his fellow prisoners, and is equally admired by them all.”

Governor E. Lee Trinkle agreed and granted Allen a conditional pardon on 6 October 1922.  “[H]e has made a model prisoner,” Trinkle wrote in announcing the pardon.  Allen “has been for sometime a trusty and has impressed all who have come in contact with him” and “he is a reformed young man, capable and will in the future lead a law abiding life.”

Tomorrow:  Sidna Edwards, No. 10995

-Roger Christman, Senior State Records Archivist

*Update – 21 March 2012*

The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce a new blog, Fit to Print:  Dispatches from the Virginia Newspaper Project @ The Library of Virginia.  The first post, 100 Years Ago – Law and Disorder, is about the Allen’s and the Carroll County Courthouse shooting.

On 13 March 1912, in the Carroll County Circuit Court, Floyd Allen was tried for attacking two deputies who had arrested two of his nephews for fighting and disturbing a religious meeting. The jury found Allen guilty of assault on 14 March and sentenced him to one year in the penitentiary.  Allen stood up and stated, “Gentlemen, I ain’t going” and shots erupted in the courthouse leaving several county officials and a spectator dead.  The Allen family claimed that several court officials opened fire on Floyd Allen, while other witnesses contended that Claude Swanson Allen, the defendant’s son, began the shooting. Nevertheless, Floyd Allen, Claude Swanson Allen, and other members of the Allen family were tried for murder in the Wythe County Circuit Court from April-December 1912.  Floyd Allen was convicted of first degree murder on 16 May 1912.  Claude S. Allen was also found guilty of first degree murder.  Father and son were executed on 28 March 1913.

Sidna Allen, Floyd’s brother, was sentenced to 35 years in the penitentiary for second degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.  Sidna Edwards, nephew of Floyd and Sidna Allen, plead guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years in the penitentiary.  Friel Allen, Floyd’s nephew, confessed to shooting the commonwealth’s attorney and was sentenced to 18 years in the penitentiary for second degree murder.  Wesley Edwards, brother of Sidna Edwards, received a 27-year prison sentence, 18 years for two counts of first degree murder and 9 years for second degree murder.

Over the next week, Out of the Box will post a daily entry on each member of the Allen family.  The schedule is:

• Thursday, March 8 – Friel Allen, No. 10994
• Friday, March 9 – Sidna Edwards, No. 10995
• Monday, March 12 – Sidna Allen, No. 11217
• Tuesday, March 13 – Wesley Edwards, No. 11218
• Wednesday, March 14 – Floyd and Claude Allen, executed 28 March 1913

Each entry, where applicable, will include a photograph and prisoner register entry from the records of the Virginia Penitentiary, clemency documents from the Secretary of the Commonwealth and excerpts from an anonymous article published in The Beacon, the prisoner-run Virginia Penitentiary newspaper, that describes one inmate’s observations on the Allen family.

-Roger Christman, Senior State Records Archivist

*Update – 21 March 2012*

The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce a new blog, Fit to Print:  Dispatches from the Virginia Newspaper Project @ The Library of Virginia.  The first post, 100 Years Ago – Law and Disorder, is about the Allen’s and the Carroll County Courthouse shooting.