In 1879, Charles C. Curtis was working at the retail store of Wingo, Ellett, and Crump at 1000 Main Street in Richmond.  A customer, a young lady named Isabel Cottrell, visited the store to try on a pair of shoes, and found Mr. Curtis’s behavior “exceedingly offensive.” Instead of allowing her to put the shoes on, he insisted on holding the shoe for her to put her foot in and on buttoning the shoe after she had “begged him” to let her do it herself.  She encountered Mr. Curtis on a second visit to pick up a pair of shoes she had ordered, and he insisted that she try them on in the store. Cottrell instead took the shoes home.

On a third visit, she took both pairs of shoes back to the store “with the purpose of leaving one pair of shoes and having the heels of the other plated.”  Cotrell claimed Curtis opened the bundle of shoes and remarked, in a rather impertinent way, “what a pretty little shoe, I certainly would like to put them on you.  I don’t see how you can walk with such a foot.”  Ms. Cottrell “was very much provoked, and told him he would oblige [her] by not commenting on [her] foot.”  She was further annoyed when Curtis accompanied her to the phaeton, where a friend was waiting. He “gave my arm a very severe grip,” Cottrell remarked to her friend and claimed that she would never go into the store again as long as he was employed there.  She considered Curtis “not only unrefined, but insulting.” She then told her “intimate acquaintance,” John E. Poindexter, of these circumstances, and he “seemed very angry” and declared that he would “have to horsewhip the fellow.” 

Later, John Poindexter got his brother and went to the shoe store to confront Curtis.  After being sure that Curtis was the man he was looking for, he “pulled out a riding whip and struck Curtis eight or ten times.” Poindexter accused him of “insulting a lady,” and Curtis claimed to “have no knowledge of it, but if he had, he begged her pardon.”  After another salesman in the store intervened, the brothers left the store.

After the confrontation, Curtis decided to seek the advice of friends upon this “point of honor.”  After explaining the incident, Tazewell Ellet told him “the proper thing to do is…to go and kill him.”  But another friend, Francis McGuire, replied that he “cannot do that, his character as a Christian and member of the church prevents it.”  After Curtis acknowledged that he could not kill Poindexter, McGuire told him, “you must see him at once and demand a full and immediate apology, and if not given…beat him.”  McGuire then offered to accompany him “to stand by [him] and see fair play.”  They both went to Poindexter’s place of business to confront him on 3 March 1879.  Curtis, carrying a stick, walked toward Poindexter and demanded an apology.  Poindexter replied, “If you strike me with that stick, I will shoot you.”  Curtis said, “I am unarmed.”  McGuire then urged Curtis on by saying, “hit him, hit him, knock him in the head, or kill him, kill him…”  As Curtis advanced on Poindexter and struck him with the stick, Poindexter began firing until Curtis fell.  At which point, Poindexter said “I didn’t want to shoot him…let’s try and do something for the man.” 

Charles C. Curtis died of the effects of pistol shot wounds on 4 March 1879. The testimony and investigation into his death can be found in the Richmond Coroners’ Inquisitions, dated 4 March 1879. The collection is available at the Library of Virginia but is currently closed for processing.

We were not alone here at the Library of Virginia in finding this story intriguing. Reporter Herbert T. Ezekiel also remarked on the story in his The Recollections of a Virginia Newspaper Man, published in 1920. Ezekiel found the story noteworthy because Poindexter’s whipping of Curtis was the last instance of cowhiding, or horsewhipping, on record in the state of Virginia before the State Legislature passed a law making it a felony.

-Mary Dean Carter, Local Records Archival Assistant

Often in high-profile criminal cases, the victim and victim’s family are an afterthought.  To mark this infamous anniversary, I decided to write a post on Ida V. Belote.  Who was she?  What happened to her eight children?  Two of her young daughters discovered their mother’s body and testified at the coroner’s inquisition.  What became of them?  My search for answers led me to the Belote coroner’s inquisition, newspaper articles, and Ancestry.com.  What follows is a fragmentary picture of Ida Belote and her family.

Ida Virginia Hobbs, the daughter of James and Harriette Hobbs, was born in March 1861 in North Carolina.  Hobbs married James Edward Wadsworth Belote (17 February 1846-6 June 1911) on 5 November 1879 in Northampton County, North Carolina.  By 1880 the Belotes moved to Virginia and started a family.  Ida and James had eight children:  Luther N. Belote (born 25 September 1880), William James Belote (born 24 February 1884), Bernard B. Belote (born 13 February 1886), Edward Linwood Belote (born 22 September 1887), Paul W. Belote (born 10 July 1889), Pauline A. Belote (born September 1891), Harriet Belote (born August 1898), and Sarah Elizabeth (Sadie) Belote (born 1904).  James E.W. Belote worked as a bookkeeper.  He died at home on 6 June 1911 from throat cancer and was buried in St. John’s Episcopal Church cemetery in Hampton.  Ida was buried next to him on 21 March 1912.

Luther N. Belote was married to a woman named Sadie and in 1900 lived in Newport News, where he resided until at least 1942.  He had at least three children:  Luther W. Belote (born ca. 1900), Bernice Belote (born ca. 1904), and Arthur F. Belote (born ca. 1924).

William J. Belote moved to Hartford, Connecticut, by 1917 where he worked as a conductor for the Connecticut Company.  He was married to Marie V. Ouellette.  William died on 30 August 1964 in New London, Connecticut.  Marie died on 9 January 1979 in Wethersfield, Connecticut.

Bernard B. Belote lived in 1900 with his grandparents, James and Harriet Hobbs.  He married Helen H. Reed on 25 June 1910 at the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Camden, New Jersey.  By World War I, Bernard lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and worked as a machinist.  In 1930 he was an inmate of the Philadelphia County Prison Convict Department.  At the outbreak of World War II, Bernard worked at General Cable and lived in Jersey City, New Jersey.  He died in November 1958.

I did not learn much about Edward L. Belote.  From what I did discover, he led an interesting life.  The Newport News Daily Press reported on 4 August 1906 that Linwood (as he is referred to in the article) was stabbed just under the shoulder by an unidentified African American.  No arrest was made.  In June 1907, Edward ran away from home with his brother Paul and two other friends and found work in Columbus, Ohio.  He was an inmate at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia when he registered for the draft during World War I.  In 1930 he lived in a rooming house in Manhattan, New York.

Paul W. Belote ran away from home in June 1907 with his brother Edward and two other friends.  Paul joined the Navy and served for 2 ½ years.  After his discharge from the Navy, Paul moved to the Alaska Territory in 1910 and was residing in San Francisco at the time of his mother’s murder.  He moved to Pennsylvania and was an inmate in Eastern State Penitentiary in 1920.  By 1942 Paul was still living in Philadelphia with his wife, Bella.

Much to my disappointment, I found very little on Ida’s three daughters who testified at the coroner’s inquisition.  I wanted to learn what happend to the two little girls who not only were orphaned at such a young age but also discovered their mother’s murdered body.  Pauline A. Belote married George W. Wright on 20 September 1909 in Newport News.  In 1920 the Wrights resided in Portsmouth.  Lewter F. Hobbs, Ida’s brother, was named guardian for Harriet and Sadie Belote on 3 April 1912 in the Circuit Court of Elizabeth City County.  Harriet completely disappears from the public record.  I searched the census, marriage, and death records but found no trace of her.  I located one possible record about Sadie.  In the 1920 Federal Census, there is a Sarah E. Belote, age 16, residing in what appears to be an orphanage in Norfolk.  One hundred years after Ida’s death, the story of her and her family remains incomplete.

Roger Christman, Senior State Records Archivist

On the night of 4 August 1882, James M. Duesbury heard pistol shots coming from the nearby home of Christopher Goode and ran to see what the matter was. Goode, a resident of Richmond, Virginia, lived at 709 West Marshall behind what is now the Siegel Center near Virginia Commonwealth University. When Duesbury arrived at the home, Goode stated “I have shot a man; here he is lying down on the floor.” When Duesbury asked why he shot him, he answered, “I caught him on top of my wife.” Policeman Lewis Frayser arrived at the scene and found Winston Robinson “lying on the floor with his pants and drawers down to his knees”  and met Mahala Goode, the wife, in a dress that was “very much disarranged” and “bleeding very freely” from the gunshot wounds she accidentally received during the altercation.

In his testimony to police, Christopher Goode stated, “My God Master, I couldn’t help it to save my life, I shot him and couldn’t help it.”  Mr. Goode further elaborated, explaining that he had been “under the porch and heard them hugging and kissing” and heard his wife invite Robinson upstairs, but Robinson declined saying he “didn’t care about going upstairs” because “if the old man came there would be a fight and one or the other would be killed.”  When Goode heard them get up and go into the parlor, “he took his shoes off and raised the basement window and crept very lightly up the steps and found the lamp turned down very low.”  He turned the light on and discovered his wife and Robinson on the floor and that is when he began firing. Robinson and Mahala both jumped up and advanced towards Goode, who continued to fire. Robinson seized Goode around the neck. Goode fired again, this time hitting his target.

Richmond’s The Daily Dispatch reported the story on 6 August 1882, referring to it as “The Colored Shooting Affair” and describing Christopher Goode as a “quiet, inoffensive man.” We never learn the rest of the story from either newspaper accounts or the 5 August 1882 Richmond (City) Coroner’s Inquisition.  All we know is that the inquisition concluded that Winston Robinson came to his death from the “effect of a pistol shot wound inflicted by Christopher Goode because of criminal relations between him and the said Goode’s wife and they [the jurors] are of the opinion that the killing was eminently proper.”

-Mary Dean Carter, Local Records Archival Assistant

“The 1930s was a tough decade, one made even tougher by Prohibition. During this lawless time in American history, a group of criminals called the Tri-State Gang emerged from Philadelphia and spread their operations south, through Baltimore to Richmond, wreaking bloody havoc and brutally eliminating those who knew too much about their heists. Once termed the “Dillingers of the East,” Robert Mais and Walter Legenza led their men and molls on a violent journey of robberies, murders, and escapes up and down the East Coast.”

Richardson, a former archivist at the Library of Virginia, will recount the story of this whirlwind of crime and how it finally reached its climax in Richmond. The talk, part of the “Books on Broad” series, is free. Light refreshments (wine and cheese) will be served (5:30­–6:15 pm), followed by author talk (6:15­–7:15 pm), and book signing (7:15­–7:30 pm).  His book can be purchased through The Virginia Shop at the Library of Virginia.

Selden made extensive use of the records at the Library of Virginia. The gallery accompanying this post consists of some examples from our local, state, and newspaper collections.

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Roger Christman, Senior State Records Archivist

Three Highland County Commonwealth Causes (Barcode 0007281802) reveal a tangled web of conspiracy, murder, and secret affairs. The cast of players includes Elizabeth Sheridan, wife of the deceased; Mary Ann Wily, Elizabeth’s daughter from a previous marriage; Sam, a slave; and Ellen, a slave and Sam’s wife. Commonwealth vs. Sam (slave), 1856 August; Commonwealth vs. Ellen (slave), 1856 August; and Commonwealth vs. Elizabeth Sheridan and Mary Ann Wily, 1856 November concern the murder of Mr. Francis W. Sheridan by Sam, a slave hired by Sheridan from William Wilson. Sam’s wife, Ellen, was also charged with being “concerned in the murder,” while Elizabeth Sheridan and her daughter Mary Ann Wily were charged as accessories.  The cases contain assorted court documents including depositions and statements from various neighbors and acquaintances of the accused and the murder victim. 

A document entitled “Evidence in Support of Prosecution” offers a wealth of information.  Notes from the coroner’s inquest give revealing physical facts about Francis Sheridan.  He was described as a small man about the age of 21 or 22 years whose body displayed visible signs of trauma due to strangulation.  The report reveals that the body was found lying face down in a drain twenty or thirty feet away from the public road and gives a detailed forensic account of Sheridan’s bedroom, where the murder actually took place.

Francis Sheridan was noted around town for getting drunk and becoming quite belligerent, making verbal threats to kill his wife and step-daughter with a “pistol and a gun.” He often lamented the fact that he had gotten married and said his married life had been the worst six months of his life. Statements also suggest that Sheridan was not the most honest businessman in town. Several people felt they were treated unfairly by him and had ample motive to see Sheridan leave the earth quickly and violently. There are also accounts of Mary Ann telling people in town she wished someone would kill Sheridan, stating that “she would pay to have him killed or if she was a man she would kill him herself.”  

A multitude of scenarios and implications concerning the murder abound within the records.  The predominant theory was that Elizabeth Sheridan and her daughter, along with Sam’s wife, Ellen, plotted to kill Sheridan and convinced Sam to carry out the deed. There is testimony that the three ladies were witnessed having a loud, quarrelsome conversation with Sam prior to Sheridan’s death and that at one point Ellen beat Sam with her fist and Mary Ann “cracked her fist together” toward Sam. Sam was supposedly madly in love with Elizabeth and desirous that no harm would come to her or her children, especially Mary Ann. Sam is quoted as saying that he loved Mrs. Sheridan “more than any woman on the face of the earth – that he would do more for her, risk his life further, than for anyone else – that he had been sleeping with her for more than twelve months whenever he pleased, that she was to continue to hire his wife [Ellen] as long as she was for hire and he was to continue to sleep with her [Mrs. Sheridan] whenever he pleased.”

While the true nature of the personal relationship between Elizabeth Sheridan and Sam remains unclear, Sam acknowledged that he was in a “bad fix.”  He confessed his guilt to the justice of the peace, claiming that he had been promised a hundred dollars from both Mrs. Sheridan and Mary Ann if he committed the murder. Sam claimed that Francis Sheridan was drunk on the day of his death and that he, Sam, was “drinking himself or he could not have done the deed.” Sam claimed to love the man as well as if he had been his own brother and “if he had opened his eyes he could not have killed him.”

Other theories tried to pass off the murder as a suicide. Sheridan was noted as being “smartly intoxicated” on the day of his death and Elizabeth and Mary Ann started telling people that Francis may have wanted to commit suicide because he appeared to be in a bad state. Mrs. Sheridan stated that when he came home that morning “if she had been standing up she would have sunk down, his looks was so dark and terrible.”

Ultimately, Sam was found guilty of the murder and sentenced to be “hanged by the neck until he be dead” and he was, on Friday, 26 September 1856. But despite Sam’s execution, the county did not stop investigating the murder of Francis Sheridan.  The investigation continued through November 1856 with the prosecution of Elizabeth Sheridan and Mary Ann Wily as accessories to murder. The lone document in the case states it is seeking costs incurred by the prosecution in the pursuit of the charges and lists witnesses and monies paid to them by the county. As there are no other documents concerning this particular court action, we will never know if Sam acted alone or if he was just a tool wielded by Mrs. Sheridan in an attempt to rid herself of an unwanted husband. 

-Joanne Porter, Local Records Archivist and Bari Helms, Local 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.