The history of the Executive Mansion (also called Governor’s House or Governor’s Mansion) is well represented in the Library’s archival collections.  The Auditor of Public Accounts, Capital Square Data Records, 1779-1971, document the construction, furnishing, and repair of the 1813 Executive Mansion and the various buildings used by the governor prior to the Mansion’s construction.  The Drawing and Plans Collection includes a photographic copy of a page from Alexander Parris’ sketchbook depicting the floor plan for the Virginia Governor’s Mansion.  Parris designed the mansion in 1811-1812.  An Executive Communication to the Speaker of the House of Delegates, dated 17 February 1813, includes photocopy of a report from David Bullock, William McKim, and Robert Greenhow, the commissioners appointed to superintend the building of the dwelling house, and other houses, for the accommodation of the governor.  The commissioner’s report provides the cost of the dwelling house and out houses and a few details on the exterior and interior of the building.  Also included is a plat showing the Governor’s House, kitchens, ravine, gardens, and private property to be purchased.

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Repairs and improvements to the Executive Mansion are a common theme.  Records in the papers of Governors William Smith (1846-1849), Joseph Johnson (1852-1856), Francis Pierpont (1865-1868), Andrew Montague ((1902-1906), and William Mann (1910-1914) describe various repairs and improvements to the Mansion.  The Records of the Secretary of the Commonwealth include a 2 June 1865 inventory of the Executive Mansion.  Contracts and invoices for Mansion services and expenditures can be found in records of the Virginia Land Office and Virginia Department of the Treasury.  The Records of the Executive Mansion Director, 1973-1995, document the work of the Citizens’ Advisory Council for Interpreting and Furnishing the Executive Mansion, events at the Mansion, and the 175th anniversary of the Mansion in 1988.

Under the administration of James S. Gilmore, III (1998–2002), Virginia’s Executive Mansion underwent an extensive renovation in 1999–2000.  This project is well documented in two collections:  Virginia Secretary of Administration, Correspondence and subject files, 1998-2001 and Sadler and Whitehead, Architects, Papers, 1992-2001.  The Secretary of Administration records include episodes of Bob Vila’s Home Again:  Renovation of the Executive Mansion, 1999-2000.  As part of the 1999-2000 restoration, the Commonwealth’s Department of Historic Resources hired the firm of Sadler and Whitehead, Architects, PLC, to document the entire project, especially those previously hidden aspects of construction and ornamentation, using photography and descriptive commentary.  Excavation, demolition, conservation, and new construction were all copiously documented by Mary Harding Sadler and Joseph D. Lahendro.  Their materials include not only written information about their observations, but also hundreds of photographs capturing original interiors, decorative items, and structural elements of the Executive Mansion, Guest House/Cottage, Carriage House, and grounds.   The Library turned this material into the Executive Mansion Rehabilitation Project Database, available on-line.  The database records may contain all or some of the following information: weather conditions, photographs, observational notes, location in the specific building, information source, work type, report author, and date.

These are just some of the records about the Executive Mansion at the Library.  To see what else we have on the Executive Mansion, search the Library’s on-line catalog.

-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.