Sidney Allen [Laws E5]

DESCRIPTION: The Allen Family is in court; Sidney and the others break out by shooting the judge and starting a gunfight in the court. Recaptured and brought home, he is sentenced to a long prison term instead of being executed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Henry)
KEYWORDS: prison fight trial feud
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1912 - Trial of the Allen family
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Laws E5, "Sidney Allen"
Hudson-FolksongsOfMississippi 104, pp. 242-243, "Sidney Allen" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan 140, "Sidney Allen" (1 text)
Thomas-BalladMakingInMountainsOfKentucky, p. 155, (no title) (1 text) (OakEd, pp. 160-161)
Warner-TraditionalAmericanFolkSongsFromAnneAndFrankWarnerColl 113, "Hillsville, Virginia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burt-AmericanMurderBallads, pp. 254-255, "Sidney Allen" (1 text)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia1, p. 208, "Sidney ALlen" (1 text)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 191-192, "Sidney Allen" (1 text)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Robert M. Rennick, "The Tragedy of the Allen Family of Hillsville, Virginia,'" Vol. VII, No. 2 (Dec 1959), p. 13, "Sidney Allen" (1 text)
DT 777, SIDALLEN
Roud #612
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "Sydney Allen" (Columbia 15042-D, 1925) (Domino 3642, 1925; Banner 1672, 1926)
Henry Whitter, "Sydney Allen" (OKeh 40109, 1924)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Pardon of Sydna Allen" (subject)
cf. "Casey Jones (I)" [Laws G1] (meter)
cf. "Claude Allen" [Laws E6] (subject)
NOTES [998 words]: Most of the background to this comes from Robert M. Rennick's article in NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, so I'd suggest you read that if you want the fuller story; the full issue is on the web at the North Carolina Digital Collections site.
The members of the Allen family seem to have been the backest of backwoodsmen, and the sort of individualist conservatives who found right-wing militia, although they had done fairly well by themselves and some of them were educated. But they also had terrible tempers; Floyd had once had a shootout with his own brother Jack. A third brother was Sidney, whose name was apparently pronounced "Sidna" and sometimes spelled that way -- including by Rennick.
The events took place in 1911-1912 near Hillsville, Virginia, in the southwestern part of the state. Even today, it has a population of less than three thousand. It all started with a fight over a girl between someone named Thomas and Wesley Edwards (the 19-year-old nephew of Floyd and Sidney Allen, and the first cousin of Claude, Floyd's son). The fight took place in a church, so there were plenty of witnesses; Wesley and his 21-year-old brother Sidney Edwards faced charges over the altercation.
The Edwards brothers had lost their father some years ago, so Floyd had watched over him. He advised them to go to North Carolina until things blew over. They left, but were induced to return -- and were promptly arrested. When Floyd saw them handcuffed and bound (a precaution that was clearly warranted, given that they were fugitives from justice), he attacked the deputies who were transporting them and set the boys free.
Eventually retaken, Wesley and Sidney Edwards were sentenced to sixty and thirty days, respectively, served their time, and were freed. But Floyd now faced charges for his interference -- plus assault on officers of the court. All he was charged with was "malicious obstruction of justice"; I suspect the charges would be harsher today. Floyd Allen ended up on on trial, in March 1912, for "malicious obstruction of justice." (Sidney was also charged, but the charge was dropped; he had been nearby but apparently not taken part.)
Floyd's trial was postponed more than once, but on March 13, 1912, he went before the law. He was found guilty the next day, and was sentenced to a year in prison by Judge Thornton L. Massie. Massie agreed to hear new evidence presented by Allen's lawyer, but required Floyd -- who had, after all, been convicted -- to stay in prison for the night; the new evidence would be presented the next day. Floyd told the court, "Gentlemen, I just ain't going" -- whereupon the whole family started shooting and made their escape. Two shots, one supposedly from Claude and one from Sidney, hit Judge Massie; the second one was fatal. Floyd also started firing, and so did his nephew Friel and others. So indiscriminate was their fire that four people were killed, including a 17-year-old girl, Betty Ayres, who had been a witness for the defense. At least eight others were wounded -- bystanders, jurors, plus Floyd and Sidney Allen. Floyd's wound was bad enough that he was unable to make a getaway and was to a hotel instead, where he was eventually arrested.
The rest fled, supposedly making a pact not to be taken without a fight. It took week fo find them, but first Sidney Edwards, then Claude Allen, then Friel Allen (another son of Floyd) were found. Sidney Allen and his nephew Wesley Edwards managed to make their way to Des Moines, Iowa. But Wesley's sweetheart, Maud Iroler, decided to visit him -- and suspicious family had her trailed, and she led the authorities to where Sidney and Wesley were to be found.
That took long enough that Floyd had already gone on trial again, this time for the murder of the Commonwealth's Attorney in his first case, William M. Foster. The case was tried on April 30, 1912; Floyd was convicted on May 17 and sentenced to electrocution.
Claude (I read somewhere that it was spelled "Claud," but Rennick always uses the "e") was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to fifteen years. His lawyers wanted a new triel -- this ended in a hung jury. Public pressure was such that Claude was tried a third time -- and this time was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. Both Claude and Floyd were executed on March 28, 1913.
Sidney Allen was tried twice, on two different charges; he and Friel Allen were sentenced to to eighteen years, and separately, he and Wesley Edwards were tried for the murder of Judge Massie, with Sidney getting 35 years and Wesley 27.
Friel Allen was eventually pardoned and became a model citizen. Wesley Edwards, pardoned in 1926, also managed to live a decent life after release. Sidney Edwards, though he too was pardoned in 1922, couldn't clean up his act; two years later, he killed his wife and then himself. Sidney Allen was also pardoned in 1926 and seems to have lived relatively quietly for the rest of his life.
For substantially more detail about the Allens, see the NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal article cited above; in addition to texts, it has background on the family. Sidney Allen's story, Memoirs of J. Sidna Allen - A True Narrative of What Really Happened at Hillsville, Virginia was published by F. H. Lamb of Mount Airy, NC in 1929, and is now available on some reprint sites, but the quality of those things is consistently awful and the cost high. In any case, I doubt its reliability.
A more recent book is Jerry L. Haynes, Mountain Justice: A Search for the Truth in the Aftermath of the Carroll County Courthouse Tragedy, 2012, which seemingly tries to get at the politics of the situation. (The Allens apparently felt that all their troubles came because of the political attitudes of the county.) I have not found a copy.
There is also an historical novel, No Villains, No Heroes, by Thomas Moore, 2012. I have no idea if it's awful or merely bad or useless; it seems a safe bet that it is one or the other. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: LE05

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