I wanted to write about our local small towns in general, but the history of Hillsville requires it's own post.
We live in the middle of no where in the Blue Ridge mountains and Hillsville is one of two towns both 30 minutes away in different directions. It has a very interesting history. You know that the Appalachian Mountains were once considered to be the wild west. Hillsville is a good example of that.
Inside the courthouse and on this lawn is where the massacre took place
When I said this area used to be considered the wild west, it wasn't an over statement. There are plenty of books such as "The Man that Moved a Mountain" that explains in detail what life was like here in the early 19th century all the way up until the early 1900's. You see in the early 1900's cities were growing fast even in what was once the "wild west", but these mountain areas held on to their wildness for much longer. Some would say, we are still holding on tightly!
I've read that in this time frame, one could not even go out in public without noticing that everyone over the age of 12 was considerably drunk. Shootings happened daily over the most mundane disagreements and rarely were they punished. When they were punished it wasn't usually from a lawman or judge but by a vigilante group. This was just considered normal as the folks in these areas didn't really trust government and liked to handle ll their issues privately. When in doubt, you just shot the offender and came up with a good story of explanation that folks would agree made it a deserved offense.
One such incident became an international news event that put Hillsville on the map in 1912. Now, the rest of the world considers this ancient history and old news, but folks are still torn and still argue about it in town to this very day. I'm speaking about the Courthouse Massacre of 1912 in the Hillsville, VA Courthouse. This is a story of two sides that still cause disagreement in the town. On one side we have a very successful, but wild and rambunctious family prone to shootouts over any transgression and on the other side we have the law and courts and another family. Some still believe it was a just shootout in the courtroom by the family members, others claim they started it and got what they deserved. You can find people all over town even today that will argue with you concerning these events of 1912. It reminds me of the Hatfield and McCoys the way people still chose a side here.
On March 14, 1912, bullets flew as members of the Allen family shot it out on the courthouse lawn with armed courtroom officials. Dozens of panicked citizens fled in all directions. Gunmen jumped on horses to escape into the mountains. The dead and the dying lay inside the courtroom, where the gun battle started.
That's the day when members of the "Allen Clan" and local lawmen engaged in an epic gunfight that made national headlines and shook the community like an earthquake. In barely a minute, a judge, prosecutor, sheriff, juror and witness were killed or mortally wounded. A year later, a father and a son would die in the electric chair.
I've read many renditions of this gunfight and they are always different depending on who it doing the explaining. Many people here say Allen did not fire the first shot and was only protecting himself. That's not the official truth as both he and his son were eventually caught and sent to the electric chair.
Of all the things I've read about this tragedy, the one that stood out the most was a description of the surprise to all of the people of area that this shootout turned into an international news story. It was not uncommon at all to have people shot and killed in this area. It was a daily thing. Just think about that for a minute. If one person is shot today any where around here it's instant news for weeks. However, between 1850 and 1920 it wasn't even news. It was a normal apart from the public spectacle of being in and around the courthouse. Local folk couldn't believe this was a story for the rest of the country, let alone the world.
The old bank is now Shoney's Headquarters
So what started it all? Well, it's a much longer story that I can tell here, but suffice it to say it all started with a kiss as many fights do. Days later the boy who had his girl kissed by another showed up after a church service with friends to provide a little payback. It was this fight that lead to the shooting at the courthouse. When the boys were arrested for this fight, an uncle named Floyd Allen pistol whipped the sheriff and freed the boys from arrest. Which led to his arrest along with them a few days later. Now, knowing that these two clans were not friends, the courthouse was full of very well armed public spectators. This is why no one can be certain who fired the first shot and still argue today about who was right.
What is known for certain is that Floyd Allen stood up after being found guilty and sentenced to one year in jail and said "Gentlemen, I aint a goin". Within that next minute, 57 shots were fired killing the judge, sheriff, prosecutor, witness and two others.
A bullet struck Goad in the face and exited the back of his neck, popping off his collar button, but he was able to make it outside where the gun battle continued. Terrified citizens jumped out of the courthouse's tall windows, landing in trees and falling hard to the ground. Men ran across the front lawn to escape the shooting, their long winter coats flapping and ballooning out like parachutes as they jumped down to the street from a rock wall.
The shootout proved to be a tipping point for Southwest Virginia, as the frontier-style old ways were brought kicking, screaming and shooting into the 20th century, when the rule of law would not be obliterated by clannishness and gunplay.
Now this town really was 100% lawless as everyone involved in law enforcement was now dead. Now if you think fake news is a big deal today, it was completely ridiculous in these days. For two weeks this was the news of the country, only the Titanic's sinking abated the outlandish reporting. Stories of 20 armed gunmen entering the courthouse on horseback and killing everyone were reported as fact in many newspapers.
Riding in to town
Riding out of town
Hillsville's New Government Building
This statue has been here since well before the massacre
It's such an interesting story that really does a good job detailing what life was like in these mountains at that time. I suggest you give this article a read for you enjoyment.. Otherwise, this is just the first part, I'll be back with what happened immediately following the shootout when the governor sent in hired guns to roundup the rest of the Allen clan.
Sources
Roanoke Times
The Times-Picayune
Carrol County Museum
