The Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, W. Va.
Thursday Morning, August 15, 1912

EIGHTEEN YEARS IN PENITENTIARY FOR FRIEL ALLEN

Pleads Guilty to Second Degree Murder and is Given Maxi- mum Sentence.

FORMALITY OF A TRIAL BY JURY WAS WAIVED

Compromise Following Conference of Attorneys Comes as a Surprise, Youngest of Gang That Wiped Out the Carroll County Court Will be Taken to Richmond Prison at Once.

Wytheville, Va., Aug. 14. —Friel Allen will get eighteen years in the penitentiary for the part he played in the Hillsville tragedy of March 14, last.

The case took a most unexpected turn this morning when it was announced that the attorneys for the prosecution and defense had decided to effect a compromise if possible without going to trial with the case. No effort was made to impanel a jury, although the venire of seventy-five men were present from Bedford county.

Since the conviction of Claude Allen of murder in the first degree things have looked exceedingly gloomy for all of the members of the Allen clan.

After a consultation lasting some time the prosecution agreed to accept a plea of guilty of murder in the second degree with the full penalty accompanying the plea as punishment. This was finally agreed to when the youthful prisoner was arraigned on the indictment, charging him with the murder of Commonwealth’s Attorney Foster. In a clear tone, when the usual question was propounded by the clerk after the reading of the indictment, he answered “guilty.”

Judge Staples, of Roanoke, who is presiding on the case, at once sentenced the young prisoner and instructed the sheriff to take charge of him. He will be sent to Richmond at once to begin his term.

Friel Allen is the youngest of the Allen clan engaged in the shooting up of the court at Hillsville. He is eighteen years old, and is a son of Jasper Allen, a Carroll county constable, and a nephew of Floyd Allen, over whom the tragedy occurred.

The details of the awful affair are still fresh in the minds of the people. The tragedy was the most appalling in the records of American courts that a plan was evolved by which the entire court should be wiped out of existence. It was shown that the Allen clan had so stationed themselves in the court room that the firing from the pistols would not endanger the lives of any of the outlaws.

After the tragedy all of the Allens escaped with the exception of Floyd Allen, who suffered a broken leg.

Some ten days afterwards Friel Allen was captured by Detective Lucas, of the Baldwin-Felts agency, not far from his father’s home in the mountains of Carroll. The young outlaw practically surrendered. He was heavily armed, two big revolvers being taken from him on the occasion of his arrest. He declared he had grown tired of trying to evade the officers who were scouting the mountains in search of the members of the clan. He was hungry, and suffered much from cold and rain while sleeping in the mountains.

It will be remembered that two of the outlaws, Sidna Allen, brother of Floyd Allen, and Wesley Edwards, nephew of the Allens, made their escape, and have not been captured. Hundreds of clues have been followed by detectives all over the country in an endeavor to capture the two outlaws, but they have proved unavailing. Rewards of $1,500 have been offered for the capture of either of the men, but they seem to have escaped as completely as if the earth had opened and swallowed them.

The Beckley Messenger, Beckley, W. Va.
Tuesday, August 20, 1912

Friel Allen Gets Eighteen Years

Wytheville, Va., --The trial of Friel Allen for the murder of W. M. Foster, commonwealth's attorney, in the Hillsville tragedy of March 14 was called last Thursday morning. Judge Staples waited some time before any of the attorneys appeared in the bar and it was soon rumored that the prisoner would offer a compromise by withdrawing his former plea of not guilty and entering a plea of guilty in the second degree. After several hours of consultation by the attorneys this was done, and the judge with a few words of wholesome advice to the prisoner regarding his future life and conduct, sentenced him to eighteen years in the penitentiary.