Sidna and Nephew near Capture

The Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, W. Va.
Sunday, March 31, 1912

SIDNA ALLEN AND NEPHEW NEAR CAPTURE

Detectives Reached Hiding Place Hour After They Aban- doned it.

EVERY LINE OF ESCAPE BELIEVED TO BE CUT OFF

Outlying Posses Encircle Region Where Men Are Believed to be and Felts Expected to Have Two More Prisoners by This Morning.

NO DEFINITE NEWS FROM SORTIE REACHES HILLSVILLE

Hillsville, Va. March 30. --With detectives close on the trail of Sidna Allen and his nephew, Wesley Edwards, the prospects tonight were that before daybreak the two outlaws would be captured.

Early today a posse under Detective Thomas L. Felts got a definite view of the remaining outlaws' whereabouts. Newly turned tracks in the rain soaked mountainside, about fifteen miles from here and in the vicinity of Floyd Allen's home on Sugar Leaf mountain, were discovered. They led back to a crevice overgrown with ivy and laurel, where a bed of leaves scraped over scraps of food give unquestioned evidence of the outlaws' last hiding place. A receipt for seventy dollars made out to George Easter, a resident of this section, and signed by Sidna Allen, lay nearby, apparently having dropped from Allen's pocket.

The detectives believe the men had left the place not more than an hour before the posse discovered it. Detective Felts immediately dispatched couriers to the small outlying posses to have them draw in and encircle the region where the two men are believed to be. Every lane of escape thus was closed and the real work of capture begun.

Up to dark tonight no news had reached here as to the success of the sortie.

Floyd Asks Change of Venue.

Roanoke, Va., March 30. --Attorneys for Floyd Allen petitioned Judge Waller R. Staples today for a change of venue in the case of Floyd Allen, stating that the feeling at Hillsville would prevent an impartial trial. The petition was taken under advisement.

Will Never Surrender.

Men acquainted with the Carroll county section, and who returned from that neighborhood last night, said they feel certain that Sidna Allen will commit suicide before he will permit himself to be captured. They base this fact on rumors which have spread over the country and which appear to have the backing of the Allen supporters. One of these men when seen last night said there was nothing new at Hillsville, except that he expected to read any day that Sidna Allen had cheated the gallows by committing suicide. This belief, it appears, is made all the stronger by the statements made by young Friel Allen incriminating Sidna Allen and Wesley Edwards, by charging them with the murder of Judge Massie and Prosecutor William Foster. If Sidna Allen does commit suicide, it is likely that he will stow himself away in the recesses of some shelf rock and then kill himself, so as, to cause all the trouble possible for those searching for him. It is believed that Wesley Edwards will make a final stand against the detectives pursuing him, kill as many of them as possible and then accept death himself, rather than consent to being electrocuted for the murder of the court officials at Hillsville.