Allen Chase Settles Down to Siege

SIX MORE DETECTIVES

Sent to Carroll County From Baldwin. Felts Roanoke Offices.

Six more officers were sent to Carroll county from the offices of the Baldwin-Felts Detectives at Roanoke yesterday afternoon. They were given repeating rifles of the army type by a Virginia military officer and started on the perilous trip which may mean death, or may mean a big reward.

There is said to be no truth in any of the rumors which say the officers know where the Allens are. Every hour rumors float in and men go out to investigate them in the hope of finding a clue which may be of value, but so far nothing has developed which would tend to show where the men are in hiding. It is confidently believed by the officers that the men are in hiding, but where is the question. Sidna Allen has been wounded and on this account will have to move slowly. It is certain that at least one of the Allen clan will remain with him, therefore it should be comparatively easy to get trace of one of the Allens, and if trace of one is found it will naturally follow that another will not be far away. It is believed that the other three will keep rather close together until they are out of danger. One will undoubtedly act as scout and for this work, as the other three men are young men, it is likely they will change about so as to offer less chances for detection. It is almost certain they will lay up during the day and ride or walk at night, although it is much more likely that for the present they are hidden away with some friend with whom they will remain until the storm blows over and the first watch becomes tiresome.

During the first few days of a chase like the present the officers are forced to do much unnecessary work, merely to satisfy the public craving for news. With a score or more newspaper reporters around, the officers know that there must be action and they are forced to run down rumors to which otherwise they would pay little attention. If a possible rumor should be overlooked, the newspaper men would be certain to criticize the governor and every man connected with the chase and in order that the public craving for news shall be satisfied much bluff and bluster is resorted to. This, in part, accounts for the many rumors which have appeared in print. Every time the officers start out a fresh batch of telegrams is filed and they eventually find their way into the press. Some of the traveling men are laughing over the way the report of the storming of Sidna Allen’s house started. It is said that a certain traveling man had a grudge against a certain newspaper man who was in the neighborhood of Hillsville, because the newspaper man months ago had referred to the people of Carroll county as poor white trash or some similar phrase. It happened that the traveling man in question was a native of Carroll county and this was his opportunity to get even, and he did it with paint and words. The story sounded so good that the newspaper man spread the news and with every repeating the story grew until Sidna Allen’s wife was found dead. Several traveling men have laughed over the publicity given the report, and especially that part of it which referred to the shooting of Sidna Allen and his wife in a cabin, when as a matter of fact their home is worth about $12,000.

It can be said on reliable authority that the stories of Floyd Allen lying in jail, shrieking and moaning, are all manufactured. He isn’t that kind of a man, and if he does have to pay the death penalty those who personally know him claim he will go to the chair with a smile and make some remark characteristic of the men of the mountains.

MANY ALLEN STORIES

All Traveling Men Seem to Know Something of Carroll County.

A visitor in the local hotels at night can hear more stores of the Allens then even the fluent newspapers tell. It is surprising how many travelling men either come from Carroll county, where they have lived all their lives, or who have travelled so much in that section that they know every foot of the territory. Some of them really know the country and know the Allens. Some are Allen sympathizers, and while they do not attempt to justify the Allens they find some excuses for their terrible deed by saying the Allens have been picked on by many people in Carroll county for years. Among some travelling men one occasionally hears a defense of the mountain man who makes illicit whiskey in his hillside still, while still others claim Jack Allen is the only Allen who was in the illicit business at any time, although all of the Allens gave financial aid to those who were in the business and it is the friendships which they made by so doing that they are depending upon now for assistance against the officers who are on their track.

Many of the published stories, according to these travelling men, are wild, woolly and made out of the whole cloth and to prove it one travelling man last night picked up a Richmond paper which had a handsome photograph of a Carroll county residence which was labeled “the $20,000 home of Sidna Allen.” As a matter of fact the picture was nothing more or less than a fairly good photograph of T. L. Felts’ residence at Ethelfelts. Around the newsstand at the Altamont hotel a number of travelling men who recognized the house laughed and joked, saying the photographers did not have time to go to Allen’s house so they took a photograph of the Felts home, in spite of the fact that it is a better home than that of the Allens.

SIDNA ALLEN SEEN

Said to Have Hidden in Squirrel Spur In Search of Others of Gang.

Squirrel Spur, where the outlaws were reported, as being concealed Monday, is a lonely tract or ridge close to the Carolina border. That the Allens were there Monday may or may not have been true. It seems certain that Sidna Allen thought his companions were there. It is said that he went to Squirrel’s Spur riding horseback and heavily armed. He rode up the long and rugged trail into the dark and gloomy defiles, but nowhere could be find those for whom he searched. They were not there, and so retracing his steps he struck off to the right or somewhere to the northeast into the district lying between Ward's Gap and Harper's Gap where there is a veritable wilderness of forests and rock strewn ravines with not a road anywhere and only bridle paths to guide the traveler.

Those who claim they saw Sidna Allen said nothing of his wounds. If he was weak or ailing he apparently did not show it, but sat in his saddle as firmly as ever and pushed ahead with his old grim determination. He must have presented a strange figure. Armed with a rifle and pistols, bruised and scarred, he pressed ahead alone, hunting for the gang with which in all probability he proposes to fight to the last extremity. Needles to say, those who claimed they saw him were not detectives.

The country into which he plunged and which is described almost as a wilderness is twelve miles long and six miles wide. Here and there are homes of mountaineers, practically every one of whom is a friend of the outlaws.

The impression prevailing in that country, among those who wish the detectives all possible success, is that they have before them huge difficulties. Being in immediate touch with the situation they realize more fully the nature of the undertaking and appreciate the scope of the task confronting the pursuers. The mountains are practically endless and extend to the northwest and southwest over an almost limitless area. The fugitives are familiar with every foot of the way and can move from point to point at will.

A consignment of twenty rifles were shipped from Richmond Monday night arriving at Hillsville at about 11 o'clock yesterday morning. They are 30-30 calibre and shoot five miles with accuracy. With them, the posses will be able to station themselves far out of range of the outlaws' rifles and send a stream of steel into their very midst.

From a great distance the bullets from these guns can be sent through a brick house, and the ordinary frame house is no more defense against them than a sheet of paper. The possession of such weapons will be of great advantage to the officers, as with they will be able to effectively lay siege to any spot the outlaws may pick out.